tomer must be able to see the full name
of the product even on round packages,
where the area of design should not ex¬
ceed one-third of the circumference.
Think about what the package will look
like when it is opened: it may be desir¬
able to extend the design to the interior
surfaces. Make several sketches of each
element that you plan to include on the
package, using different colors and sizes,
and arrange the cut-out sketches on the
model to determine what combination
works best.

Labels identify products. They can be
glued or tied on, or, in the case of tex¬
tiles, sewn in. Labels may include any
and all of the same information that ap¬
pears on packaging: contents, name of
manufacturer, price, and so forth. Again,
this information and the advertising
message is communicated through visual
images. Keep the same objectives in
mind when you design packaging and
labels; the only difference is that pack¬
ages are three-dimensional, while labels
are flat, though in some cases a label
may be placed on a curved surface,
which could distort the image. As with
packaging, a model can provide the test¬
ing ground for your design.

Book Jackets10

To protect the book it covers is only one
reason books have jackets: the main
function of a jacket or cover is advertise¬
ment. The purpose of a book jacket or
cover, and its effectiveness, is very simi¬
lar to that of a poster. In a store window
or on a shelf, a book is in direct compe¬
tition with other books, and the visual
images that are created resemble those
we receive from a row of posters. The

10. This section follows the outline of Albert Kapr
in his work Buchgestaltung (Book design), Dresden:
VEB Verlag der Kunst, 1963.

194

effect of a bold design will be enhanced
by a neighboring subtle and discreet
look, and vice versa. Undoubtedly, con¬
temporary posters and book-jacket de¬
sign influence each other.

A book jacket or cover should not
only be attractive and tasteful, but
should also mirror the content and spirit
of the book. It is of course impossible to
give concrete advice on graphic means
that would befit specific situations, since
the variety of possible topics, themes,
and values is endless. A list of feasible
treatments includes graphic illustration
with wood- or linoleum cuts, pen or
charcoal drawing, painting, photography
or photomontage. As in the case of the
poster, the specific information is trans¬
mitted by the written word, which has to
be included in the design and may even
take a subordinate position to the
graphics.

Ornamentation is appropriate for his¬
torical, national, or modern literature,
where proper connections can be made
to the content of the book. Here, too,
the specific information is carried by the
written word.

Almost any topic can be adequately
represented through lettering alone.
Letters can be drawn, typeset, or man¬
ipulated photographically, and there is
an almost unlimited variety of combina¬
tions. The effect can be bold or reserved,
but no amount of originality justifies
lack of legibility.

A jacket or cover has to suit the book
it is designed for. Colors, layout, and
type have to be unified, but many vari¬
ations are possible. For instance, you
might use the text type for the advertis¬
ing copy on the jacket to establish a con¬
nection between inside and out. Select
type for books and jackets according to
the guidelines given in the preceding
chapters. Contrasts will probably yield
the most eye-catching results. Most de¬

sign efforts will be concentrated on the
front of the jacket or cover, but the back
can certainly be included, as long as both
sides can be viewed as independent
units.

There are no strict rules for the
placement of type on book jackets or
covers. The name of the author usually
appears on the front; it can also be given
on the back. The text on the spine can
read vertically or horizontally, depend¬
ing on the available space or the specific
design. If a bellyband (a paper strip with
a commercial message on it) is planned,
it has to be included in the design, or it
might cover important information on
the front.

The colors of the jacket can be more
distinctive than those of the binding, but
you should relate them to each other as
well as to the content of the book itself.
Technical consideration of printing and
finishing could limit the choice of col¬
ors. If the binding of a book by itself is
attractive enough for advertising pur¬
poses, a clear plastic jacket could be used
in place of the traditional paper dust-
jacket. In most cases, however, the bind¬
ing is more subdued, and a jacket is
added for advertising purposes as well as
to protect the case.

Lettering for Exhibitions

The lettering that is used for exhibitions
must inform viewers about the articles
on display, their history, purpose, prop¬
erties, and economic uses, and it must do
all this in a complete and instructive
way. To accomplish this task it is useful
to create a kind of script, containing all
necessary information, as well as rele¬
vant facts about the architecture of the
location, the lighting conditions, the
traffic flow, and the distance of the let¬
tering from the viewers. A cardboard
model in a scale of 1:20 is an invaluable

aid. The character and the effect of the
lettering must be subordinate to the re¬
quirements of the total graphic concept
of the exhibition.

The best basic type styles are those
that are neutral and have unobtrusive
detail, such as sans serifs like Helvetica
and Univers, condensed sans serifs,
Egyptian faces, Garamond, and Bodoni.

