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The Secret Law of Page Harmony

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A method to produce the perfect book.

Theperfectbook. This is how designer-genius Jan Tschichold described thissystem. Not the ok book, nor thepretty goodbook, but theperfectbook.

This method existed long before the computer, the printing press and even adefined measuring unit. No picas or points, no inches or millimeters. It can be

used with nothing more than a straight edge, a piece of paper and a pencil.

And you can still use it. This is a system which is still as valid, beautiful andelegant with ultra-modern design as it ever was for the work of the scribes,

Gutenberg and Tschichold.

The Secret Canon & Page Harmony

Books were once a luxury only the richest could afford and would take monthsof work to be brought to fruition.

And they were harmoniously beautiful.

The bookmakers knew the secret to the perfect book. They shared amongthemselves a systema canonby which their blocks of text and the pages they

were printed on would agree with one another and become a harmonious unit.

So elegant is this method of producing harmony that a fewdesigners saw to

rediscover it. Even though it was considered a trade-secret, they all came to thesame conclusion, hundreds of years apart, independent of one another, but eachsupported by the other.

They found the way to design a harmonious page.A perfect page.

THERESADANCETOALLTHIS

Lets look at this dance, shall we? In its simplest form, here is the canon, withoutthe guides.

A u t h o r e d b y A L E X A N D E R R O S S C H A

1 3 t ho f J u l y , 2 0 1 0G r a p h i c D e s i g n7 2 C o m m e n t

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And here it is with them (using the Van de Graaf Canon and Tschicholdsrecommended 2:3 page-size ratio, which well get into next).

The beauty of the tex tblock begins to soar through its position, size and therelationship it holds with the page upon which it rests.

Not only does the (Tschichold) canon and its rules lead the textblock to

having the same ratio of the page, but it also positions it in perfectly wholeunits.

This is where the harmony is found.

Without anything more than a straight edge and a pencil, this process will giveyouevery single timea textblock which is in a relatively exact position and

size, with echoed margins, all of which are elegantly rational.

No matter the page size, you will always end up with a 99 grid, with thetextblock 1/9th from the top and inside, and 2/9ths from the outside and

bottom.

How is this dance beautiful? Oh, let me count the ways!

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Firstly, our 2:3 ratio is back! Right there! The inner margin is 2 to a 3 of theupper margin. Our outer margin and bottom margin? Double those! 4 to theouter and 6 to the bottom! And the modules? Oh how wonderfully the modulesof our grid echos the 2:3 ratio!

A module is to a

grid, as a cell is to

a table.

Then there is the fact that on a spread, the textblocks on both pages will be thesame distance apart, ov er the gutter, as they are from the outer edge of the page.

And yet another piece of practically beauty? The textblock sits in the uppersection of the page, which is more inline with where our eyes rest on a page, as

well as giving space at the bottom for our hands to hold the book open without

covering any content. Small, but lovely .

because we

hold the book by

the lower margin

when we take it

in the hand andread it Paul

Renner.And my favourite aspect of this page block? Where I believe the harmony comesto a wonderful climax? The height of the textblock is equal to the widthof the page.

Oh how my heart leapt when I learned this! This simple, almost insignificant factgives such joy that I understand why T schichold spent years pouring over the

manuscripts of the scribes! It brings a smile to my face because of the logic andreason it puts forth.

Its a logic which gives way to grace, which leads to beauty graphic design atits most beautiful.

The Canons of the Elegant

Or how I learned to stop worrying and love four answers to the same question.

Earlier I made mention of afew designers who stumbled over this canon of pagedesign and that they did that independently. Whats of real interest is that theycame to the same conclusion differently.

Lets dive into the minds of four creatives, shall we?

THEJ.A.VANDEGRAAFCANON

The easiest to draw and possibly the first to be explicitly used for the book, theVan de Graaf canon is the one most often seen when page canons are discussed.

Van de Graafs canon is the result of lookingand understanding.

He gave his attention to the books printed over a fifty year period beginningwith the first Gutenbergs Bible in 1455. Looking at the books of this time, Van

de Graaf came to the conclusion that many books used some system indetermining the position and size of the textblock.

The brilliance of the system that was used by these early book designers is that

they had virtually no standard measuring unit. Yet the pages of their books werealways laid out with the same spirit.



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Using a compass, ruler (and, obviously, measuring units that were standard),Rosarivo found that there was a system to Gutenbergs book that can be seen,

understood and applied to any other page.

In short, the system works by dividing the height and width of the page into 9ths.The diagonal rules and circle helps to establish text block width and height,

which is really a support system, should you use the 2:3 ratio.

This is of benefit because it shows how closely Gutenberg followed the lead of

the scribes of the time, not only in texture of page and shape of letters, but in thedesign of the page too.

TSCHICHOLDSSECRETCANON

As well as a talented and passionate graphic designer and typographer,Tschichold was a skilled calligrapher who practiced throughout Europe duringthe early 20th century.

So passionate he was that he sought a new understanding of book pageconstruction as it was used during late Gothic times.

The culmination of his work in 1953 resulted in Tschicholds Golden Canon

Which through further research he found mirrored those which had comebefore.

But rather than be discouraged, he found reassurance. Tschichold even

described Villards figure as the final and most rewarding confirmation of myresults. And more than just stumble over repetitive results, he realised that anumber of people, those mentioned here, had all come to the same conclusions

through different means. He saw the string that ran through this history.

Tschichold had the benefit of modern tools and drawing systems, so his diagramisnt obviously drawn like those of Graaf or Honnecourt, though they do support

his findings.

