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Chapter 7 Design and Layout
Copyright Goodheart-Willcox Co., Inc.
Margins
White space must be defined in a grid as well.
The simplest grid is a one-column grid, defined by
your margins, or edges of the design. Make sure
your margins are big enough to give the eyes a
break from the text and to allow for your finishing
and binding process.
Using spacious margins gives an importance to
the content. Margins in a textbook or workbook are
sometimes functional, allowing space for notes. On
a spread, or where two pages are always seen side
by side, the inner margins might be larger than the
outside margins, usually by two-thirds of the size,
to accommodate the binding edge and create the
illusion of equal margins. See Figure 7-51.
When using columns of text, set the gutters,
or area between the columns, smaller than your
outside margins. This ensures that the text in the
columns will visually relate to each other rather
than the edge of the page. More margin space
may be necessary at the bottom of the page to
accommodate footers or page numbers. In most
cases, you should not go any closer to the edge of
the page than 1/8″.
Goodheart-Willcox Publisher
Figure 7-51. Margins add white space and allow the eye to rest when reading text.
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