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Simply

How to design pages for desktop printersthat cant print to the edge.borderlessContinued


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2of11 Simply borderless 0609

(Left) How many times haveyou been stuck with a page like

this? You design a nice page

thats perfect as

a full bleed (inset),

only to have it

scale to t the

printer margins,

which are rarely

uniform on one

printer, let alone from printer

to printer. The result is anundesignedwhite border that

distracts from your good work.

Simply borderlessHow to design pages for desktop printers that cant print to the edge

Modern desktop printers are small

technical wonders that can put brilliant,

high-resolution images on ne paperfor pennies. But for $99 they cant do

everything, including print to the edges

of the sheet (a full bleed). Most leave a

white border, which is often irregular

and differs from printer to printer.

This border can be a big distraction.

Its real problem, however, is that the

border is undesigned and undesignable.

So what to do? Instead of ghting

it, join it. Amplify the white space, and

make it part of your designs.

Before

EPA2005 Californiaestuaries report

EPA2005 California

estuaries report


3/18

Before&After Simply borderless 3of11


XiBAmagazine.com U

Make more white

The surest way to eliminate the white border is to make more white. Reducing yourlive matter visually disconnects it from the edge of the page.

(Above, left) The close proximity of image to edge creates

a visual connection, so the eye perceives a border. (Mid-

dle) Reduce the image far enough to disconnect itfrom

the edge, and the border effect disappears. The image is

now like a gallery piece hanging alone on a white wall

(right). This smaller size has big benet: You can crop and

move the image around and actually design the page.

(Above, middle) Note that to maintain equal margins on all sides,

the image has been cropped (its skinnier), and the result is more

focused on the descriptive coastline and more dramatic.


4/18



XiBAmagazine.com U

Get moving

Moving the image to eye level creates three different margin widths, so a framenever forms. Segmenting the image vertically moves the eye down the page.

Borders are static, so what you need is movement.

(Above, left) The image at eye level yields more natu-

ral viewing plus three different margin widthsnar-

row (top), medium (sides) and wide (bottom)which

eliminates the border effect. Segmenting the image

in columns creates activity within it and moves the

eye down the page.

Above is one image divided vertically. You can also create a

collage of two or three images (right). Mix and match colors,

shapes and textures until you have a strong composition.

From one image you

can pull out three

or more column- or

row-shaped areas.

This is an excellent

technique for using

images that have

more than one area

of interest, because

you can pick the

most descriptive

parts and eliminate

the rest.

narrow

wide

med med


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XiBAmagazine.com U

Straight-round

A straight, uppercase

typeface contrasts

beautifully with the

round logo. But since

the page and imageare also rectangular,

adding this heavy block would

overwhelm the light logo (inset).

Coordinate the type

Typestyles and sizes that correspond to elements on the page will unify the design.Similarities convey harmony; contrasts convey energy.

All round

A round, lowercase type-

face (same height, simi-

lar weight) mirrors the

round logo. Now seen

as a group of four circles,the line contrasts beauti-

fully with the rectangular image and

gives the page two strong shapes.

Alignment sustains the vertical movement.


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XiBAmagazine.com U

Varying marginsEye-level placement

results in three different

margin widths, which adds

visual activity and keeps

margins from connecting

and forming a frame.

Eye levelA letter-size page is

about the same size as

the human head. Result:

Eye level is the strongest

and most comfortable

place for a focal point.

Make a landscape

A horizontal image can be quite large. It has the energy ofcontrasting directionand stillappears borderless because of its varying margins and side-to-side movement.

Same proportionsUnify image and page

easily by using the same

proportions for both; just

rotate 90 and reduce

to about 60%.

medium

wide

narrow narrow


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XiBAmagazine.com U

Create a focal center

A single line of type sustains the horizontal movement and is a powerful and sophisticatedfocal point. The small logo completely controls the open space around it.

Small is denitely powerful. Here, the gallery effectone image alone on a wallis working to the max.

The page has two zones, dark and light. Centered in

each zone is a focal pointthe headline in one at eye

level, the logo in the other. Each controls its space.

This subtle treatment is classier and more effective

than SHOUTINGyoohoo!for attention.

EPA | 2005 California Estuaries ReportKey to the headline is quietness. One type-

face in one line at one size but different

weights yields a beautifully low-key setting.