In The Form of the Book, he expresses that the key to this positioning of thetype area is the division into nine pans of both the width and the height of the

page [much like using Rosarivo's canon]. The simplest way to do this was foundby J. A. v an de Graaf. So while Tschichold had established the blue-print of theGothic manuscripts, he happily turned to the work of others to show how todraw it, seeing that their ideas and his own aligned perfectly.

However he did establish a new rule the page ratio is best at 2:3.

This was the magic bullet that the other canons were missing. His reasoning was

that it sits within the Fibonacci Sequence, as well as the Golden Ratio, andestablishes that the textblock will be harmonious andproportional to the page its how the height of it equals the width of the page.

He reveled in this elegance, as well as that of the margin proportions of 2:3:4:6



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(inner, top, outer, bottom), equated to the margins of 9ths found by

Honnecourt, Graaf and Rosarivo. Its all so neat and holds reason.

Tschichold gave a harmony to the elegant.

THEDANCEOFTHEFOURCANONS

Modern Examples

Though largely forgotten today, methods and rules upon which it is

impossible to improve have been developed for centuries.

To produce perfect books these rules have to be brought to life and applied.

Jan Tschichold

While I do find a certain kind of beauty in the diagrams above, they arent muchwithout a little aesthetic sensibility thrown in, are they? I quickly pulled

together three examples of how the diagram might be used, in the hope of gettingyour mind ticking.

APDF of all thats

found below is

also available.

MINIMALMAGAZINESPREAD

One with which I truly had some fun.

I worked to have the text play within the guides, rather than be manipulated bythem. The baseline of the intro paragraph sits near the 1/6th intersection, thetower sits so the island upon which it stands is at the bottom of the textblock but

the cross-page diagonal shoots right through the middle of it.

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ANNUALREPORTSPREAD

Alright, so a fairly dull bit of content, but it shows how the grid can be used. The

outer margins work so nicely for subheads and notes that I couldnt pass up thechance to lay this out.

It is the empty space that works for this layout, as it often does for typography,

especially as we have a bit of room to comfortably hold our hanging numbers something always worth being happy about! I also tried to stick to Tschicholdsidea of holding about 10 words on average to a line, which I think works quitenicely here.

Those with keen eyes will notice the title Global Locations sits on the 1/12th line,while our textblock starts at the 1/9th. Even keener ones will notice the margin

between the subhead and the textblock is equal to our leading. Its this kind oflittle touch that helps separate ourselves from amateur and take a step towardprofessional.

ILLUSTRATEDTITLEPAGEFORMAGAZINE

Almost purely by accident did this happen. Notice how the text sits within therules, especially the N ofNo and the E ofate?

While I had the textblock guides showing, I didnt have the Villard Diagram on

I simply placed the title tex t within the textblock in a way that felt balanced andeven, with a little over hang here and there. Then when I turned the Diagram on,

I was so pleased to see how it all landed!

I also really enjoy the way the intro text sits tightly between the bottom of the

textblock and the 1/3rd vertical line.



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Youll also notice that I tried to have the main features of the face sitcomfortably in the textblock also and so that the title text was balanced.

Gently Evoking

I look at these linesthese systemsand I hear the gentle sliding of a stringquartet dancing from note-to-note.

This layout slides smoothly into position, much like the notes, gently evokingand beautifully striving so the heart of the content may dance.

Today, all this is far easier but that isnt the point, is it? T he point is to havesome sort of balance. Yeah, thats it. Running through Tschicholds Golden

Canon or the Villard Figure is of little meaning, right?

Well. Maybe. T hough I do like the elegance andprocess of doing it as if I wereusing a pencil and straight edge digitally. I ts a lovely routine that gives me joy.But, this is also of little meaning in the end.

So then, what is of meaning? Simply put what goes into the text block. Whatgoes around it. What directs the eye to it and what we as designers and copy

writers and illustrators do with this space.

Putting the text in the right place doesnt make the text right to look at. Its onlythe firstbalanced and harmoniousfoot forward.

REFERENCES & LINKS Book Design by Andrew Haslam

My interest in this grid system began with this book. I cant explain howimpressed I am with this collec tion of practical design principles, practices andideas, with the design of a book as the basis. Very much recommended!

The Form of the Book:

Essays on the Morality of Good Design by Jan Tschichold

An essayin here is where a lot of Tschicholds perspective on these systems canbe found a must have.

http://www.web2pdfconvert.com/?ref=PDFhttp://www.web2pdfconvert.com/?ref=PDFhttp://www.scribd.com/doc/14747396/Tschicholdhttp://www.amazon.com/dp/0881791164/?tag=retinart0d-20http://www.amazon.com/dp/0810992205/?tag=retinart0d-20


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Canons of Layout from 51 Elliot

A great article on the page canons with thoughts on how to apply them to webdesign.

Villard diagram from Daniele Capo

Its always fun reading people who are a lot smarter than you, and Daniele isdefinitely a lot smarter than I am. This is a quick word on the V illard Diagram (orFigure, as I referred to it).

Van de Graaf canon in John Baskervills work

A greatvideo illustrating the canon as employed by Baskervill.

P R E V I O U S A R T I C L E N E X T A

Related ArticlesJan Tschichold's Inspiring PenguinsClarity! Demanded the ModernistsThe Timeless Beauty of NationalGeographic

TagsArchitecture, Book,

Grid, History,Process, Theory,

Typography

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S T U A R T T H U R S B Y

1 3t h o f J U L Y , 2 0 1 0 w w w

This is a highly informative and interesting read. Thanks for posting it, Alex.

I was a bit concerned that, in practice, it would lend itself much more to bookinterior design than magazine design, but as you proved here, it can work well as

both. The footer gutter (Im sure theres a proper term for that) may be a bittoo large and empty for mass-market consumer magazine sensibilities, but putit in the right editorial hands and it gives the content just enough room to

breathe.

