Space

I was going to start this blog post off with a disclaimer stating that “I am NOT a expert,” but after 20 years in the industry, I’m ready to finally and officially own it. I AM a professional, I know what I’m doing, and as far as best-practices and common mistakes - I’ve seen a lot, and I am somewhat of an expert.

I brought you all here today to talk about spacing - it’s a problem. Some designers think that by using more of the paper’s real estate, they’re getting a better deal or something; like they’re paying by the square inch. Or maybe it’s thinking that they’re just making more room for stuff, by spreading it out on the page. These are both incorrect. Spacing is important in 2 basic areas: around the page, and the relationship between objects. Let’s being at the beginning - the spacing around the page, we’re talking about ‘margin.’

Margin

In this example - I would prefer B all day long. The text needs some breathing room, and that’s very often the issue. If your words go right up to the edges up the paper, and misalignment in the printing process can become very noticable. If the text at the top is 1/8” from the edge and it’s 1/2” away at the bottom of the page, it’s going to look like garbage. In B, if you have an issue like that, it wouldn’t be as noticible. Now let’s talk about the spacing between items.

The Space Between

Now this A/B comparison is something that I see a lot on artwork for business cards. A standard business card is 3.5” x 2” - but you’re not penalized for declining to use all 7 square inches!! If the uppermost info on card A is the address, followed by the name, then title, then contact info like phone and email - try organizing it, and putting it near like information. There is no reason that all that contact information can’t be moved and bundled together, like on B. Also, bring it it a little bit, you don’t have to hug that edge so tightly. In addition to these, I’d also like to speak as a printer…

A Printer’s Problems

My main concern with spacing presents a problem when printing multiple pieces on an larger sheet of paper, then trying to cut down. Printing is NOT perfect. In my years of trying, I’ve come close, but never seen it done - I’ve done “really good” jobs, hell, I’ve even done “almost perfect,” but technology-wise, we’re just not there yet.

• The printer can print a little off, or maybe just in a slightly different position from sheet to sheet.

• The weight and finish of the paper in the machine could cause speed discrepencies, resulting in mis-registered prints.

• The cutter or the cut might not be EXACTLY square.

• The pressure of the clamp (or lack of pressure) can cause your blade to drag or move the pile during a cut - this can make really big mistakes!!

• The artwork has insufficient bleed (or none at all), which calls for cutting right to the edge of the image - that makes it very difficult to be accurate on more than the top sheet.

I could go on all day with stuff that could happen to make your prints suck, but I digress.

Well, did you learn anything? I’m always happy to talk about printing, or designing for print, or whatever. Please, don’t hesitate to be in touch - shoot me an email at print@brownleepress, or use the form on my contact page.