| Margins |
| Margins are the imaginary vertical demarcations for text or tabular columns. Overall or primary margins are established by the line length function or the cumulative total of secondary margins (tab or text columns). Establishing margins requires careful consideration. The amount of white space surrounding printed material effects both appearance and the readability of the page. Plenty of marginal space indicates luxury or formality; small margins indicate commercialism.Type area in relation to paper area may vary greatly according to the nature of the project. A telephone directory page, will utilize more than 90% of the paper for type extremities, because the inexpensive paper contributes nothing to the appearance and it has no value to the user. A luxury book in which carefully selected stock plays an important part in the design and beauty might use as little as 25% of the area for type, leaving 75% for margin. Two facing pages of a book are considered as a unit; the inside (back) margins are always smaller than the outside (foredge) margins. In bookwork, make the inside margin, the narrowest, the top (head) margin a little wider, the outside (foredge) still wider and the foot/tail margin widest of all.
Margins in good quality bookwork today are based on the standards set by early scribes and printers. The text matter is positioned high up on the page and well into the back margin, providing generous foot and foredge margins. Book and magazines are established differently than are single-page ones. Two pages next to each other when a book is opened must appear to belong together. The geometrical method is one particular method in determining margins for a book. This method calls for a square format. Short running headlines and folios at the foot of the page are ignored as they contribute very little to the mass of the text matter. The following diagrams are three distinct apportionments of type area to paper area for book pages. The first is the most common, using 64 percent of the paper area for type. The width and depth of the type would be 80 percent of the page dimensions.
The second diagram is for a classic book page, using 50 percent of the area for type, or 71 percent of the width and depth.
The final diagram represents a book in the luxury class, using 25 percent for type, half width and depth.
The main case against literal application of proportional margin systems, divine, geometric or otherwise, is that we have become accustomed to a fuller page. Whether advertising design, where type is run to within a hair's breadth of any trim edge, or paper backs, where the margins are minimal are the cause, we cannot say. Today, the use of classical margins appears almost an affectation in a book intended for a broad readership. All we can offer is the re-commendation that the margin be proportioned in a pleasing balance and that differences in height and breadth be obvious. For the most typical hardbound trade books today in the 150 mm by 230 mm size range, a back margin of 4 picas is minimum. This margin is determined first and the others evolved from it. The top margin can be the same width because when the book is bound, the back margin appears narrower. Rather than skimp on the foredge and foot margins the designer may consider reducing the body type size to meet the publisher's page limit. |