L I S A M A N S O N1 3t h o f J U L Y , 2 0 1 0 w w w

Beautifully written Alex.

Ive really enjoyed rediscovering a lot of these theories of late as most of thistype of information was glossed over when I was at Uni. I absolutely lov e thehistory & passion of early typography & design.

BTW I love the inclusion of the louvre image in the annual report sample tiesin very nicely :)

A L E X A N D E R R O S S C H A 1 3t h o f J U L Y , 2 0 1 0 w w w

Im happy to hear that you both enjoyed the article!

As you saidStuart, in the right hands, that kind of margin could be well lookedafter good space for a pull quote, a table/info graphic/side note.. Im suresomething could be worked out! And if not, its just a starting point, something

to perhaps consider while laying out your page and using to help establish abalance and harmony, perhaps?

Glad to hear Im not the only one going through these old ideas,Lisa! I think a

lot of people who are new to the industry spend too much time reading blogsinstead of books .. Id hate to think that all these ideas will be almost lost in thenext decade or so because of this.

I have a lot of fun finding out these new (to me) topics and then sharing them

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with fine folk, like yourself!

Thanks for the comments :)

M A T T W A R D1 4t h o f J U L Y , 2 0 1 0 w w w

This was a really wonderful and interesting read! I dont have the chance to dotoo much of this sort of design (I focus more on web and identity), but the nexttime a layout project comes along I will definitely be keeping what I learned here

in mind!

Awesome stuff.

Also, just for the heck of it, I took a couple different size blank pages and usedsome of these techniques. Theres just something so incredibly satisfying aboutusing a pencil and a ruler to find the exact placement and dimensions of that

magical text area!


Haha, I did the same as youMatt, when I first learned about all this. Id just get

out my ruler at work and start drawing random rectangles and go through theprocess .. a lot of fun!

Ever since I wrote this article (and another one coming up in a couple of weekson geometry), Ive been wondering how to apply the same ideas to screen and

web design .. i think for something like the iPad (so magazines/books), you couldreally do some cool stuff as the size is standard but for browsers thatll be an

interesting challenge!

D E S I G N I N F O R M E R 1 5t h o f J U L Y , 2 0 1 0 w w w

Hi Alex, just wanted to say that this article was phenomenal. I learned so muchfrom it. We definitely need more articles like these in the community.

Being self-taught, I didnt have a chance to learn this stuff as theres not a lot of

posts like this on the internet. Looking forward to reading more of your articles,especially ones like this where y ou give a history lesson as well as somethingpractical for us to apply to our designs as well.

D A N O N E I L L1 5t h o f J U L Y , 2 0 1 0 w w w

What a really excellent read!

As a developer (with an interest in Design) Ive never come across this before.But even while reading it I could see the absolute wisdom in the methods. In justfeels right when you look at it. And even more right when you take out a pen andpiece of paper! :)

Thank you for this article and thanks @smashingmag for sending me here.


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HeyJad, Im so glad you enjoyed it! It means a lot that this article is being wellreceived, as its a lot mmm.. not the usual kind of stuff online for most design

blogs, is it? So glad that people such as yourself are enjoying it!

I actually didnt learn any of this kind of stuff when studying in fact, most ofwhat Iv e learned about graphic design, especially anything historical, Ivepicked up after graduating a lot of time with my head in books and getting upto page 28 of Google search results looking for the smallest nugget that I can

connect to other things Ive read. Its a lot of work, but absolutely worth it!

HiDan, thanks for stopping past and leaving a comment!

Im a designer and hadnt really come across it until I started researching it, andeven then it took a bit of work to find it all out! You should see my notes! A lot ofNo, this doesnt make sense scratched out with Oh, of course! with an

explanation next to it, which would then be scratched out again with no,doesnt make sense.

I had seen the canon as a whole a few times, but never really understood it,

where it came from or that multiple people had attempted it .

Im glad you liked learning about this little moment in history :)

A A R O N B L A K E L E Y 1 5t h o f J U L Y , 2 0 1 0 w w w

I love this I have been musing over my own weird cross boundary job where Idesign and develop website bridging the gap between designer and developer.

This got me to musing about how designers dont really see the science behindwhat they do. They just know it intrinsically at times. Thanks for the greatarticle it has revved me up for the day.

T E D T H O M P S O N1 6t h o f J U L Y , 2 0 1 0 w w w

Fantastic article. An education!


So glad you liked itAaron! I couldnt agree more and its something I want toexplore a little more the way so much of what we define as fundamental isoften closely aligned with what most designers do anyway I read a while ago

that a lot of layout theory is simply a solidification of what the designer alreadyknows from practice and critical thought. The theory just sharpens the tips ofthe intrinsic knowledge instinct, baby!

Thanks for dropping past Ted!

B R A N D O N S H E P P A R D1 7t h o f J U L Y , 2 0 1 0 w w w

Hey Alex!Its taken me some time for me to get a chance to comment, been so busy this

week!

I love this article. Its great, I like the way you write. Its sad that so many top10 photoshop brushes websites get more attention than great sites like yours,

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and drawar and the like.This kind of article is crucial! Its great to learn about the history of design as

well as some design principals simultaneously, your blog has taught me a lot.

I look forward to the Retinart design book! ;)

Peace out, my friend.

A L E X A N D E R R O S S C H A

1 8t h o f J U L Y , 2 0 1 0 w w w

haha, this site is so much work that the idea of a book would put me in a coma!

