A Bit More Info…
As an early adopter of desktop publishing in 1989, I have spent much of my career providing behind-the-scenes technical support to busy graphic designers by finalizing their design concepts and preparing them for print. I have also worked with non-print professionals. Over the past few years, I’ve enjoyed working with author Lisa Collum to design and format the Top Score Writing curriculum. Because of its scope, the project offers excellent examples of my work. The cover and selected pages from the fourth grade book (the author’s first) are shown here. As demand for the curriculum grew, it was expanded to include more grades. It became necessary to standardize the appearance, improve the reader’s experience, and enhance ease of use for teachers. The project ultimately covered multiple sets from second grade through high school and required formatting and cover design of over 27 volumes. For more information about the curriculum itself, please visit my Top Score Writing page.
Cover: Before
The original cover was a standard letter sized page. The entire book was printed as one volume in a 3-ring binder.
Cover: After
The curriculum was divided into 4 volumes, and the new cover was expanded to include a front, back and spine to allow for perfect binding. The front cover of all 4 volumes is identical, except for the volume number. The back cover of the first volume shows biographical information about the author. The back cover of the other volumes displays information about the curriculum and contents. All covers include the Lexile and Metametrics logos, which are important indicators of value to buyers.
Passage: Old
The original passage book had the logo too close to the top of the page, disproportionately scaled and unanchored, so it bounced around from page to page. The Lexile, title, body, footnotes, and footer at the bottom were all the same size, with no visual cues to identify the different elements. The pictures were low resolution images.
Passage: New
The new passage book includes a running header displaying the Lexile and grade and a running footer displaying the copyright information and page number. The logo appears in the exact same location and size on each page. The title appears in a larger font at the top. The numerals identifying each paragraph are in bold. The footnotes are smaller and in the lower right. Finally, the pictures were replaced with high resolution images suitable for commercial printing.
Lesson: Before
This original lesson page had the outline small and flush left, and the lines for the paragraph were a different weight than those used in the outline.
Lesson: After
The new lesson moves the outline to the center of the page and expands the area for students to write. The lines used are the same weight above and below.
Lesson: Before
The highlighted areas in this lesson used colors from RGB color space. They looked great on a computer monitor but didn't translate well to commercial printing. In addition, there were small gaps between the highlighted areas. The margins were too small and didn't allow for binding.
Lesson: After
The new format uses CMYK color space, which is designed for commercial printing. The highlighted areas are evenly spaced, with no gaps. In addition, the headline was enlarged to make it more prominent. The margins were increased to allow for perfect binding.
Lesson: Before
The copy was inconsistently formatted, with R1 in bold and underlined in black, while the rest of the copy is underlined in the same color as the letters. The green color used in the first section is a different shade than the green in R1 and R2. The margins were also too small for perfect binding.
Lesson: After
The copy was uniformly formatted, with the section identified in black and the contents of the essay color coded using the same colors throughout. The underlines were removed, making it less cluttered and easy to read. The font size was reduced to fit the entire lesson on one page, and the margins were increased to allow for perfect binding.