Suggestion on A4 Margins for a book/magazine

[SebastiaoV]

Hi guys,

I am designing a magazine/book Journal for a Psychiatric Association. I called book/magazine because it is mostly for reading very long articles with running text and very few photographs. The interior pages are only black and white and no colour  pictures. The  layout and design has to be "serious"  but i am trying to make more  interesting -considering i cannot use color inside- while keeping its formal style. The client want to use  Garamond.

1) What size and leading of Garamond do you like? I am trying Adobe  Garamond Pro 11.5 pt with 14 pt leading. Take in account that is  for people over 40 or 50 years and older who reads a long articles and  usually complaint to magazine with small minimal type size.

2) What do you thinks of these margins for A4 size? Here is my sample.

MARGINS:

Top: 24 mm (0.944 inches)
Bottom: 16 mm (0.629 inches)
Inside: 16 mm (0.629 inches)
Outside: 16 mm (0.629 inches)

SAMPLE LAYOUT JUST FOR TEXT

a) 2 columns and a half for footnotes (not centered)
http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1ubahhmQILBkStaBYbvuPg36qkihGh

b) 2  columns centered.
http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=194nBRVVNHHbPqMoROMsKz9ZaF0J0

FOR TEXT AND IMAGES
(10% of the magazine, not the usual layout)
http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1zrTpAY4Bqf6PqAmPQvfJeiqlhTum

PLAN B (another option) could be

Body Type: Stemple Garamond LT. (more x-height typography)
Size/Leading: 12/15 pt

1) One column with good space at the bottom margin for footnotes.
http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1vLXsfXq53wk4dFEP5r2zIaiVzZL

2) Two columns with good space at the bottom margin for footnotes. (the 2 columns have more design features to play with that a one column  central paragraph i think).
http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1lhMQXECGovEpBPynEwKQQlSVt42J

Sorry for the very long post, but i want to show you the most info available here.

Thanks for any help or info!

Regards,
Sebs

[Peter Spier]

Since nobody else wants to start, I will.

I'm not heavily into book and magazine layout in my normal work, but my references all suggest that the column width should hold in the range of 50 to 70 characters for easy reading, and the leading is highly dependent on the font. A tall x-height probably requires more leading than a short x-height. You don't want the lines too tight so the reader scans the same line twice, and you don't want the spacing too loose, either, for the same reason.

I generally favor fairly large margins. They accomodate creep during binding, and make it easier to read content near the spine (your alternate layout has not nearly enough inside margin, in my opinion) and a large outside margin gives the reader a place to grip the page without obscuring the content or smearing the ink.

What about headers? Does your publication not use any sort of header or footer? You've left no space for those...

[Eugene Tyson]

I'm with Peter on the words per line

I use a ratio of 2.5:1

If my type size is 11.5pt,  then I want the the width of the text frame (measure) to be around 28/29 pica (122 mm or 4.8 inches) which should give you approximately 70 characters for you longest line of text. And say the narrowest you could make your measure would be 70mm (2.75inches)

( the rule I go by if it's 11.5pt then multiply it by 2.5 = 28/29, then use pica for the width of the measure, e.g, 28/29 pica wide for the text frame) (i'm also erroneously using the word "measure" here)

I also add extra space to the inside margins, to account for the fold in the paper at the spine area, or if it's perfect bound there'll be about 5mm "hidden" in the spine, meaning your text can look off center if you don't offset your margins.

Say 16 mm for the outside and 20mm for the inside should suffice.

[SebastiaoV]

Thanks Peter and Eugene for various important tips! I am glad you replied.

@Peter, i like large margins too. Good remainder on to include enough space for Headers and Footer. I did include footnotes in one of the samples but i forgot about the headers.

@Eugene: Very useful info on the ratio of 2.5:1. I will try to get that proportion on a column to see how that works with text.

Thanks again for the good info!

Cheers,