I was recently reminded that I know a little something something about printing and how to sometimes get it right even if I can not get html code to agree with my thoughts I still know how to get it on paper. Locally I have decided to go with a printer using the name Gorilla Graphics. As there are many businesses that utilize that moniker I have to stipulate that mine is located in Seattle Washington. I truly to believe in supporting local owned businesses especially Black owned businesses.
But that is not what this post is about today, closely related to choosing a good print house that is not Kinko's is knowing what you are doing when you drop that wonderful product off at the door and listen to the person behind the counter look at your file and give pause; sometimes uttering back the phrase "Are you sure you wanna go with this?"
You in inadvertently have a to make an educated snap decision to make on the spot: ask for advice that you did not know you needed, retrieve your file and go research on your own what the clerk saw and hope you find it, or charge ahead and demand that they use the structure, font, page size and margins that you have so diligently worked on.
When you get the bill for a product that the pages dont match up, margins take text into the gutter (seams of the binding), your cover art only wraps around one fourth of the front and back covers and the blurbs in the front leaf did not print and to top it off your acknowledgment page is in the middle of the book off center. You of course instantly blame the copy tech and you refuse to pay for the "botched job" you realize that you could have made some simple corrections.
Start with the basics and go forward. If you can not get it right call a professional they are called typesetters or typographers.
Realize that If typefaces are the bricks and mortar of communication, then we, the typographers, are the architects. A simple and understated building may pass unnoticed by many, but everyone notices an ugly one. Likewise with typography: Good designs serve their purpose and may not elicit comment, but we can all spot bad typography, even though we may not be able to say why it’s bad.
Sometimes we dont even know when we are looking at bad typography but our brain knows
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