Category Archives: Recent Posts

On-demand lay-flat binding options are few

Skilled Workman Posted on by

On-demand lay-flat binding options are few. Joel Friedlander posted on 9/11/17 on the subject, talking like it’s no big deal. This is true, but only in traditional publishing, in most cases. On-demand lay-flat binding options are few Joel says, “My conclusion, after quite a bit of research, testing, having prototype books created so I could try to destroy them, is this: sewn bindings will give your book a structural and aesthetic integrity unachievable by other means, and it’s … Continue reading →

Class Project MacDonald’s Light Princess free book

Skilled Workman Posted on by

In the new video course, InDesign CC Book Production, Putting the book together, one of the books actually produced is a Class Project MacDonald’s Light Princess. The Light Princess is a delightful, whimsical fairy tale by one of the major influences of J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, George MacDonald. The cover is simply a book designer’s bit of humor. I thought you might like to have a copy to read. By clicking on the cover or the link in … Continue reading →

New release: InDesign CC Book Production, putting books together

Skilled Workman Posted on by

With this final release, InDesign CC Book Production, Putting the book together, my video coursework for book production is complete. This course removes the difficulty and relives the complexity of producing excellent quality, professional books. This is a very practical course. There is a lot to learn, but none of it is very difficult. It is very complex though. It is the goal of the course to make the complexity easy to understand and relatively simple to execute. If you have … Continue reading →

First course of book production has been released

Skilled Workman Posted on by

Today, my first course of book production has been released. I’m building video coursework for using InDesign to produce books on Udemy starting with basic typography. Actually we start with the very beginning, where you must choose: Book size Margins Column width And more This first course of book production lays a solid foundation This is the largest lack in most self-published books today. Much of it is not the fault of the author or designer—it’s the tools they are using. … Continue reading →

Book production getting started understanding typography

Skilled Workman Posted on by

I’m working on new video coursework about using InDesign for publishing. The first course is concerned about book production getting started understanding typography. My concern is reaching my target audience which is you. I’m writing for an elusive niche—people like yourselves who understand the value of the typographic power of a tool like InDesign. As a font designer, I am very much aware of the fact that no software can build typographic communication as well as InDesign with … Continue reading →

Get domains set up well for your author platform

Skilled Workman Posted on by

Here’s an excellent article about the domains needed for your author platform. Get domains set up well as early as possible. It’s one of your major decisions and needs to be done as early in the process as you can manage. Get domains set up well! Your entire marketing effort is built on your domains. That’s the source of your Facebook posts, your tweets, your pins, and so on. They are all ephemeral. Your website/blog is relatively stable … Continue reading →

Book design needs titling fonts

Skilled Workman Posted on by

Creative Pro has a good article today about titling fonts. Book design needs titling fonts to make your chapter heads, section titles, and such much better looking, easier to read, and provide a more comfortable reading experience. In general, titling fonts use letterspacing which is too tight to be used at body copy sizes. They are carefully crafted to be more elegant. And often they are condensed—though I usually don’t do that. Book design needs titling fonts & … Continue reading →

The importance of designed books in the self-published future

Skilled Workman Posted on by

I read an excellent article this morning on the importance of designed books. Actually, the article does not mention books, but the concepts apply. Here’s a quote from the interviewee, Dave Snyder Design in the most classic sense is a potent business strategy. That’s not to say it’s only about business efficiency. Everything needs a high level of craft, but even that can’t put lipstick on a pig and make people believe the pig is not a pig. … Continue reading →

A FontLab 5 webinar perusal for kicks

Skilled Workman Posted on by

I ran across this FontLab 5 webinar perusal on YouTube today. The recording quality is poor. But it might be helpful. At least there’s a bit of a face and voice with the name. The basics of a Fontlab workflow: new font

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Variable type offers major restrictions unless designers work hard

Skilled Workman Posted on by

Contrary to most, I believe variable type offers major restrictions to designers. I know that the design opportunities seem to open wide, but actually it enables us to produce a document using only one font, right? I read a good article with an interview with Dan Rhatigan at Adobe about variable fonts. It left me very disquieted. Now I know I’m an old curmudgeon, set in my ways. But I’ve seen this stuff before with Multiple Master … Continue reading →