THE “LAYOUT” MAN

How does the work of the typographer of the twentieth century compare with productions of the past? In the belief of some the good typographer, like the good Indian, is dead. The truth is that much of the printing done during the first four hundred years was not well done. While the same proportionate result still prevails, the ancient did not have the excuse of the modern—lack of time; nor has the modern the excuse of the ancient—lack of facilities. However, while poor work in any century or any industry is explainable, it is not excusable.

EXAMPLE 1
Booklet cover page laid out with pencil and crayon on gray stock

Someone said, “The man who attained his ambition did not aim high enough.” Perfection is not attainable, but it should be the goal in our race. Many typographers are doing good work, altho each is doing it differently. No one is producing perfect typography; but when perfection is the pacemaker no result can be commonplace.

The good typographers of the past had the spirit of the master craftsman and their product was inspired. The modern printer to succeed needs only the inspiration that comes of study, hard work and love of his trade.

Inspired work, however, is generally the result of preparation.

Artists and advertising men realize the necessity of careful preparation for the process of printing, but typographers as a class evidently do not. If they did they would do even better work and make bigger profits possible. Every printshop should have a “layout” man.

In spite of the fact that much good printing is done today, fully nine-tenths of the product is partially unsatisfactory because of lack of preparation. When a business man decides to erect an office building he does not immediately go to a building contractor and tell him to build it. He first consults an architectural engineer, examines drawings and exchanges opinions, and when the building contractor starts his work everything has been planned and specified.

Should printing be done in a less thoro manner? Is not the making of a book, catalog or business card each proportionately as important and as well entitled to proper attention as the larger undertaking? Good typography cannot be produced if preparation is slighted.

Quality printing is not accidental. Shops famed for the artistic excellence of their product have maintained their “shop style” despite changes in the force of workmen and executives, and this individuality, or “shop style,” as it is termed, has been obtained and retained only because the copy has been carefully prepared and the work has been intelligently laid out by some qualified person (artist, ad-writer or typographer) who understands shop preferences in the matter of style. It is the “institutional idea.”

In printshops extensive enough to allow of the expense, one or more layout men should be employed, and in the smaller concerns the head job compositor or foreman could do the work. Solicitors, when artistically fitted, could in special cases lay out their own jobs of printing, as personal contact with the customer peculiarly fits them to do it satisfactorily. The important thing, anyway, is to please the customer. While the art side of the practice of typography is important, it is not all important. Typography is also a business.

If the customer’s tastes and prejudices were ascertained beforehand, many of the changes now made after jobs are in type, frequently causing inharmonious arrangements, could be avoided. The average printer rarely parallels the experiences of a few fortunate printing concerns which, when receiving an order for a booklet or catalog, are told the amount of the appropriation and given carte blanche.

EXAMPLE 3                                                   EXAMPLE 2
Anticipating the appearance of the printed page by utilizing old booklets or preparing specimen sheets of text matter which are cut to proper size and pasted in position. The headings are roughly sketched with pencil

Orders for much of the better class of work are obtained thru “dummies” submitted by printers or solicitors. The customer advises a certain number of such persons that he is in the market for a booklet and would like to receive suggestions. Each competitor prepares a “dummy” on the stock and in the binding intended for the completed booklet. The cover design is roughly sketched or otherwise indicated and the inside pages prepared to represent the finished job.

Let us imagine ourselves in a printshop of medium size, which cannot afford the regular services of an artist. From the composing-room force take the most artistic and practical job compositor and install him at a desk. If there is not sufficient desk work to occupy his full time, arrange with him to fill in spare time at the case. In selecting a man for the position it should be remembered that few typographers have qualifications combining artistic perception and thoro workmanship. It is in a great measure true that a nervous, artistic temperament unfits a typographer for thoro, finished work at the case or stone, while on the contrary, a calm, precise, methodical disposition is often accompanied by lack of imagination. Each workman should have opportunity to do that which he can do best. He of the artistic temperament should lay out the jobs, and he of the mechanical turn of mind should construct them.

