[Fwd: font colors]

[Catlyn catlyn@xxxxxxxx]

Catlyn wrote:
>
> Re: aging eyes...
>
> A number of years ago, I became responsible for editing, printing, and
> distributing our town report and decided to have some fun with it by
> re-designing the book, which was the usual soft cover, approx. 8 1/2^ x
> 5 1/2> (folded 11"), of over 150 pages and growing.
>
> Having learned that, to make the extremely tight deadlines, I had had to
> do some of the photography, typesetting, et al -- in addition to some of
> the writing, all the re-write & editing, as well as some of the printing
> -- I decided that in 1979-80 I would do it all -- except the
> illustrations. (Managed to persuade an architect, a town "birder", who
> was recovering from an accident, to do some drawings of conservation
> land.) Since I was working full-time, I had to "borrow" equipment at
> night.
>
> My finished product was hard cover, 12 1/2^ x 8 1/4> (folded 161/2") --
> easier to hold and, with fewer pages, more inviting to read. I decided
> to go with offset and typeset the body in Souvenir 12 pt. because I was
> enamored with the font's S and open, easy to read and, therefore, to
> opaque, style. (When you have to deal with a lower case e, and neither
> your eyes nor hand are accustomed to the work, every little advantage
> helps!!) It was definitely more interesting than the usual Century,
> Garamond, or Times Roman, and a definite improvement over the 8-9 pt.
> body and 6 pt. numerical reports, that's for sure. Page layout was a
> slight challenge: page numbers were centered on the vertical edges.
> And, by the way, I also had decided to bring it in at 60 pages even if
> it meant using an exacto knife to do some final editing.
>
> Anyway, some minor research had indicated that brown on creme was
> purportedly much easier to read than black/white, green or yellow/black.
> (Remember the chalkboard experiments???) So, as long as I might be hung
> for size, shape, and "strange" font style (this is an old New England
> town), I went all the way. I ran the book on a flatbed Harris, using a
> PMS brown (don't recall the number) on a light creme sheet.
>
> Burlen Bindery agreed to library bind the sixty pages, hard cover in a
> linen. (When equipment broke shortly before the run began, with the
> pickup truck on its way, I was quickly taught and joined the line to
> hand-iron the first 50 or so. Burlen usually bound limited editions,
> such as "The Brandywine Heritage", so I was particularly fortunate.)
>
> The cost of the final product was less than that of the prior year.
>
> Point: even though you may not be able to customize a creme or
> off-white background, you might want to try a brown or brown/red font on
> the white. We received about 50 calls, as well as several letters,
> commenting on the noticeable eye-ease.
>
> Good luck and do let me know what you think.
>
> -Catlyn