| Building a Book
I have a collection of knitting patterns that I designed
over the past several years and am gathering half of them
into a pattern book. This half is all texture patterns. The
other half are stranded-knitting color patterns that want
a book of their own. I thought it might be fun to share the
book-construction experience with you, especially if you also
dream of collecting patterns into a publication. This is the
first installment. (November 19, 2004)
What's in a Name?
This collection is called "Great Lakes Chill Chasers."
The name grew out of an experience I had on the way to Meg
Swansen's Knitting Camp. I was traveling in a van with several
friends from Dayton, Ohio and we stayed the night in Ludington,
Michigan. Early the next morning when the day was already
quite warm, we boarded a car ferry to cross Lake Michigan
to Manitowac, Wisconsin. Despite the heat, I wore a sweater.
We sat around a table, ate breakfast, laughed, knit and enjoyed
the 4-hour voyage. When we reached the middle of the lake,
it was quite chilly and I was glad to have my sweater. I announced
that it was my Great Lakes Chill Chaser. That is when I decided
to gather that sweater pattern and other textured projects
into a pattern book.
Planning a Book
Start with the end product — Printing costs put constraints
on book production if the final price is to be kept in a reasonable
range. Since the patterns in the Great Lakes Chill Chaser
collection are all texture, they do not need to be printed
in color. Here is what I consider when planning the basic
book design:
1. Nice, uncoated paper will be durable and allow the reader
to write notes in the book when working on the projects.
2. A warm, dark ink is friendlier, screens to pleasant shades
in photos and costs the same as black ink.
3. Saddle stitched binding (stapled) allows the book to
open flat or be turned back on itself and is economical. I
also like a book to be three-hole drilled (hole punched) so
it can be kept in a notebook if preferred.
4. A standard book size is more economical to produce and
easier to store with other patterns.
Therefore, this book will be designed to stay within the
following specifications:
• The same house stock at was used for the Tongue
River Sock Collection. House stock is paper a printing company
keeps on hand for general printing runs. Companies usually
have a variety of good quality choices, and these cost less
than special order paper since they purchase it in large quantities.
A good rule of thumb is, don't scrimp on paper quality for
a book that will be handled a lot.
• An ink color called "buffalo brown" which
is a black with a touch or red added so it screens to a warm
brown for photos.
• 8.5" x 11" folded, saddle stitched and
3-hole drilled. This guides page layout so the inside margins
are deeper to accommodate the holes. This also means the book
needs to have multiples of 4 pages (probably 48).
Designing a Book
I am a publication designer by trade, but you don't have
to have that background to design and produce a polished,
professional-looking printed piece. Here are some guidelines:
1. Start with a content outline and the printing specifications.
2. Keep the overall design simple, uncluttered and consistent
throughout the book. Consistency is of primary importance.
Your reader learns how to use your book as they go through
it -- consistency helps this process. It also makes the book
look better.
3. What you leave out is as important as what you include.
The eye needs a line of design to follow -- one thing leads
to the next in a logical order. It also needs white space
to rest (and, for knitters, to make notes).
4. Images need to be clear and crisp.
5. The variety of typefaces should be kept to a minimum
and used the same way in each part of the book.
6. Boxed items should have margins both inside and outside
the lines, and screened backgrounds for pattern information
are best left to grocery magazines since they can make reading
difficult.
7. Keep reminding yourself of who will use the book and
how they will use it. "User friendly" is an important
concept.
These are general suggestions that guide my design and production
process. Check back here for more thoughts about production,
for sample images of items that will go in the book, and for
progress reports.
Coming Soon — a free mitten pattern from the
book.
If you have thoughts or suggestions, please email
me.
|