EPA | 2005 Cal

Heavy Light

Light on

dark

Dark on

light


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XiBAmagazine.com U

Energize the page

Cousin to the landscape format is the banner, an extremely panoramic shapewhose total contrast to the vertical page creates real energy.

Extreme contrasts Tall-wide,

fat-thin, up-down, side-to-side

Youll almost always be surprised

by how little it takes to convey the

heart of an image. Here, one thin

slice shows coastline, inlet, estuar-ies and wet and dry land masses.

Thats the whole story!

Dull space The beauty of the panoramic shape

is that its so differentfrom the page. It works

for many images, but in this case were seeinga little more uninteresting space than wed like

(above), so well crop it to half a page (below).


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XiBAmagazine.com U

California Estuaries Report 2005

ENVIRONMENTAL

(Left) Border? What border? There is very little

on the page but its really designed; it has a

strong focal point and a lot of movement. Both

text and logo are colored gray to recede, leaving

the image center stage. The irregular left edge

(right) keeps unwanted lines from forming.

Align right

With image and text aligned to the right and at eye level, the white spacenormallythought of as emptyis controlling the page. This is a veryactivedesign.

What size should the type be, and where does it go?

Work with whats in front of you and nearby. In this case, the penisulas and

inlets (above) become our rulers and govern type size, line spacing and

logo size. This creates visible relationships that unify the design. Similarly,

the extended typeface echoes the horizontal shape of the image.

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY





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Before&After


XiBAmagazine.com USimply borderless 10of11

Typefaces

1 Trajan Bold | 164 pt

2 Trajan Regular | 46/47 pt

3 Futura Book | 160 pt

4 Helvetica Condensed Light | 21 pt

5 Helvetica Neue Heavy Ext | 16 pt

6 Helvetica Neue Light Ext | 16 pt

Images

7 (a-b) Photos.com

Article resources

Colors

C50 M15 Y55 K208

3



4

8

6

7b

7aEPA| 2005 California Estuaries Report

6

5

7a

EPA2005 California

estuaries report

1

7a

2


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Before&After

11of11 | Printing formats

XiBAmagazine.com USimply borderless 11of11

Simply borderless 0609

Simply borderless 11of11

Before & After magazine

Before & After has been sharing its practical approach

to graphic design since 1990. Because our modern world

has made designers of us all (ready or not), Before &

After is dedicated to making graphic design understand-

able, useful and even fun for everyone.

John McWade Publisher and creative director

Gaye McWade Associate publisher

Vincent Pascual Staff designer

Dexter Mark Abellera Staff designer

Editorial board Gwen Amos, Carl Winther

Before & After magazine

323 Lincoln Street, Roseville, CA 95678

Telephone 916-784-3880

Fax 916-784-3995

E-mail [email protected]

www http://www.bamagazine.com

Copyright 2005 Before & After magazine, ISSN

1049-0035. All rights reserved

You may pass this article around, but you may not alter

it, and you may not charge for it. You may quote brief

sections for review. If you do this, please credit Before

& After magazine, and let us know.To feature free

Before & After articles on your Web site, please contact

us. For permission to include all or part of this article in

another work, please contact us.

Subscribe to Before & After

Did you enjoy this article? Subscribe, and

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For paper-saver formatPrint: (Specify pages 1318)

For presentation formatPrint: (Specify pages 111)

Before & After is made to t your binder

Before & After articles are intended for permanent reference. All are titled and numbered.

For the current table of contents, click here. To save time and paper, a paper-saver format of this article,

suitable for one- or two-sided printing, is provided on the following pages.

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1of6

Simplybor

derless0609

0609Simplyborderless

Simply

Howtodesign

pagesfordesktopprinters

thatcantprinttotheedge.

borderless

(Left)How

manytimesha

ve

youbeenstuckwithapa

gelike

this?Youdesignanicepage

thatsperfectas

afullbleed

(inset),

onlytohave

it

scaletotthe

printermargins,

whicharerarely

uniform

onone

printer,letalonefrom

printer

toprinter.Theresultisan

undesigned

whiteborder

that

distractsfrom

yourgood

work.

