May 28, 2009

Does good layout make for better writing?

by

“There are numerous ways for the appearance of a book’s page to turn off a potential reader,” says book designer Maggie Dana in an essay on the How Publishing Really Works blog. She doesn’t really get into how this works, and underplays the quality of the content by quite a lot, but still makes an interesting point about the connection between the impact of what’s written and how it’s designed: “A book’s design (I’m talking interior page design here, not covers) has one major purpose and that is to make the words on the page end up in the reader’s mind as effortlessly and as seamlessly as possible. Doesn’t matter if the book is a novel, a textbook, a dictionary, or even a car repair manual, the principle is the same. If the reader is motivated to absorb the information but finds himself unable to do so, the design is not doing its job.”

Dennis Johnson is the founder of MobyLives, and the co-founder and co-publisher of Melville House.

  • http://baroqueinhackney.wordpress.com Ms Baroque

    Margins, paper quality, typography – white space, glare, contrast, typography – paragraph breaks unless the whole point is the absence of them, punctuation ditto, well I haven’t read the HPRW piece yet but these are the things that jump into my mind. I also prefer smaller books, so the eye isn’t so overwhelmed by acres of text.

  • http://baroqueinhackney.wordpress.com Ms Baroque

    Margins, paper quality, typography – white space, glare, contrast, typography – paragraph breaks unless the whole point is the absence of them, punctuation ditto, well I haven’t read the HPRW piece yet but these are the things that jump into my mind. I also prefer smaller books, so the eye isn’t so overwhelmed by acres of text.

  • http://baroqueinhackney.wordpress.com Ms Baroque

    Okay, just read it. I think it’s great. She’s not attempting to address the quality of text, but she does a fine job of deacribing the importance of graphic design.

    As design comes after the writing, nto sure if it would make for writing better – or better writing – but it is important. Even people who profess not to care how things look are affected by it.

  • http://baroqueinhackney.wordpress.com Ms Baroque

    Okay, just read it. I think it’s great. She’s not attempting to address the quality of text, but she does a fine job of deacribing the importance of graphic design.

    As design comes after the writing, nto sure if it would make for writing better – or better writing – but it is important. Even people who profess not to care how things look are affected by it.

  • http://howpublishingreallyworks.blogspot.com Jane Smith

    Maggie’s piece wasn’t intended to address the quality of the writing, just to make people think about the quality of the design, which is a completely separate issue–and which is often overlooked by people when they try to work out what they don’t like about a book. But she’s right: sensitive interior design can make or break a book, and is so very important to its success.

    Thank you for linking to my blog, by the way; I’m really glad you liked it enough to do that. It’s good to know I’m not talking to myself all the time.

  • http://howpublishingreallyworks.blogspot.com Jane Smith

    Maggie’s piece wasn’t intended to address the quality of the writing, just to make people think about the quality of the design, which is a completely separate issue–and which is often overlooked by people when they try to work out what they don’t like about a book. But she’s right: sensitive interior design can make or break a book, and is so very important to its success.

    Thank you for linking to my blog, by the way; I’m really glad you liked it enough to do that. It’s good to know I’m not talking to myself all the time.

  • http://www.catherinelacey.com Catherine Lacey

    An editor from FSG once told me that he has a theory about books with brown covers: they don’t sell. Put a brown cover on the best book and people just won’t buy it.

  • http://www.catherinelacey.com Catherine Lacey

    An editor from FSG once told me that he has a theory about books with brown covers: they don’t sell. Put a brown cover on the best book and people just won’t buy it.

  • http://www.vestige.org August

    Book design is hugely important. In fact, if a book is available in more than one edition, that’s usually the deciding factor in which edition I choose. There’s a special place in hell for people who make books with tight binding, narrow margins, and deckle edges.

  • http://www.vestige.org August

    Book design is hugely important. In fact, if a book is available in more than one edition, that’s usually the deciding factor in which edition I choose. There’s a special place in hell for people who make books with tight binding, narrow margins, and deckle edges.

  • http://www.pricebonus.com/ PB

    Margins, paper quality, typography – white space, glare, contrast, typography – paragraph breaks unless the whole point is the absence of them, punctuation ditto, well I haven’t read the HPRW piece yet but these are the things that jump into my mind. I also prefer smaller books, so the eye isn’t so overwhelmed by acres of text.

  • http://www.pricebonus.com/ PB

    Margins, paper quality, typography – white space, glare, contrast, typography – paragraph breaks unless the whole point is the absence of them, punctuation ditto, well I haven’t read the HPRW piece yet but these are the things that jump into my mind. I also prefer smaller books, so the eye isn’t so overwhelmed by acres of text.

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