So happy to hear that you liked the article and I agree that its a shame thattheory seems to come second place after things like Photoshop brushes, but hey,

thats the way it is! Ive been noticing a lot more text-heavy sites getting moreattention lately, and it puts me in good spirits! Though it is a lot morecompetition.

Ive been thinking more and more about how to combinehistory/theory/practice in an interesting way .. recently decided that while I like

doing artists profiles, I might stop writing First they were born here, then theywent to school there kind of profiles and instead look at the ideas that made thelives of various designers so interesting hopefully theyll continue to hit theright spot for you!

Thanks for dropping past!

D O U G L A S T2 2n d o f J U L Y , 2 0 1 0 w w w

Beautifully done. I was prepared to disagree with you when I saw the story title,

but I just cant do it. Y our descriptions and examples are very well done.

Unrelated comment: I love the labels on the comment fields. Very clever.

X E D U A R D A 2 2n d o f J U L Y , 2 0 1 0 w w w

This is the kind of treasures I really immerse myself and the delicacy of theforgotten just takes a life of its own. I will use this not only within design

boundaries, also linking this to all those harmonies re-emerging from those

shouting echoes that histories are to be re-written in endless cycles alwaysreturning us to where we started. Really thanks for sharing this!

J O S E2 2n d o f J U L Y , 2 0 1 0 w w w

Whoa. Ive never been this excited to read any article since EVER! Theelegance with which you describe the similarities of the canons matches that of

the layout itself. And the samples! Its like marrying coincidence and brilliancewhenever a focus element sits on one of the lines. My mind = blown.

This is so going into my InDesign workflow.

B E X W H I T E2 2n d o f J U L Y , 2 0 1 0 w w w

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Alex,

I adore grid and layout theory and this article has brightened my morning. Ihave also sent it around my junior designers to have a look over. The animationsand overlays on real designs really clearly show how the divisions and

proportions work. T his page will be my tool for explaining the basic beauty ofthe theories for some time. Its like a shorthand version of all the theory bookson my shelves, but with animation added for good measure.

I would love to see a similar article exploring how these apply to other modernapplications such as web design, this really shows how the theories apply tomedia which was yet to be invented when the theory was written. Good design is

good design in any time and in any format.

Thanks.

Bex.http://www.bubblegumkitten.com@bubblegumkitten

A L E X A N D E R R O S S C H A 2 2n d o f J U L Y , 2 0 1 0 w w w

ThanksDouglas! I still lov e hearing people say they enjoyed this article.. it was alot of work trying to get my head around it all but I think it was worth it in the

end!

And believe it or not, but the Comment form labels probably took as long as anyother single element of the site! I think I rewrote each one a dozen times!

HiXeduarda, I know exactly how you feel. When I finally gathered all thematerials I needed for this article I was completely lost in the pages and ideas!

A blown mind, heyJose? Great! I still love these systems and am continuallyblown away by the elegance of them. Might just be a few simple little lines, butwhen they dance together, something brilliant is given to the page! So happy to

hear you feel the same!

HelloBex, thanks for stopping past. I think were now even as your commentbrightened my evening :)

A part of me loves the idea of teaching and hearing that you passed it around toyour juniors makes me feel as if Im somewhat achieving that, if only a little bit.

Ive been wondering (and spoken to a couple people) about how to go aboutapplying this kind of theory to the screen/web. The only problem is that Im nota web person as print is where my passion lays. I hate the idea of trying to adapt

this kind of theory to a medium I dont know instinctively.

T H E E S P E E R E B O O M2 3r d o f J U L Y , 2 0 1 0 w w w

Thank you v ery much for laying out so clearly that what actually matters and is

underestimated by so many. Getting ones thoughts accepted is more influencedby the way it is presented than many realise. Design matters a lot! I sincerelyhope that articles like yours do increase awareness a thing of beauty is a joy

forever

A L E X A N D E R R O S S C H A 2 3r d o f J U L Y , 2 0 1 0 w w w

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I think youre right Thees, this is the kind of thing that makes it easy to justify a

design decision to a client it shows that we actually do think about ourprofession and its not just putting images and text on a page where ever we thinkitll look prettiest.

T E S S E L L I O T T2 6t h o f J U L Y , 2 0 1 0 w w w

Greetings!Am an artist who has had a lifetime love of books, especially the great ones

hailing mostly from from Bruges and the Celtic world. Have often wonderedabout the larger margins and thought they were there as room for the occasionalglossing, though I see the glossing just tool advantage of the beautiful negativespace. My thrill was finally getting to buy a copy of the English translation of

Hypnerotomachia Poliphili which was the early printed style book of theRenaissance. T hey went to a lot of trouble to typeset it to look like the firstmasterpiece by Aldus Minutius in Venice, with that beautiful large margin space(I hate to say it, but the artist in me wants to gloss it). They reproduced the text

block and woodcuts exactly as it was done in the original book. I have beenthrilled reading it, and thinking about how it set the Renaissance on its course ofre-discovering classical history and art. You are right about those handmade

illuminated manuscripts being perfectionand also how those of us who canappreciate it long for that sort of perfection in our world. I look at a magazine,and I see bottom line thinking, without beauty. Instead, we get aggressive,money-oriented design that I find tiresome and really ugly. Negative space is

worth its weight in gold, where beauty is concerned. Thanks for the elegant andentertaining diagrams, too!


Hi Tess,

Thanks for stopping by and leaving such a great comment :)

I hadnt heard of the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili before (I have a lot to learn) butafter looking it up, I cant help but think of it as utterly beautiful! This spread isso beautiful I want to wrap my self up in it! Thank you for letting me know of it, I

think Im going to have to get one of the books about it off Amazon.