Mode

rndesktopprintersaresmall

techn

icalwondersthatcan

putbrilliant,

high-resolutionimagesonn

epaper

for

pe

nnies.Butfor$99theycantdo

everythin

g,includin

gprintto

theedges

ofthe

sheet(afullbleed).Mostleavea

white

border,whichisoftenirregular

andd

iffersfromprintertoprinter.

Th

isbordercanbeabigdistraction.

Itsrea

lproblem,however,ist

hatthe

borde

risundesignedandundesignable.

So

whattodo?Insteadof

ghting

it,joinit.Am

plifythewhitesp

ace,and

make

itpartof

yourdesigns.

Before

EPA

2005California

estu

ariesreport

EPA

2005California

estuariesreport


14/18

Before&After|www.ba

magazine.com

2of6

Simplyborderless0609


Makemorewhite

Thesurestwaytoe

liminatethewhiteborderistomakemorewhite

.Reducingyour

livemattervisually

disconnectsitfromthe

edgeofthepage.

(Above,left)Thecloseproximityofimagetoedgecrea

tes

avisualconnection,sotheeyeperceivesaborder.(Mid-

dle)Reducetheimagefa

renoughtodisconnectitfrom

theedge,andthebordereffectdisappears.Theimage

is

now

likeagallerypiece

hangingaloneonawhitewall

(right).Thissmallersize

hasbigbenet:Youcancropand

movetheimagearound

andactuallydesign

the

page.

(Above,middle)Notethatto

maintainequalmarginsonallside

s,

theimagehasbeencropped

(itsskinnier),andtheresultismo

re

focusedonthedescriptivec

oastlineandmoredramatic.

Getmoving

Movingtheimaget

oeyelevelcreatesthree

differentmarginwidths,soaframe

neverforms.Segmentingtheimagevertica

llymovestheeyedownthepage.

Bordersarestatic,sowh

atyouneedismovement.

(Above,left)Theimagea

teyelevelyieldsmorenatu-

ralviewingplusthreedi

fferentmarginwidthsnar-

row

(top),medium

(sides)andwide(bottom)which

eliminatesthebordereffect.Segmentingtheimage

incolumnscreatesactiv

itywithinitandmovesthe

eyedownthepage.

Aboveisoneimagedividedvertically.Youcanalsocreatea

collageoftwoorthreeimages(right).Mixandmatchcolors,

shapesandtexturesuntilyo

uhaveastrongcomposition.

Fromoneimageyou

canpullou

tthree

ormoreco

lumn-or

row-shape

dareas.

Thisisane

xcellent

technique

forusing

imagestha

thave

morethan

onearea

ofinterest,because

youcanpickthe

mostdesc

riptive

partsandeliminate

therest.

narrow

wide

med

med


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magazine.com

3of6



Strai

ght-round

Astraight,uppercase

typefacecontrasts

beautifullywiththe

roundlogo.Butsince

thepageandimage

arealsorectangular,

addingthisheavyblockwould

overw

helmthelightlogo(inset).

Coordinatethetype

Typestylesandsizesthatcorrespondtoelementsonthepagewillu

nifythedesign.

Similaritiesconvey

harmony;contrastscon

veyenergy.

Allround

Around,lowercase

type-

face(sameheight,simi-

larweight)mirrorsthe

roundlogo.Nowseenas

agroupoffourcircles,

thelinecontrastsbeauti-

fullywiththerectangularimage

and

givesthepagetwostrongshapes.

Alignmentsustainstheverticalmovement.Va

ryingmargins

Eye-levelplacement

resultsinthreedifferent

marginwidths,wh

ichadds

visualactivityand

keeps

marginsfromcon

necting

andformingafram

e.

Eyelevel

Aletter-sizep

ageis

aboutthesam

esizeas

thehumanhe

ad.Result:

Eyelevelisth

estrongest

andmostcom

fortable

placeforafocalpoint.

Makealandscape

Ahorizontalimage

canbequitelarge.Ithastheenergyofcontrastin

gdirection

andstill

appearsborderless

becauseofitsvaryingm

arginsandside-to-side

movement.

Sameproportions

Unifyima

geandpage

easilyby

usingthesame

proportio

nsforboth;just

rotate90

andreduce

toabout60%.

medium

wide

narrow

narrow


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magazine.com

4of6



Createafocalcen

ter

Asinglelineoftype

sustainsthehorizontalmovementandisapow

erfulandsophisticated

focal

point.Thesm

alllogocom

pletelycontrolstheopenspacearoundit.