Ideally, all lettering design for an en¬
tire exhibition, or at least for each display
unit, will be based on the same family of
typefaces, to create a coherent effect.
This would not preclude the use of vis¬
ual focal points or highlighting tech¬
niques to differentiate objects from each
other. Superficial or forced presentation
and pretentiousness, however, are never
justified.

Many modern developments have
made preparation of type for exhibitions
easy. Rubber stamps and templates or
stencils, cutout cardboard, foam-core, and
wood letters, and various forms of trans¬
fer type are available, as well as type pro¬
duced on the personal computer. If you
use prefabricated letter materials, make
sure that they are of high typographic
quality, and assemble them in accor¬
dance with the principles of good letter¬
ing. Too often, particularly where long
texts are involved, letters are stamped or
laid out too close to each other, the line
spacing is too wide or too narrow, and
the entire text is forced into a text block
to achieve justification, without any con¬
cern for sense or aesthetics. Even the
basic rule that round letters should ex¬
ceed the boundaries of the x-height
slightly is all too often ignored when
prefabricated letters are used.

Technical innovations have made let¬
tering easier, but this does not mean that
the field of typography and lettering can
now be left to amateurs. The new tools
and procedures should merely facilitate
attention to detail.

Rubber Stamps

Stamping can only be successful if the
rubber stamps are assembled with ut¬
most precision. When you glue letters to
the wooden block, position them so that
the left edge of the letter is flush with
the edge of the block. Make sure that the
base line of all letters is at the same dis¬
tance from the bottom edge of the block,
which means that you have to leave room
for descenders even in letters that do not
have any. Use only the most reliable
adhesives.

You can stamp on any material with a
smooth surface, but thin materials like
paper or fabric must be supported by
something hard and smooth, like a sheet
of glass. Choose colors that cover well,
are stable, lightproof, and weather-resis¬
tant if necessary. They should also have
a short drying time. Inks made for offset
printing work well on absorbent grounds
as well as on glass, sheet metal, plastic,
and aluminum foils. Drying time and
printing surface determine the choice of
medium.: : For example, on a ground of
emulsion-based paint, offset printing ink
dries in two to three hours, while silk-
screen colors take at least seven hours,
longer for certain hues. Offset inks on a
ground of latex paint need three to four
hours to dry, silkscreen colors seven to
eight hours, and ink for linoleum-cuts,
ten to twelve hours. On photoprint paper,
offset ink dries in four hours, silkscreen
colors in eight to ten hours, and linoleum-
cut ink in twelve to fifteen hours. On
paper with a high wood content, offset
ink dries in two to three hours, glossy
silkscreen color in seven to eight hours,
and linoleum-cut ink in twelve to fifteen
hours. On glossy papers, it takes four to
five hours for offset ink to dry. On glass,

11. All the information on drying times in this sec¬
tion is drawn from texts of the Betriebsberufsschule
Handel (Business School), Halle.

offset inks take two hours to dry, matte
silkscreen color ten hours, and linoleum-
cut colors fifteen to eighteen hours.

You can also print with offset, silk¬
screen, or linoleum-cut colors on fabric.
Use a heavy application of color, because
the ground is very absorbent.

Certain inks cannot be used for stamp¬
ing because they would react with the
rubber, and oil-based paints, poster
paint, and tempera produce uneven ap¬
plications and fuzzy edges.

Use ink made for rubber stamps
straight from a stamp pad. If you are
using offset printing ink, spread a thin
and even layer of it on a sheet of glass
with a rubber roller and ink your rubber
stamp from that surface. Add thinner or
drier to make the ink more elastic and
speed up drying time.

If you allow paint or ink to dry on
rubber stamps, they quickly become un¬
usable. Clean them immediately after
each use with the appropriate solvent for
the medium used, but do not use
gasoline or alcohol, because over time
these substances turn the rubber hard
and brittle. Treat rubber rollers the
same way.

Use a wooden or metal guide to align
the stamps. It should be about Уг inch
(15 to 20 millimeters) thick, 2 inches (4
to 5 centimeters) wide, and about 3 feet
(50 to 100 centimeters) long, but it is
even better to have several of them in
different lengths. Instead of marking the
entire line of type, draw small dots at the
end of each line. If you work on glass,
put a lined sheet of paper underneath.
Now place the guide parallel to the
marked lines at the right distance so that
the baseline of the stamped letters will
fall on the guide line. Hold the guide in
place with your free hand while you
stamp. If you glue thin rubber strips
under both ends of the guide, it will stay
in place well.

195