Saying what you want

Design the opening spread2 · SpreadThe two pages that face each other when a book lies open. The spread, not the single page, is what a reader sees and what a designer lays out. of “The last ferry”, the winter feature in Lowtide. On the verso2 · Recto and versoThe recto is the right-hand page and carries odd numbers; the verso is the left-hand page and carries even ones. A verso is always the back of the recto before it., a full-bleed2 · Full-bleedA picture or colour that runs right off one or more edges of the page, with no margin around it. Bleeding one edge is a bleed off that side; all four is full-bleed. photograph of the coast at dawn, with the headline over it in white, bottom left, inside the safe area2 · Safe areaThe area inside the trim where anything important must stay: words, page numbers, faces. Outside it, the cut might take it off..

On the recto2 · Recto and versoThe recto is the right-hand page and carries odd numbers; the verso is the left-hand page and carries even ones. A verso is always the back of the recto before it., the standfirst6 · StandfirstThe short paragraph between a headline and the text, set larger than the text, that says what the article is about. Magazines use one on every feature, to win the reader who is only flicking through. in italic, ranged left5 · Ranged left and justifiedRanged-left text lines up on the left with an uneven right edge, and every word space is the same. Justified text lines up on both sides, by stretching or squeezing the word spaces in each line. on the first four columns of the grid6 · GridA set of invisible columns, with fixed gaps between them, that every page of a publication is built on. Text and pictures start and stop on its lines, so pages that look different still belong together., then the text, with white space6 · White spaceThe empty parts of a page: the margins, the gaps between things, the room around a heading. It isn’t wasted paper. It shows what belongs together and where to look first. between them.

Set the headline in the magazine’s display type4 · Text type and display typeText type is drawn for paragraphs at reading sizes, about 8 to 14 pt: sturdy and plain enough to read for an hour. Display type is drawn for headings and titles, where it is big enough for fine detail and character to show. with tight leading5 · LeadingThe distance from one line’s baseline to the next, in points. Type set at 11 pt on 14 pt leading is written 11/14 and said “eleven on fourteen”.. No running head2 · Running headA line repeated at the top of each page, outside the text block, saying where the reader is: the book, the chapter, the section. At the foot of the page it is a running foot. and no folio2 · FolioThe printed page number. Pages count from the first leaf, but not every page shows its folio: blank pages and openers often leave it out. on the opener.