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Monday, November 19, 2012

More Adventures in Layout

So I blathered a bit in a previous post about trying to fit my one-page charts into a coil-bound A5 template, my preferred size for a gamebook to use at the table.  I got to thinking, "Hey, Lulu does picture books and such, maybe I kind find a non-traditional template that would work better."  It turns out there is a book size option called "Landscape" that looked really promising.  "Aha," I thought, "that might even work better because I won't have to constantly flip the book back and forth sideways to read the charts.  Unfortunately, at 9x7, with margins and gutters, the landscape really isn't much bigger than the A5's 5.83 x 8.26 in.

I managed to fit a 20 entry table vertically on the page only if I shrunk the font to size 6, blurghgh.

My eyesight isn't what it used to be and for some reason the homes I play in always seem to be dark.  I would like big, fat, easy-to-read fonts.  But I would also like a book I can have in handy in a very convenient size, not like a honking textbook.  Maybe these are mutually exclusive goals.  Maybe I was actually being a visonary designing for single sheets of paper because everything will be on tablets soon.

I'm tempted to try the 6 point font route just to see how it would come out.  What is the smallest font size you can tolerate for occasional lookups?  Have you had similar struggles using the page efficiently for something you are laying out?

5 comments:

  1. I have young healthy eyes and I'm not interested in looking at anything smaller than 8 or 9 depending on the font.

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  2. Thanks for the feedback. I think I'll look at digest size next. And maybe see if the coil binding is adding much to the gutter over a saddle stitched binding.

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  3. I can't go under 8 without getting slow and nauseous.

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  4. Thanks, Andrew. Yeah, I'll find a way to keep the fonts 12 or maybe even larger for the most important bits.

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  5. I default to Times New Roman 11 point, with 10 point (down to 8 if necessary) for tables. On the screen, 11 point is my favorite. In print, I think you can get away with 10 point. Good luck whatever you decide!

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