Text layout design in book binding

Foreword:

Text is not only the carrier of language information, but also a symbol system with visual recognition features. It not only expresses concepts, but also conveys emotions by means of v. Text layout design is an integral part of modern bookbinding and has a direct impact on the visual communication effects of book layouts.

The main function of text layout design in book binding is to build a visual bridge between readers and books. However, in some design works of book binding today, the layout design of texts has not received due attention. In the works, the design of text elements is neglected. The font itself has no aesthetic feeling. At the same time, the writing arrangement is disordered and lacks the correct visual order, which makes it difficult for the books to produce a good visual communication effect, and it is also not conducive to the readers effectively reading the books. In view of the current problems, the author discusses "the use of text layout design in book binding."

First, the characteristics of font modeling elements

Books are inseparable from text, and fonts, characters, strokes, and spacing are the basic elements of text. The texts in China's current book binding design mainly fall into two categories: one is Chinese, and the other is foreign language (mainly English). The text layout design mentioned here mainly focuses on the book binding design with Chinese characters as the main subject. . The coordinated combination of textual elements can effectively communicate to the reader a variety of books. However, if there is a lack of coordination between the fonts of the text, visual confusion and disorder will occur to some extent, thus creating an obstacle to reading. How to achieve the unity of text design elements? The key is to find out the intrinsic links between different fonts. The use of internal relations between opposing elements is combined to form an overall coordination and local contrast, with changes contained in the unification.

In book binding, fonts first appear as modeling elements, and in the use of different font styles have different independent qualities, giving people different visual feelings and direct visual appeal. For example, the commonly used fonts are thick and straight strokes, with a square shape as a whole, giving viewers a steady, eye-catching and static visual experience. Many similar fonts are also based on the black body. For our country, the printed fonts evolved from the original Song and Black body to a variety of artistic variations in accordance with the needs of the design space, and a variety of new forms were derived. The children's books have the characteristics of knowledge and interest. Such book design expressions are vivid and lively. The use of varied and interesting fonts, such as POP body and handwriting, is more in line with children's visual experience.

Today's fashion magazines are published at a fast speed and have a large amount of information. Therefore, more paperback covers are used. For example, “Young Vision” magazine adopts the 16-inch format for the development of youth vision. The theme is divided into fashion, space, science and technology, art, humanities, etc. Designers in the book boldly apply unique features based on different themes. Text formatting techniques to expand the layout of the visual style. Figure 1 is the inner page of the magazine. The unique photographic images and simple text collocations naturally unify the layout of the overall magazine into a fashionable and simple style. Here, we find that the wording is always used throughout. It uses a thin circular body. Although it uses a font but it is not monotonous, the designer seeks subtle changes in the font size and line spacing to make a text shape. It presents different visual effects and conveys a strong atmosphere of humanities and arts. Here, we can feel the different characteristics of font styling in its design and use. It has a clear content narrative and rich emotional color. It is necessary to have a deep understanding of the relationship between different fonts. This will maintain the unique character of the font, while the design of the form and content of the unity of the book layout to enhance the overall visual appeal effect. Proper font styling can become a designer's “inspirational corner”, which helps to create a unique layout language that is more in line with the form and content of the book.

Second, the intrinsic link between text fonts

The text in the book binding has three meanings. One is the text form written on the surface. The first is the linguistic meaning of the text, and the other is the text that stimulates people's artistic imagination. For the designer, the third meaning is the most important. We explore the intrinsic links between different fonts. We can use the different fonts used in the screen as the starting point, starting with aspects such as the morphological structure of the font, font size, color level, and spatial relationships. In the design of individual characters, the so-called "shape" refers to the appearance and structure of the font. In order to make the layout design of the text consistent with the style of the book, what kind of fonts and which types of fonts should be selected should be compared and attempted. Using carefully-processed text fonts, you can create a layout with rich expressiveness. Creativity is to concentrate, dig, rub and then break away. [1] The layout design of the text focuses more on the communication of the text. In addition to the accident of the "word" itself that we are concerned with, its own structural characteristics can be a layout material. Therefore, we must pay special attention to the relationship between the size, the straightness, the thickness, and the strokes of the text, carefully consider its structure, and search for the intrinsic links between the fonts.