EXAMPLE 5

EXAMPLE 6
Ascertaining color combination by means of crayons. The colder color should predominate

EXAMPLE 4-a
After pasting in illustration and counting the lines for machine composition. Reduced from the original

The proprietor or other person in authority should discuss with the layout man the subject of shop style in typographical arrangement. The matter of type equipment should also be gone over, as nothing hinders the layout man so much as to be compelled to use type-faces selected by another having ideas widely different. It is important that the type equipment be appropriate and sufficient for the class of work done. An equipment of a half dozen harmonizing faces of type is far better than one of two dozen ill-assorted faces. Good typography is to a large extent dependent upon the type-faces used.

EXAMPLE 4-b
Instructions to operator

The layout man should make a study of the personality and tastes of a customer. He should meet all such that come into the office, and arrange to call once upon each of the regular customers. He must keep in close touch with conditions in the composing-room, so that in the discharge of his duties he does not call for type-faces already set out of the cases, or not a part of the equipment.

The mechanic and the artist, to do satisfactory work, must have a certain working outfit. The layout man is no exception; while he could perhaps manage with only a lead pencil and foot rule, it would be foolish to do so. His work will be expedited if he has an assortment of good crayons; hard, medium and soft lead pencils; a pair of shears, a T-square, a gelatine triangle, a type-line gage, a table for giving the number of words to an inch in the various size type bodies; and a library of books and periodicals on printing, especially of those showing examples of type designs. To provide him also with a set of water colors, a jar of Chinese white, a bottle of gold paint, a bottle of india ink and several brushes would not be extravagance.

It would be economical and wise if several sample sheets of each kind of stock were kept near his desk in a portfolio or convenient drawer. Book papers could be cut in quarters, cover papers in halves, and cardboard in various convenient sizes, all ready to be used at an instant’s notice. Several each of ruled headings, cut cards and other standard goods should also be included. In laying out jobs, especially large runs, he should make them of such size as will cut from the sheet with little or no waste. If an order is to be rushed, he should ascertain if the stock may be had without delay.

WORDS TO THE SQUARE INCH
Sizes of Type—SOLID
SQUARE INCHES5 POINT6 POINT7 POINT8 POINT9 POINT10 POINT11 POINT12 POINT
16947383228211714
213894766456423428
4276188152128112846856
641428222819216812610284
8552376304256224168136112
10690470380320280210170140
12828564456384336252204168
14966658532448392294238196
161104752608512448336272224
181242846684576504378306252
201380940760640560420340280
2215181034836704616462374308
2416561128912768672504408336
2617941222988832728546442364
28193213461064896784588476392
30207014101140960840630510420
322208150412161024896672544448
342346159812921088952714578476
3624841692136811521008756612504
Sizes of Type—LEADED with 2-point leas
SQUARE INCHES5 POINT6 POINT7 POINT8 POINT9 POINT10 POINT11 POINT12 POINT
15034272321161411
210068544642322822
42001361089284645644
6300204162138126968466
840027221618416812811288
10500340270230210160140110
12600408324276252192168132
14700476378322294224196154
16800544432368336256224176
18900612486414378288252198
201000680540460420320280220
221100748594506462352308242
241200816648552504384336264
261300884702598546416364286
281400952756644588448392308
3015001020810690630480420330
3216001088864736672512448352
3417001156918782714544476374
3618001224972828756576504396
EXAMPLE 7
Table for ascertaining the number of words to square inches. Use of this table in laying out booklets and catalogs will not only save time but will minimize the chance of a miscalculation

EXAMPLE 8
Notehead as set without instructions from layout man The three specimens on this page lack relation in design

For an example of the workings of the layout system we will suppose that the principal of a local business college has brought in typewritten copy of about a thousand words to be made into a small booklet. A little questioning brings out the information that the customer desires something attractive, refined, and of good quality. He does not want a cheap job, and neither has he money to spend upon expensive de luxe booklets.

The layout man looks over his sample papers and finds that there is on hand a ten-cent white antique paper 25 × 38 inches in size. Taking a quarter sheet he folds it repeatedly until the leaf appears to be about the proper size. Measuring it he finds it to be 4¾ × 6¼ inches. The leaf is then trimmed to 4⅜ × 5⅞ inches (thus allowance should always be made for trimming the edges after binding).

For the cover the layout man selects from his samples a medium gray antique stock of good quality. The cover stock should harmonize in finish with the paper on the inside. In this instance an antique finished stock is selected to cover the antique finished paper on the inside. Many are the booklets that would have been improved by attention to this rule of harmony. However, a rough finished cover stock and a smooth inside paper is not as inartistic a combination as a smooth cover stock and a rough inside paper.

