Type & Image

Video Transcription

Hi, everyone. My name is Mario. And I'd like to welcome you to today's lesson on type and image.

So this lesson is going to introduce you to the art of combining type an image on the same page. So throughout the lesson, feel free to pause, fast forward, and rewind as usual. And when you're ready to go, let's get started.

So we're going to start off with type and image today by describing the page. And we have two typical pages here international A4 and Standard US paper. And A4, like I mentioned, is more of international standard, especially in Europe. And it comes in at roughly 8.2 by 11.6 inches.

And I think it's really 8.267 by 11.693. But you'll see the measurements in layout software that way. But it's typically rounded off to 8.3 by 11.7.

The US paper is what we are all typically accustomed to using to write and print. And that runs 8.5 inches wide by 11 inches tall. And you can see the difference in proportion here. The A4 page is taller and narrower than the US Standard. The US page is a bit shorter and wider by comparison.

OK, so now we know what common paper sizes are. Let's talk about the golden section. And the golden section is a geometrically-calculated proportion recognized through art and design history as aesthetically pleasing. So this is important to know, as simple as it sounds, because we want to make our designs aesthetically pleasing, of course.

So you might have seen this before. And this is what is known as the golden section. And you can see it has these two simple divisions. And it's said, again, to be a proportion that is aesthetically pleasing.

And this ratio can be taken further to create these square areas that are also in a proportionate to each other. They get proportionally smaller or larger, depending on the direction. And you might not see right away, but it also creates this flow and sense of direction for the viewer.

And they call this the golden spiral or Fibonacci spiral. And this is useful in aiding designers with layout. So placing different bodies of type or type and image combinations in ways that create an easy reading experience, a nice flow, and a aesthetically-pleasing design.

And this is a page of the Bible. And this dates back, all the way back to the 1400s. And I just wanted to show you this one in particular, so you can see that type and image combination. It's an image here with ornate capitals. And so there's designs going on here.

So here's our next example of a illuminated manuscript. And illuminated manuscript is basically a manuscript, where there is text and decoration, like decorated letters, like we saw from the last example or decorative borders, illustrations and the such. But anyway, so we have another example of something that, again, dates back to the 1400s, so very, very old. But still, the combination of type and image, so naturally with the way technology has progressed, it's become a lot easier to create layouts in publishing.

And this is leading us to one of our key terms-- desktop publishing, which is the term for the creation of digital documents using page layout software. This production method revolutionized the work of the graphic designer. So a combination of the introduction of the PC, page layout software, and laser printer really impacted the design, practice, print production, and cycle, or workflow.

And here's a quick look at the breakdown of the desktop publishing process. You can see we have our copy and photos, and graphics that get combined into our finished layout and printed final topic. But let's talk about this a little bit more in depth here.

So our cycle, or workflow, now, you have copyrighting in our graphic or photography, so, again, that type and image. And often, this is handled simultaneously by a writer, photographer, and Illustrator. And if not, the writer will use word processing software, like Writer or MS Word. And the photographer can use digital cameras and image editing software. Or the Illustrator can use illustration software, editing software, like Gimp or Photoshop, and others.

Then a graphic designer or desktop publisher combines type an image with page layout software. And so this is kind of an example of that. This is InDesign.

And then, the final layout or design can be printed using something like a laser printer or a commercial printer. And with today's process and technology, desktop publishing is way easier than ever before, because of what's called WYSIWYG. And WYSIWYG is W-Y-S-I-W-Y-G.

And it stands for "what you see is what you get." And it's used to describe the ability to see type and image detail on a computer screen that is the equivalent of the printed version. So a designer's able to put something together in software like Photoshop and know that what he sees on screen is basically what it's going to look like when it's printed.

And you can see from the example here that the printout is not 100% identical and, ultimately, it's more of an approximation. But you start to see WYSIWYG in action, where what you see on screen becomes very close to the end result when it's printed. So that's amazingly powerful and something that, I think, we really take for granted sometimes. I mean it really is amazing that we can do that.

Well, everyone, that ends today's lesson. We'll conclude with our key terms-- golden section, desktop publishing, and WYSIWYG. Hope you've enjoyed this lesson with me today. My name is Mario. And I will see you next lesson.