Magazines and books are about business these days. And thats fine as there areenough books and magazines around that have the extra love and attention

given to them so that they are something beautiful and wonderful. They will last,even if the runs are only a couple thousand, and the money driven ones willeventually die and be forgotten.

N I C H O L A S V A N D E R 2 6t h o f J U L Y , 2 0 1 0 w w w

A wonderfully written and explained article that could have been proudlypublished in many a top-end design magazine or book. Thank you for taking the

time to share these very important and interesting principles.

T E S S E L L I O T T

2 7t h o f J U L Y , 2 0 1 0 w w w

Am glad you liked reading about the book. No one seems to agree about whoreally wrote it (the stated author seems to be a puzzle) but legends abound thatLeon Battista Alberti had something to do with ithe was like the style guru who

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was an early important thinker. I studied a lot of art history while getting my

MFA, but for all of my early years, there was no English translation of this book.I would read quotes from it everywhere & it drove me nuts. When I heard there

was an English translation at last, no matter how expensive it was, my order went

in right away! It is filled with classical references on every pagelikemythological name droppingand like modern magazines, Poliphili intenselydescribes every scene and object he comes across that Renaissance wannabesrushed to collect or commission for themselves. It will force anyone to really

read up on the classical world, and my poor old Oxford Dictionary of theClassical World got the most use in all the years its been in my library. The

woodcuts are wonderful, and the whole book is like an insiders guide to the

Renaissance right along with Macchiavellis The Prince. A good book that isalso beautiful is a bit like time travel for me. And of course, for those days, it isalso a Romance! Its hard reading, but interesting once you mentally get yourselfinto Poliphilis world. The title means The Strife of Love in a Dream (as in a

highly educated aristocrats dream). Would love to hear what you think about itwhen youve read your own copy. Love that Zappa quote, too!


HiNicholas, thank you for taking the time to leave such an encouragingcomment :)

Hey again Tess!I know what you mean about finding English translations. As a number ofimmensely important books on design were written in German during the early20th century, I always get excited when I find theres been an English

translation. Of course I worry that somethings been lost in the translation, butits great having those books on your shelf as you know the majority of thepoints being made come across without any issue its just the subtleties thatthe original authors might have put into the language that can possibly be lost.

Ill have to look up The Prince now :)

S T E V E L A S K E V I T C H2 7t h o f J U L Y , 2 0 1 0 w w w

And I thought 2:3 died with 35mm filmha.Shall I clear my calculators memory with 1.6180339887498948482? Guess so,

Seriously, thanks for taking the time to write so informative a piece and have solovely site for it.

J O Y S E B A S T I A N2 8t h o f J U L Y , 2 0 1 0

Who do I thank first, you or StumbleUpon? It is a learning process every day,and this was new subject for me. Brilliant paper.

D E S I G N I D E A S2 8t h o f J U L Y , 2 0 1 0 w w w

Absolutely unique article. Thanks for useful lesson


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HeySteve, Joy andDesign Ideas. Thanks for stopping past and taking the timeto leave a comment! Im glad you liked the article, I hope Ill be able to put up afew more articles you enjoy ;)

J E R A L D B L A C K S T O C2 8t h o f J U L Y , 2 0 1 0 w w w

Like Picasso said, If you know whats going to happen why do it? To me,perfection is boring, and perfectionists are anxious and hostile, thats why they

force harmony on an imperfect and unharmonious world, to medicate anxiety.I prefer accidents. The search for Harmony is a way of saying I cant handleuncertainty, which is a goddamn lie.

D O U G L A S T2 8t h o f J U L Y , 2 0 1 0 w w w

A harmonious layout is not always the perfect solution for a design.However, an understanding of what makes a harmonious layout is important tomaking something disharmonious, dynamic, and interesting.

N A N C Y L O Z A N O3 0t h o f J U L Y , 2 0 1 0

its wonderful page

D A V I D C H 3 0t h o f J U L Y , 2 0 1 0 w w w

Few of us think about readabilty when we write.

Writers think a lot about the words they use. Its amazing that the page layoutmakes such a difference. Ill encourage my friends and clients to adopt thistechnique.

Thanks!

A L A N3 0t h o f J U L Y , 2 0 1 0

I loved this piece

C . K A U F M A N3 1s t o f J U L Y , 2 0 1 0 w w w

I wonder how or why the first book makers came up with the height x width ratioof a book page that they settled on?

Why are the pages taller than they are wide?Why not wider than tall?

Why not square pages?

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Was it because it was easier to bind a book when the pages were taller than they

are wide?

D O U G L A S T3 1s t o f J U L Y , 2 0 1 0 w w w

Whenever you want to know why something was done a particular way, think of

what came before.

Why are modern books taller than they are wide? Scrolls were commonly

written that way. Handwritten books were done that way too, and likely for mostof the same reasons. I believe it has something to do with writing in shorthorizontal lines being easier to keep clean than longer lines. Less chance to

smudge.

A L E X A N D E R R O S S C H A 3 1s t o f J U L Y , 2 0 1 0 w w w

Jerald

I know how you feel as I use to feel the same, but the old adage that to know therules you must break them rings true when it comes to design. One of myfavorite designers is THS (slightly NSFW), whose work is a passionateexpression and is often the complete opposite of the kind of thing like this

system. Yet it always, always grabs me and makes me smile just as wide as thisstuff does.

Also, this kind of system is about working within a framework, with which youcan play and throw your work and ideas against in an effort to make it moreinteresting and reasoned. The system, which is barely the base of the design,shouldnt even be noticed and is the smallest of a starting point. But its worth

using it to help develop a design that is aesthetically pleasing and satisfying toour eyes and mind.

