As someone who looks at things for a living, I’m always looking at the printed page—any printed page. It can be entertaining, or a real curse.
Can you spot the leading mistakes?
If you work in design or production, you know how it goes… Can you eat at a restaurant where the menu was typeset in Zapf Chancery? Have to ignore the banding on a badly digitally printed menu? Stand at a bus stop and tune out badly kerned outdoor signs?
One friend remarks wryly that our dates usually consist of dinner, a movie, and a typeface critique. Argh, guilty as charged! The well-trained eagle eyeball never takes a holiday.
So as I perused my junk mail over lunch yesterday, I got that slightly dissonant feeling: What was wrong with this cover story? Oh yeah, inconsistent leading. I felt a twinge of sympathy for the designer, who probably saw it the minute his printed samples were delivered. For some reason it’s such an easy thing to miss at proof stage, but jumps right off the printed page.
Disaster avoidance tip
Here’s a trick for catching leading errors. When you’re reviewing proofs (preferably not over lunch), turn the page sideways and squint at it through your eyelashes until you’re aware of positive and negative space rather than characters. Any differences in leading will stand out more this way than when you look at the page right-side up.
And is it just me, or does the leading in this post look wonky?
3 comments
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May 24, 2009 at 12:17 pm
David Long
Hi Nani:
I guess we don’t look “at” the sun too long for a reason.
A complementary trick to rotating with lids dimmed is simply to look ‘off the sheet to see what’s on it’. When reviewing general massing, point your head away from the sheet and look at it with peripheral vision. Also, a great way to experience an art crawl or modeled environment, but not while crossing the street.
Cheers,
David Long
May 24, 2009 at 11:31 pm
naniprints
Very interesting, David! I learned a similar technique from a hypnotherapist, involving attending to both sides of one’s periphery, but with the eyes still looking straight ahead and slightly up. A broader perception, a result of which is calmed breathing and heart rate. It’s supposed to help focus attention to the essential (as in essence). I believe he told me it’s a yogic technique. It’s one I use when I need to chill out. Yeah, not something to do in traffic.
May 30, 2009 at 11:49 am
Bemused Boomer
My sympathies to those of you with laser eyes who can never get a rest! I am just a writer and editor, and signs and menus are enough negative feedback for my day. Whew! so glad the designer muse didn’t summon me!