The cover stock selected in this instance is 20 × 25 inches in size, and an eighth of this sheet folded once gives a leaf 5 × 6¼ inches. Deciding to have the cover lap three-sixteenths of an inch over the edges of the inside leaves, it is trimmed to 49⁄16 × 6¼ inches.

EXAMPLE 10
Label as set without instructions

On one of the inside leaves a page is penciled off, the layout man judging how much of the paper should be covered by print. For cheap work it is generally necessary to crowd the matter into the least possible number of pages, and in such case narrow margins are allowed. For the better quality of work, liberal margins are necessary to proper results. A page should set toward the top and binding edges, the margins at these places being each about the same. The margin at the right edge should be a little more than at the top and back, and the margin at the bottom should be a little more than at the right edge. For the booklet now supposed to be in course of preparation, 2¾ × 4 inches has been determined as the proper size of the type-page. Each page thus requires eleven square inches of type-matter. The layout man refers to the table (Example [7]) which gives the number of words to a square inch and ascertains that eleven square inches of ten-point type, the lines separated by two-point leads, should accommodate one hundred and seventy-six words. Multiplying this number by six, allowing two pages at the front of the booklet for the title, etc., he finds the booklet will take 1,056 words, about the number of words in the copy supplied.

EXAMPLE 9
Business card as set without instructions

For a booklet of this kind the type should be no smaller than ten-point. Instead of stinting margins and sacrificing legibility, as is often done in endeavoring to force copy into a limited number of pages, additional leaves should be added.

The cover and inside papers having been prepared in the proper size and number of leaves, the dummy is stitched with wire or sewed with silk floss as may be desired. The arrangements of the title-page, the first text-page and a page entirely text matter are indicated in proper position by means of pencil and crayon; or for booklets of a large number of pages it is well to set the first text-page in type and paste a proof of it in the dummy, getting by this means the customer’s approval of both type-face and general effect.

The appearance of the printed page may be anticipated by pasting in position a type-page cut from another booklet already printed. (Examples [2] and [3].) In a shop where much booklet work is done, it would be a convenience to the layout man if a number of specimen pages, set in the available body type (both solid and leaded), were printed for use in preparing dummies. These specimen pages should be about 5½ × 7 inches, a size that would make them usable for most purposes.

The cover arrangement was sketched on the gray stock (Example [1]), the border being represented by the gray lines of a hard lead pencil. The type line was indicated by means of a soft black lead pencil and an orange crayon. Ornaments are not specified because they are better omitted on booklets where dignity is the principal feature.

The dummy booklet thus completed is submitted to the customer and when approved goes to the workrooms with the copy. The compositor, make-up man, stockman, pressman and binder have no excuse for any misunderstanding, as, generally speaking, they have merely to duplicate the dummy. The labor of the estimate man, too, is lessened, as the dummy booklet affords a substantial basis upon which to figure the cost.

The plan of making a dummy booklet, just explained, can be adapted to many jobs, but of course it should be varied to suit special requirements.

EXAMPLE 12
Business card as laid out

In cases of periodicals and voluminous catalogs, dummy sheets should be printed with the outlines of the page indicated by light-faced rule. With such sheets the layout man is enabled quickly to paste in position prints of the illustrations and text matter from the galley proofs. Getting his instructions in such methodical manner the make-up man can do his work without confusion of orders, and the proofreader’s task is made easy.

When illustrations are provided to be incorporated in the text matter there is more or less trouble in making up the pages. To center all illustrations so as to avoid changing the width of the type lines is easy but not always artistic. It is economical to have plates made the full width of type matter, but the printer is seldom consulted until after the plates are made. However, various sizes of illustrations may be attractively grouped on facing pages and the type-matter filled in around them. This method may appear difficult because the text matter is often composed on machines; but it is not difficult if prepared in this manner: Take the prepared body-type sheets, cut them to the required page size, paste them to the dummy sheets, and upon the pages of text matter thus presented fasten the prints of the illustrations in proper positions. The body-type sheets need not be used on pages for which there are no illustrations; in such instances merely the number of lines to a page is ascertained. Example [4-a] demonstrates how the print of the illustration is placed over the body-type page, and the “step” shape of the pencil lines shows how the boundaries of the type lines are made to fit the outline of the illustration. The length of type lines should always be ascertained with the pica (twelve points) as the unit of measurement.