But in the end, its just an option and an idea, much like any grid system. The

best designed books and magazines in the world all use grids, but as creatives, wedont open up their pages and say oh look! a grid is here, therefore its

beautiful we say oh look! how beautiful!

David

Of course! The most important thing a design should do is look after the wordsthat it houses! Thanks for dropping past :)

C. Kaufman

Thanks again for tackling this one Douglas :)

Books going as far back as Gutenbergs are based on golden ratio sizes, and

would be applied to a portrait page, as if it were landscape, binding twolandscape pages together would cause the book to be awfully painful to bind,

illustrate, illuminate and simply handle. As Douglas mentioned, Id say its fromwhat was around before hand.

Which is probably based on the simple fact that there is a width of text which is

optimal to read, and we read down a page more comfortably than we do acrossit.

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Alexander thats a lovely article thank you for taking the time to write it. Illbe passing it on to a lot of my friends.

To Jerald working within constraints (like haiku, or following the rules ofpoetry when it comes to meter and scansion) can be incredibly invigorating to

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ones creativity, in my experience. If you have only 100 words to express

something in, or a short amount of time to speak, every word, every phrase mustbe meaningful.

This to me is much the same.

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Thanks for adding thatJohn, the examples of the haiku and 100 words of

expression are great.

Its kind of ironic. So much of the time we wish our clients gave us more freedom

(less restraints, requirements, better budget, etc), but its those things that helpus develop something wonderful and truly creative. Its a lot easier to whip upsomething when you have an infinite number of options, but when its limited, itcan be a lot tougher.

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Brilliant, kudos!

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Thank you nice post..

F R E E M A N Z Y G O T E2 1s t o f A U G U S T , 2 0 1 0 w w w

One of the best pieces I have seen in years! T his will be most helpful (andencouraging) to those interested in excellent book design.

Thanks very much for putting this altogether! Really well done!

V I C T O R

2 1s t o f A U G U S T , 2 0 1 0 w w w

Insightful, the best part is the examples all work as living pages you would be

proud to see someone reading. Your question about browsers is very valid, asyet have not seen anything that is as elegant as this.

Thank you

Victor

J O E M O R A N2 2n d o f A U G U S T , 2 0 1 0

Dear Alex,

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Tried it with standard US letter size paper 8.511 inches (or tabloid for a

spread1117) and the height of the text block doesnt equal the width of thepage.

Can do the Van de Graaf, Villard de Honnecourt and Rosarivos Gutenbergdivisions to get a harmonious area relative to 99. But T schicholds secretcircle doesnt work.

What is the page size they were using? Curious.

Very Respectfully,

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Freeman Zygote

Thank you very much! Theres so much to learn about how people have

designed books throughout the years and what can still be put into use today Im planing on exploring a few more topics like this one!

Victor

Thank you, Victor :)

I found the concepts and examples I found of these systems very interesting, but

I thought to really explore the topic, Id have to whip a few up as examples so Ivery much appreciate the notice you took of them!

Joe Moran

Hey, thanks for coming back to ask the question rather than just fobbing it off asa load of nothingness!

As you said, youll get the harmony using any of the canons (Except

Tschicholds, but we didnt so much develop a canon as he rediscovered them inuse) on any page size. But proportion is another matter all together to get theproportional text block that relates to the page size, the page needs to hold aratio of 2:3 so no standard document size is going to work out perfectly

thats what Tschichold realised. 2:3 is the key!

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Wonderful article thank you. Love anything that requires a ruler and havebeen fascinated by Fibonacci and all that emanates from his work for years. Offto find out if it works with landscape orientation. Looking forward to more likethis, please. Thanks to Blurb.com for directing me here.

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Very nice piece. And good expo of one of the really classic interior page

dimension/text area set-ups.

I tend to thing exclusively in terms of books. And so thats strictly where myrecommended reading leads.

So if youre interested in further reading on page design, although Haslam is

very goodand Tschichold well, Ive written a number of times about him; Ihave a complicated respect for him, even as he renounced some of his own

earliest pronouncements on designI suggest the following, my bibles of bookdesign: Robert Bringhursts The Elements of Typographic Style; Jost Hochuliand Robin Kinrosss Design books: practice and theory; and Richard Hendels On

Book Design.

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John of the Tower

Ive wondered the same and have considered it quite a bit! Would be quite easyon something like an iPad publication as the screen size is always the same, butsomething liquid? T ricky!

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Excellent share, thanks for sharing


You know, thinking about your take on Mr. Tschicholds take on the perfectpage got to be like an itch I couldnt scratch. God knows Ive tried before, as Iv e

written about him and Die neue Typographie before on my blog. But some of mymusings were lost over a year ago when my blog and Twitter account werehacked into. So I gathered my thoughts again and said a few more words abouthim at http://tianobookdesign.com/blog/?p=290 . Ive mellowed mostly and

have come to appreciate what he means to typography.

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Stephen Tiano

Hello again :)

Just read your piece! I think you should have spent the money on The Form of

the Book! I think youre right about Tshcichold being suspicious aboutpage/text ratios that he didnt consider, but I also think he mellowed in later

years and would have been open to the ideas of others.

You also inspired me to have a better look at Bringhursts page ratios!


I dunnoit was a mighty good bottle f scotch, that 30-year old. I nursed it for

over two years, taking it out for special occasions with my dad and a buddy ortwo of mine.

As for Tschichold mellowing perhaps. But I never heard that he changed toallow questions when he spoke.

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Thanks for this. Never knew of the theory. Interesting that the bottom quarter

of the page is never used.

Cheers,GuessTheLighting.com

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P A D D Y H E R B E R T7 t h o f S E P T E M B E R , 2 0 1 0 w w w

This article is simply stunning, incredibly useful and inspirational, thank you.

