Tips On Layout, And A How To On Digital Mapping

HERE is another good article by Fred Hicks.  He was self-taught in layout, and now is well respected as a game publisher.

Here are his tips in brief:

1)  Use a High Contrast Cover Title
So, here’s the first one: A high contrast cover title is absolutely key when packaging your book. Your title/logo can’t be allowed to blend in to the art. It needs to be readable from halfway across the store

2)  Upper-Third Positioning For Your Title
Contrast isn’t enough to make sure the title of your book gets noticed. You also need to position it in the proper place on the cover.

3)  Use A One-Inch Inner Margin
Here’s the rule: use a one-inch inner margin when setting up your page layout.

4)  Keep Your Text In The Goldilocks Zone
you should set up your body text style (at least) such that you can fit between 1.5 and 2.5 lowercase alphabets on a single line.

5)  Avoid Flow-Breaking Background Textures
You need to remember that the point of a page is its text. Decoration is fun, it can do a lot to reinforce theme, but it starts working against you the moment it approaches the same noticeability as the text itself.

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HERE is a peek behind the process of making digital maps for Risus products.