Smallisdenitelypowerful.Here,thegalleryeffect

oneimagealoneon

awallisworkingtothema

x.

Thepagehastwoz

ones,darkandlight.Centered

ineachzoneisafo

calpointtheheadlineinone

ateyelevel,thelog

ointheother.Eachcontrolsits

space.Thissubtlet

reatmentisclassierandmore

effectivethanSHOUTINGyoohoo!forattention.

EPA

|2005

CaliforniaEstuariesReport

Keytotheheadlineisquietness.Onetype

-

faceinonelineatonesizebutdifferent

weights

yieldsabeautifullylow-keysetting.

E

PA

|2005

Cal

Heavy

Light

Lighton

dark

Darkon

light

Energizethepage

Cousintothelandscapeformatisthebann

er,anextremely

panora

micshape

whosetotalcontrasttothevertical

pagecreatesrealenerg

y.

ExtremecontrastsTall-wide,

fat-thin,up-down,side-to-side

Youl

lalmostalwaysbesurprised

byhowlittleittakestoconveythe

heartofanimage.Here,onethin

slice

showscoastline,inlet,estuar

-

iesa

ndwetanddrylandmasses.

Thatsthewholestory!

Dull

spaceThebeautyofthepanoram

icshape

istha

titssodifferentfromthepage.It

works

form

anyimages,butinthiscasewere

seeing

alittlemoreuninterestingspacethanw

edlike

(abov

e),sowellcropittohalfapage(b

elow).


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magazine.com

5of6



CaliforniaEstuariesReport2

005

ENV

IRONMENTAL

(Left)Border?Whatborder?There

isverylittle

onth

epagebutitsreallydesigned

;ithasa

stron

gfocalpointandalotofmov

ement.Both

text

andlogoarecoloredgraytorecede,leaving

theimagecenterstage.Theirregularleftedge

(right)keepsunwantedlinesfrom

forming.

Alignright

Withimageandtex

talignedtotherightandateyelevel,thewhitespacenormally

thoughtofasemptyiscontrollingthepage.Thisisaveryactive

d

esign.

Whatsizeshouldthetypebe,and

wheredoesitgo?

Work

withwhatsinfrontofyouandne

arby.Inthiscase,thepenisulasan

d

inlets

(above)becomeourrulersandgo

verntypesize,linespacingand

logos

ize.Thiscreatesvisiblerelationshipsthatunifythedesign.Similarly,

theextendedtypefaceechoesthehoriz

ontalshapeoftheimage.

ENVIRONMENTALPROTECTIONAGENCY


ENVIRONMENTALPROTECTIONAGENCY

CaliforniaE

stuariesR

eport2

005

Typ

efaces

1Tr

ajanBold|164pt

2TrajanRegular|46/47pt

3FuturaBook|160pt

4HelveticaCondensedLight|21pt

5HelveticaNeueHeavyExt|16pt

6HelveticaNeueLightExt|16pt

Images

7(a-b)Photos.com

Articleresources

Colors

C50M15Y55K20

8

3

ENV

IRONMENTALPROTECTIONAGENCY


486 7b

7a

EP

A|2005CaliforniaEstuariesReport

6 57a

EPA

200

5California

estuariesreport

17a2


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magazine.com

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Before&Aftermag

azine

Before&Afterhasbee

nsharingitspracticalapproach

tographicdesignsince1990.Becauseourmodernworld

hasmadedesignersofusall(readyornot),Before&

Afterisdedicatedtom

akinggraphicdesignunderstand

-

able,usefulandevenfunforeveryone.

JohnMcWadePublis

herandcreativedirector

GayeMcWadeAssoc

iatepublisher

VincentPascualSta

ffdesigner

DexterMarkAbelle

raStaffdesigner

EditorialboardGwen

Amos,CarlWinther

Before&Aftermag

azine

323LincolnStreet,Roseville,CA95678

Telephone916-784-3880

Fax916-784-3995

E-mailmailbox@bama

gazine.com

wwwhttp://www.bam

agazine.com

Copyright2005Be

fore&Aftermagazine,ISSN

1049-0035.Allrights

reserved

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