We can analyze and study the black body and song black body appearing in the layout: the black body is a kind of unlined body, its glyph is slightly the same as the Song dynasty, but the stroke thickness is relatively uniform and there is no adornment type pen type, so it looks solemn Conspicuously, the bold body is divided into a variety of fonts such as bold black, big black, and fine black body. Similar elements exist among them, and they are mostly applicable to titles and emphasized texts and illustrations in books. [2] The song black body is a derivative form of the Song dynasty, which combines the stability of the black body with the slenderness and elegance of the Song dynasty, and typically presents the intrinsic relationship between the two. Judging from the screen level, the black body has a strong sense of expansion. In the design, we can regard it as the “face” in the picture, and the song black body appears as a “dot”, which can also avoid the layout font elements when adopting the group arrangement technique. The messy phenomenon caused by more is echoed by the black body as the title.

Text layout design should have a general design tone, in addition to our unified character features, we can also achieve the effect of a unified tone from the spatial relationship, that is, pay attention to the black, white, gray, and lightness of the font combination. It is a visual extension, not just a change in visual stimuli.

Third, the layout of the font space design

The space defines a certain range and scale for the visual elements of the font. How the visual elements display the most appropriate visual tension and good visual effects in a certain spatial range is directly related to the use of negative space of different fonts in spatial relations. In addition to the solid shape elements of the font in the layout, the remaining space after the arrangement is “negative shape”, including the character spacing and the blank layout around it, which also affects the visual effect of the text layout design. The negative form and the font real form are interdependent, which makes the real form dynamic in the visual sense and obtains the tension; effectively using the features of the negative form space, it can coordinate the layout of the book's text layout. When arranging the position of the text, the structure change and the font combination, the negative position and size should be fully considered. Such as: square font space is relatively large, more suitable for horizontal layout, long font suitable for vertical layout. At the same time, because of the number of strokes in the font itself, the difference in structure, and the direction, different visual effects will be produced.

In our visual space, fonts of various sizes and sizes seem complicated. In fact, there are chapters to be found. The feeling of negative forms is a kind of relaxed, subtle way of leaving blank. Pay attention to the beauty of the blank, in order to better set off the theme, focus on the line of sight and expand the layout of the visual space level. When designers deal with layouts, they use various methods to guide the readers' eyes and give the readers a space for visual rest and free imagination so that they can be visually prone. There are clever gaps between the font strokes that will help highlight the theme of the screen more effectively, focus readers' attention, and make layout clear and dense.

Fourth, text layout design and designer innovative thinking

Design ideas and inspiration are the embodiment of the designer's thinking level, and are also one of the important criteria for evaluating a binding design work. With the development of the times, the design of modern book binding has shown the trend of interactive texts. The advanced printing technology has increased the possibility of layout text design, and the design of texts has shown a trend of diversification and art. This is for designers. Put forward higher requirements. Based on the book's content characteristics, quality positioning, and satisfying readers' visual needs, it focuses on breaking the shackles of traditional thinking design.

The knowledge of memory storage in the designer's mind is the basis for inspiration. Creativity focuses on the word "expression," and books should allow people to understand the "information" conveyed by the designer, which is closely related to the designer's creativity. At the same time, with the extensive use of computers in the field of design, designers' works can express various sensory forms through computers, allowing designers to process large amounts of textual and graphical information in a very short period of time. Sometimes unexpected advances may occur. The results, in turn, continue to inspire the designer's creative inspiration, expand ideas, and open up new areas of layout design.

Text is an important part of layout design. Books must not only achieve the purpose of spiritual communication, but also need to guide and create new visual concepts on the basis of their mutual recognition. With the development of the economy of the times, the application form, communication media, use value, service objects, and creative methods of binding design have been further expanded, and the text layout design will also present a broader space for development.
Author: Qiuchun Ting

Article Source: College of Fashion and Art Design, Xi’an University of Engineering Science and Technology