Get out those rulers

Phillip Blanchard · **Posted:** Tue Jun 29, 2004 1:36 pm

Most of us spend the majority of our work day staring at a square computer screen. (Poynter)***No, we don't.***

Phillip Blanchard · **Posted:** Tue Jun 29, 2004 1:40 pm

I find it amusing that "The Design Desk" suggests drawing pages on paper.Sketching can also save time. Once the idea is down on paper transferring it to the computer is easy, and allows more time for engaging storytelling.

***"It's so much simpler on paper! Now, on to engaging storytelling!" (Tip: You can save even more time by using a pencil instead of markers of different colors.)***[ June 29, 2004: Message edited by: blanp ]

Bumfketeer · **Posted:** Tue Jun 29, 2004 2:45 pm

The "Magic of Sketching!" Why didn't anyone think of that decades ago?

Oeditpus Rex · **Posted:** Tue Jun 29, 2004 3:07 pm

Also, before using a digital camera to make photos for publication, take a few Polaroid snapshots to check such things as lighting and composition.

Dyslexic · **Posted:** Tue Jun 29, 2004 9:28 pm

<blockquote>quote:<hr>Originally posted by blanp:
Most of us spend the majority of our work day staring at a square computer screen. (Poynter)***No, we don't.***<hr></blockquote>I've never seen a square computer screen. Perhaps <a href="http://phillipblanchard.com/toys.jpg">this reference</a> will help the people at Poynter avoid such errors.

paulwiggins · **Posted:** Tue Jun 29, 2004 10:50 pm

<blockquote>quote:<hr>Originally posted by blanp:
I find it amusing that "The Design Desk" suggests drawing pages on paper.Sketching can also save time. Once the idea is down on paper transferring it to the computer is easy, and allows more time for engaging storytelling.[[ June 29, 2004: Message edited by: blanp ]<hr></blockquote>To put it mildly, it's design
that I would send back for rethink. Sketches are unnecessary but a good technique to know. I will on ocassion draw a layout on the back of a coaster on those rare instances when a quiet ale proves inspirational.

Lee · **Posted:** Wed Jun 30, 2004 6:45 am

There's a discussion on sketching layouts going on over at visualeditors.com.
For the record, I don't sketch news pages or "template" feature pages unless I'm just drawing a quick mud map for the page editor to send him or her away happy so I can get on with it.
On complicated features pages involving a lot of elements, or on double page photo spreads, I often do rough something out on paper first.BP (before pagination), all page layouts were drawn on paper so the comps would know how to do the paste-up. Nothing wrong with doing it now, as long as it doesn't take up all of your production time.Even without a ruler and a sketchpad, I can tell that my screen isn't square. Must be all that visualisation practice I got in before WYSIWIG was available.[ June 30, 2004: Message edited by: Lee ]

Bumfketeer · **Posted:** Wed Jun 30, 2004 10:58 am

<blockquote>quote:<hr>Originally posted by Lee:
BP (before pagination), all page layouts were drawn on paper so the comps would know how to do the paste-up.
[ June 30, 2004: Message edited by: Lee ]<hr></blockquote>Tell me more!!!!![ June 30, 2004: Message edited by: Bumfketeer ]

Phillip Blanchard · **Posted:** Wed Jun 30, 2004 11:52 am

<blockquote>quote:<hr>Originally posted by Lee:
BP (before pagination), all page layouts were drawn on paper so the comps would know how to do the paste-up. [June 30, 2004: Message edited by: Lee ]<hr></blockquote>Imagine that![ June 30, 2004: Message edited by: blanp ]

SeaRaven · **Posted:** Wed Jun 30, 2004 2:13 pm

*BULLETIN*Poynter Reinvents
Proportion Wheel!

Lee · **Posted:** Wed Jun 30, 2004 7:21 pm

<blockquote>quote:<hr>Originally posted by SeaRaven:
[b]*BULLETIN*Poynter Reinvents
Proportion Wheel!
[/b]<hr></blockquote>Can you ask 'em to reinvent an em ruler, too? A metal one...?

paulwiggins · **Posted:** Wed Jun 30, 2004 7:46 pm

<blockquote>quote:<hr>Originally posted by Lee:
Can you ask 'em to reinvent an em ruler, too? A metal one...?<hr></blockquote>
We dinosaurs still have them, with markings for 8pt ems, 10pt ems, 12pt ems and, even more fossilfiled, inches.

Lee · **Posted:** Wed Jun 30, 2004 7:53 pm

<blockquote>quote:<hr>Originally posted by Paul Wiggins:

We dinosaurs still have them, with markings for 8pt ems, 10pt ems, 12pt ems and, even more fossilfiled, inches.<hr></blockquote>
Do you still take the chinograph and draw a diagonal rule across your "square" computer screen to work out pic sizes?

paulwiggins · **Posted:** Wed Jun 30, 2004 8:08 pm

OK confession time. I used to use one of those projecting boxes to mark up outlines for four-colour work that in those days was sent from New Zealand to Singapore to get done.
One also recalls a quartet of musicians called the Beatles.

Lee · **Posted:** Wed Jun 30, 2004 8:14 pm

<blockquote>quote:<hr> I guess all I can say is thank god for WYSIWIG. I probably won't have gone into newspaper design if I started back in the days of pasteup. <hr></blockquote>
Written by someone at VisualEditors.comI suppose that 15 or 20 years, this designer will be reminiscing about "the olden days, when we actually had to use this thing called a mouse to do stuff on the computer..."

Bumfketeer · **Posted:** Wed Jun 30, 2004 9:00 pm

What I find saddest about the whole thing, having worked the pencil-and-stick thing, is than an entire trade (and a good one) was wiped out by pagination.

Testy Copy Editors

Get out those rulers

Who is online

What They're Saying

Useful Links