EXAMPLE 11
Notehead as laid out for compositor. The three specimens on this page are related in design

Supposing Examples [2], [3] and [4] to be dummies of pages, the composition of which is to be done on the linotype or monotype machine, the layout man with his pica measure starts at the initial letter T and measures and counts the lines, noting the results in the margins. (See Example [4-a]. The page as shown is slightly reduced, hence the lines do not measure as set forth.) The figures are copied from the margins onto a slip and will then appear as shown in Example [4-b].

This plan emphasizes the necessity of a layout man as a member of the executive staff in the modern printshop. It may be a simple procedure to reset run-around matter at the moment it is needed by the make-up man, but it is an expensive habit.

EXAMPLE 13
Label as laid out

The average stationery job is sometimes given scant attention in the larger printshops where long runs on cylinder presses overshadow it in importance. This condition leads to unsatisfactory results and the customer is the sufferer; his stationery as a whole is likely to be not only inartistic but a patchwork of typographic styles and arrangements. To illustrate this: A dealer in artists’ materials orders at various times letterheads, business cards and package labels, and the copy is sent to the workrooms with no instructions about style. Assuming that a different compositor gets each order, the jobs are composed as shown in Examples [8], [9] and [10]. These specimens are above the average in arrangement, but are faulty in that they have no relation to each other in appearance; have nothing distinctive in their typography that identifies the business card with the letterhead or the label.

EXAMPLE 14
Layout of a cover-page, with instructions in detail as to material to be used. Reduced from original

EXAMPLE 15
Cover-page as set from the instructions. Reduced from original

How different the results had an artistic layout man prepared each order before it was given to the compositor. Examples [11], [12] and [13], roughly sketched with pencil and crayon, demonstrate what could have been done. With stationery thus harmoniously treated a business house would be given credit for individuality and progressiveness.

In a printshop doing a good class of work (every printshop should endeavor to do that) the layout man ought to make a study of color harmony. Not that it is necessary for him to attend an art school or devote most of his time and attention to experimenting with prisms and light rays; charts and tables which help to solve the color problem are easily obtainable. After a little study and practice he will learn that while red, yellow and blue (the primary colors) harmonize with each other, mixtures of two or all three give shades that are more pleasing. Olive-green (an art shade) substituted for blue, in combination with orange, produces an artistic blend in place of the gaudiness which otherwise would prevail. This because olive-green is a mixture of blue and orange; a relationship in color composition is established and contrast lessened.

A black page increases in interest with the addition of a touch of red, and for this purpose vermilion is recommended. The vermilion shade of red is approximated by mixing white with orange-red.

The colored crayons with which the layout man should be supplied are exceedingly useful in determining color combinations. The eye is a reliable guide in this matter, if it is carefully trained to recognize color harmonies. It should be easy to distinguish the right from the wrong color treatment in Examples [5] and [6]. The colder color should always predominate; backgrounds of bright red and bright yellow are difficult to harmonize with any color of ink excepting black.

From the insert (Examples [16] and [17]) will be seen how a color combination may be roughly sketched on the actual stock to be used and the finished result indicated without setting a line of type or inking a roller.

When the page is set in type it is well to have the proofs in the colors and on the stock to be used, but it is unnecessary to separate the design into several forms to do so. For a job such as Example [15], for instance, two proofs may be pulled, one in black and one in orange, and the initial cut out of the sheet printed in orange and pasted in position on the sheet printed in black. Another and a more satisfactory way is to ink the entire page with black, then clean the black from the initials, and ink them with orange by means of a finger. It may be relevant to suggest that the human skin is ideal for inking purposes, and that a printer’s composition roller is an imitation of its qualities.

The layout man, in addition to the study of ink harmony, should learn to blend colors and tints of paper stock. He should know that a buff or cream inside paper reflects the color of a yellow-brown cover stock, and hence makes a prettier combination than white inside paper and brown cover stock. Another important point is the color blending of a tipped-on illustration and the stock acting as a background. The prevailing shade in a color illustration should be matched by the background or by a surrounding border, or by both.

When laying out advertisements or other display pages the size of the type-face should be written in the margin (Example [14]). Practice will enable the layout man intuitively to approximate the size needed.

EXAMPLE 20
An architectural subject appropriately treated