Desktop Publishing: a term that makes professional graphic artists and typographers cringe at the thought of lousy home made amateur art work. We at Internet Brothers believe that businesses and individuals who need to create and produce printed materials, whether they be promotional pieces or business forms, should consider hiring graphics professionals for these needs. After all, a lot of training and experience is required to design printed pieces that look appealing, get the message across, and give a necessary first-rate impression.

However, with the advent of the personal computer, there has been a proliferation of desktop publishing software enabling the aspiring artist to create presentations, brochures, posters, business cards and a wide variety of materials needed to run a business or advertise a garage sale. Here, we'll attempt to provide some pointers so that your desktop publishing projects will have the best look possible without spending years in design school.

Not a Typewriter

First and foremost, one has to realize that a personal computer is not a typewriter. (We highly recommend a book called The PC [The Mac] Is Not A Typewriter, by Robin Williams.) Many of the conventions used on the old-fashioned typewriter need to be smashed when making the transition to true typography on a PC. The PC allows you to do many things, producing far more professional looking results than can be achieved on a typewriter. Forget those old habits and trust us. Your finished piece will look much better if you do.

Never double space between sentences. It’s a habit that's hard to break but you must do it. In the days of mono-spaced typewriter imprint, it was necessary to double space to provide enough visual separation in sentences. On the PC, the letters in most type fonts are of variable width, i.e. the letter i takes up much less space than the letter m, negating the need to double space after sentences. A common exception to this is the font Courier, which is mono-spaced. If, God forbid, you actually like Courier, be sure to double space between sentences when using it. Commonly used fonts such as Times and Verdana have proportional characters and accordingly, look much better on the printed page.

Fonts Are Fun, But . . .

Avoid the temptation to use all the fonts (typestyles) you have available on a single printed brochure or flyer. It looks tacky and is the first sign that your piece has been produced by an amateur. Typically you should never use more than three different fonts on a page, and most times two is plenty. Instead, make use of bold and italic versions of your fonts for prominence, and perhaps another stylized font for headlines. Never, never underline type. This was done on typewriters for emphasis when there was no other way. With a PC and a desktop publishing program you have the ability to bold or italicize your type, even make it larger, to emphasize certain words or phrases. OK, are you with us so far?

Continue With Punctuation, Alignment, and Design

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