Brief 2 - Design Principles - What is a Book? : Defining and Understanding the Different Sections

In the brief it says I have to show understanding of the following. To be able to show these through my work I wanted a clear definition of them to start with so that I fully understand what they all mean before I put them into practice.


Grid
The grid system in graphic design is a way of organising content on a page, using any combination of margins, guides, rows and columns. It is commonly seen in newspaper and magazine layout with columns of text and images. One grid, or a collection of grids, may be used across an entire project to achieve a consistent look and feel. In a finished product, the grid is invisible, but following it helps in creating successful print and web layouts.
Sub-heads



A head is a line or lines of text usually set in a larger typeface thanbody copy that introduce articles or sub-sections of articles and stories in books, newsletters, newspapers, magazines, Web pages, and other publications. Head usually refers to the main headline or title of a story although there are several classes of heads: main heads, secondary heads, headers, running heads,continuation heads, subheads or subheadings differentiated within a publication by placement, usage, and font size or style.


DPS
It could stand for desktop publishing software, but it's better known asdigital publishing suite or software — specifically the Adobe Digital Publishing Suite of tools that come in single, professional, and enterprise additions. These tools, in conjunction with InDesign, help in creating interactive digital publications including magazines and apps for tablets and smartphones.




Rules & Boxes
Non-printing horizontal and vertical ruler guides are used to align objects on the page in page layout software. Typically ruler guides are placed on the page by dragging them from the horizontal and vertical rulers surrounding the publication or workspace or by specifying precise positions using a dialog box.


Columns

Some software may have special dialog boxes for setting up pre-set or custom columns with gutters. Non-printing column guides can be placed on master or publication pages. Normally all pages begin with a single column — the space between the margins. With multiple columns, a pair of vertical guides that move together mark gutters oralley between columns. Column guides control the flow of text within columns, keeping it out of the gutters.




Drop caps
Decorative initial caps (capital letters) at the start of a paragraph that drop into a space created within the first few lines of the text are dropped caps, also written as drop caps. As with any initial cap, the size and placement of this letter is designed to draw readers into the narrative. The common term dropped caps or drop caps for all initial caps is actually a specific style or placement. Adjacent caps and raised caps are two specific styles or placement of initial caps.




Folio Numbers
There are several meanings to the word folio that all have to do with paper size or pages in a book. Some common meanings are described below with links to even more details.
A sheet of paper folded in half is a folio.
Each half of the folio is a leaf; therefore a single folio would have 4 pages (2 each side of a leaf). Several folios placed one inside the other create a signature. A single signature is a booklet or small book. Multiple signatures make a traditional book.


A sheet of folio sized paper is traditionally 8.5 x 13.5 inches.
However other sizes such as 8.27 x 13 (F4) and 8.5 x 13 are also correct. What is called Legal size (8.5 x 14 inches) or Oficio in some countries is called Folio in others. (Learn more aboutFolio Paper Dimensions and their origins.


The largest common size of a book or manuscript is called a folio.
Traditionally it was made from the largest, standard size of printing paper folded in half and gathered into signatures. Generally this is a book of about 12 x 15 inches. Some sizes of books include elephant folio and double elephant folio (about 23 and 50 inches tall, respectively) and Atlas folio at about 25 inches tall.


Page numbers are known as folios.
In a book, it is the number of each page. A single page or leaf (one half of a folded sheet of paper) that is numbered only on the front side is also a folio. In a newspaper the folio is made up of the page number plus the date and name of the newspaper.



Gutters The inside margins or blank space between two facing pages is thegutter. The gutter space is that extra space allowance used to accommodate the binding in books and magazines. The amount of gutter needed varies depending on the binding method.


Margins
The margins — top, bottom, and either side — is that usually empty space between the trim (where the page is cut) and the live printing area (primary text and graphics) of the page. Sometimes headers orfooters may be placed within the margins.


In desktop publishing software margin guides are used to visually mark the margins. The margins may or may not be the same as the quiet border around the edges of your document.


Imposition
Commercial printers often use large sheets of paper that they fold, cut, and trim to the finished size. The individual pages may not be printed in the same order that they will appear in the finished document. Getting the pages of your digital document from reader's spreads or reading order (page 1, page 2, page 3, etc.) into printer's spreads or printing order is called imposition.

Imposition for printing can reduce paper waste and save money on some printing jobs. Imposing pages for printing is not just for commercial printing. Printing a 5.5" x 8.5" booklet on your desktop printer, for example, requires the use of imposition to print the pages onto letter size (8.5" x 11") sheets of paper that when assembled and folded end up with the pages in the right order for reading.

Some desktop publishing software has a feature that will impose pages when creating a file for printing. Look for menu options such as Impose or Imposition or Printing Order or Make Booklet. This may also be an option in your Print dialog. There are also plug-ins and standalone programs for imposition. Some complex imposition jobs may be handled by the commercial printing service that may use its own high-end imposition software.