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