by Joel Friedlander | Feb 24, 2011 | The Joel Friedlander Archives
The first sans serif typeface I lived with was Univers, and I fell hard. It was first love, after all. At some point I got entranced by the dark charms of the hybrid Optima, an infatuation which had to run its course. Optima was so versatile. Eventually things had to...
by Joel Friedlander | Oct 12, 2010 | Book Design, Self-Publishing
On Monday mornings I look over the book design projects I’m working on to get a sense for how the week will shape up. This is a persistent form of optimism I can’t seem to shake. The week never works out the way I think it will, but I keep doing this just...
by Joel Friedlander | Sep 28, 2010 | Book Design, Interior Design
Have you ever thought about negative space? And no, I don’t mean some metaphysical concept of matter and anti-matter. When book designers talk about “negative space” they are talking primarily about unprinted areas of the page. Any areas that are...
by Joel Friedlander | Jun 30, 2010 | Book Design, Self-Publishing
Text breaks—those places where the author wants to insert a space, but not a new chapter or section—lots of authors use them, and they often create problems for book layout. There are many ways the text break can be used: to give the reader a rest to...