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Having never seen Tschichold give a talk, I find it kind of amusing that he didnt

allow questions though I think if I were part of the audience Id find it lessamusing and more infuriating, especially if he was presenting (then) radical ideasand was so adamant about their being the only way to do things ;)

Not a problem Ted (Guess the lighting) and Paddy Glad you liked thearticle :)

S T E P H E N T I A N O7 t h o f S E P T E M B E R , 2 0 1 0 w w w

There was, without a doubt, a certain not-amusing quality to Tschichold. I cantimagine being one of his students, having a question and not being permitted toask it. But that is exactly how he operated. The only question I have is whether

he changed that when some of his other views. Certainly it was just as giant achange from his position that the ideal book text body type was a plain,unadorned sans serif to designing one of the really great serif text faces, Sabon.


Theres one book that Im really eager to read the Tschichold biography byRurai McLean, who was his friend and a knowledgeable design writer. Id like to

think thatd give a good balance of Tschichold as a person and Tschichold as adesigner. I dont know why, but I couldnt imagine he was always not-amusing..in fact, I cant help but think that someone as passionate about design would

generally be quite a happy and joyful person and perhaps those moments ofno questions allowed were just to avoid direct jabs at what he would have justspoken about.. didnt want to have what he might have seen as a debate.

Though, Im sure Im just romanticizing about a creative whose legacy Ivegrown to admire :)

What do you think?

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Read all about him. Ruari McLean did the Intro to the translated edition (not the

recent one) of TschicholdsDie neue Typographie and gave a pretty thoroughIthoughtsense of the bigness of his personality and the closed quality to hispoint of view. Tho there was his renunciation of some of his more strident

views. And, again, certainly Sabon was a real switcheroo from his earlier

positions. See what you find out. Then come back and tell us. Hell, if youd like,you can do a guest turn on my blog.

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Forsooth, enlightenment comes along but once in a while and today it graced mewith this fantastic notion. thanks for a great read.

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This very artical for ART.Thankyuo very much


Stephen Tiano

Thats a great point! After our discussions, Ill have to go back and reread the

intro in Die neue Typographie.

I always thought his design for Sabon was more like he was returning to hisearlier roots in calligraphy and perhaps even ornament. I did recently pick up

another one of his books (Treasury of Alphabets and Lettering) and found it tobe a fantastic insight into his opinions on lettering.

And i might have to take you up on the guest posting!

Youre welcomeSidewallfusion andAbdulsalam

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The secret law of page harmony

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Would you agree if I translate your excellent article in french and publish it withyour name on my blog ? I would surely link the post with this article as the

source. I proposed to many friends to read it but many cannot read englisheasely.

Also, do y ou know a bit about Pythagoricians speculations ? Id like tounderstand what made for them a proportion holy. Also the link between their

rationalism and their pure mysticism.

Last, and back to composition, did you ever heard about chinese concept of WuWei in visual art ? It means more or less emptiness and fillness (fillness ? Is

that correct ?) . In Taosm, it is also acting/non acting.This concept is the Gral of Chinese composition. It is valid for graphicalcomposition as much as for geography or physionomy of a landscape (as in Feng

Shui). In this vision, it is not purely formal as it underly the natural circulationof shi or energy. T he perfect expression of it being naturally the Yin Yang circle.

Different vision but definitely interesting, isnt ?

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24/26

John

I would be more than happy for you to translate the article, that would be reallyflattering! As youve already said you would, all Id like to see is my name and alink back to this page!

I dont know much about Pythagoricians speculations, but I have been thinkinga great deal of Wu Wei lately and other Taoism ideas that could be used withingraphic design. The little reading Ive done the topic has been really, reallyinteresting and Im looking forward to doing a few experiments my self!

Im hoping to write a few articles on the topic before the end of the y ear actually,so youll have to come back and let me know what you think of them!

P R O F E I V A N2 8t h o f S E P T E M B E R , 2 0 1 0 w w w

Great article!!!! Also, I Would like to translate into Spanish (obviously with allthe credits and links to your page).

P U N K A H4 t h o f N O V E M B E R , 2 0 1 0

i think the headline of the article is pretty much exagerated and sensacionalist.

thats a pretty standard (golden or any other) and boring ratio page, far from aperfect page, pratically speaking. depending on the century, the concept of

what a perfect page should be changes drastically. so does the proportions andtricks to acquire the margins, page width x lenght, type leading and so on,

the margins and proportions of all those examples doesnt fit 95% of todays

design projects, even dough understanding the theory behind those pages maylead to some better understadind of editorial design process. you may find some

classic and sometimes ugly books using those same proportions and tricks (mostof them using a fake column with extra info to fill those huge outer margins), butthe truth is the great majority of the designers that have studied and know thatformula do not use any page resembling this, ever. instead, they prefer to build

the page based in post modern aestethics and functionality, mixing relations andproportion separately to properly fit the aesthetics and functionality they havechoosen first. or choose any other perfect or classic page layout thats

prettier than this.

i strongly recommend anyone interested in this topic to read more bout thesubject (there are several books about it), so that the designer can apply the

ideas behind the classic or ev en medieval proportions to modern work.

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Punkah

Hi Punkah :)

It sounds as though the biggest problem you have with the article is the title of it,

which is meant to be a little tongue in cheek. Of course there is more than oneway to achieve a so called perfect layout, I was simply playing off what othershad called it before. Is this the only way to discover harmony or the margins of a

page? Of course not, Id call anyone who would honestly suggest such a thingquite naive.

One of the reasons I thought this was such an interesting topic, and I think whyso many others have enjoyed it, is because it isnt the modernist way of designing

a page that we are bombarded with today, one which we all know about andenjoy. Its just another way to look at things and, I think, an interesting way to

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decide upon a layout.

I agree with you too the reason we read about these kind of philosophies andtheories behind design, no matter the age, era or technology it is born from, is so

we can learn of the the ideas that went into them. The end result is almost

immaterial and of no use (I said almost), as its the idea that produced that workthat is of true value. All this was an attempt to show a few people one of thoseideas.

I do have a request rather than simply say I strongly recommend anyoneinterested in this topic to read more about the subject (there are several books

about it), why not suggest a few of those books? Theres no point in pointing outwhat you consider the flaws in this article, and telling us all there are bettersources out there, if you dont mention what they are? None of us really learnanything than what youre dismissive opinion is, no?

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Have really enjoyed the continued dialog emanating from your study ofhistorical design. This is actually manifest in the ev eryday world of teaching,

and student rebellion, old guard and new guard, which will always clash and andbring new interesting ideas. You have an excellent way of responding. Did youever get the book Hypnerotmachia Poliphili? I am still wading through minetrying to comprehend the mindset of the classical obsession which sparked the

Renaissance. It seems anachronistic to care so much about skill at a time when itdoes not seem appreciated. Have you read The Craftsman by RichardSennett? Was left with a rather bleak v iew of the value of skill these days, but it

was good for me to know this perspective.

S H A L Ly o uD E L I G H T , E N T E R T A u s w i t h y o u rO W N T H O U G H T S

B Yw h a t N A M Ea r e y o uK N O W N ?

B Yw h a t R O U T Es h a l l a nE M A I LT O U C Hy o u rT H O U G H T S ?

A N D W H E R Ei s t h eW E B S I T Et h a t y o u rP L A Y G R O U N D L I E S ?

W I T Hw h a t N A M Ed o y o uE X P R E S S1 4 0 a t aT I M Ew i t hT W I T T E R ?

W I L Ly o uL E N Dm e y o u rT H O U G H T Sw i t h aC O M M E N T?

M A Y Ip l e a s eR E M E M B E R t h e s eD E T A I L S ?

T H A N K - Y O Ud e a r l y

S H A L L Is e n d M E S S A Gt o

N O T I FY O Uo f n e wT H O U G H

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Simplicity is not the goal.It is the by-product of a good idea and modest expectations.

P A U L R A N D

Retinart is written by graphicdesigner and lover of all thingsclever, from the trivial to theprofound, Alex Charchar.

I've been in love with the industryof graphic design for quite a whileand couldn't imagine passing mytime indulging in anything else.What more co uld I want otherthan this world of creativethought and beautifulexpressions?

I'm always happy to hear yourthoughts and opinions, so pleasefeel free to send me an email or goto the contact page.

Good Designers Ask "Why?"A simple notion which manyconnected with - a piece I amromantically proud of.

Music and the A rtistOne of my happiest pieces as Iwas able to speak to a few of my

favorite creatives aboutinspirational notes.

Reimagining Nineteen Eighty-FourA thought about how 'off' thecov ers of this Orwell classic turnsinto a fun little exploration.

BlackletterThe beautiful face which has atypographic texture second tonone.

@marissa_mcgarry im so wildlyexc ited to read it! Also, how'veyou been?

@nortypig oh yeah, from aconsumer point of v iew it doesn'tmatter, but bigger businesses areless likely to put in big effort

@nortypig ah yeah, but smaller

publishers...@finmarketing oh me too! A lifewithout books isn't a life, is it? Ahard drive on a shelf isn't nearlyas wonderful as a row of books

@snappysentences@traceygrthat's a great point! I do adore thephysical process of exploring andreferencing a physical book..

@traceygr yup, I'm exactly thesame.. I just hate the idea ofhaving to rebuy all the books Ireference often..

@traceygr@snappysentences Ibelieve you can actually.. And alot of universities are developing

software that allows people toshare them

@nortypig extra 20? I haven'tdone much looking but from whatI've seen the price has been thesame, digital or physical.

@pierre_yves that's aninteresting idea.. Something thathooks into an international,online only currency..

@vi_rox while I try to be somewhat environmentally minded, Ithink the cost of a tree is worth agood book..

9 Mini Reviews I Do Love These Books: Part 1

Sometimes there are books one loves, so it wouldn't befair of them to write a review of them. There is too muchof the book held in the heart for an unbiased opinion tobe presented. These are a few of those books which Iclutch close to the c hest.

Book Review: The Anatomy of DesignSTEVEN HELLER MIRKOILIC

Retinart ReviewOn Amazon

The Anatomy of Design is worth far more than the priceon the sticker. Heller and Ilic show that similar ideas canbe ex pressed in different ways repeatedly , making themnew again. Part beautiful imagery, part history lesson -much can be learned and a better respect for ideas andhow they are expressed differently by each of us can betaken from this wonderful collection of pages.

Sparkle and Spin, Little 1PAUL RAND ANN RAND

Retinart ReviewOn Amazon

Sparkle & Spin and Little 1 are two books by Paul & AnnRand that'll have you smiling and smirking. Filled withplayful collages and fun characters in a sty le that is100% Rand - clever and a little cheeky.

A m i l l i o n b l e s s i n g s f o r y o u r c u s t o m

D e s i g n & C o n t e n t 2 0 0 9 H o m e+A r c h i v e s+A b o u t +C o n t a c t M e+B a c k t o T o p+W 3 C V a l i d a t i o n

d e l v e i n t om y l o v e f o l l o w m eo n t w i e n j o y s o m ee l e g a n t w o r d s
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