Many thanks to all those who let their opinions be known on the great bean bag debate. I will definitely write an update when the actual transfer of beans occurs.
Today was spent doing the routine "my machine sure does lock up a lot" chores, punctuated by e-mails from the various printers I've gotten in touch with about getting the book published. I still haven't decided on four-color or spot color, but I have started to design the actual cover. It's a bit rough at the moment, but I think it's a good start. The back side is a whole new nightmare.
Scott has been pushing me to ditch the 10% gray screen that exists in the boxes that set our sidebars apart from the rest of the page. His reasoning is that then we'll be able to use the printer from whom we have received the cheapest quote so far. (For whatever reason, they strongly discourage the use of such screens. If you're lost and don't know what I'm talking about, check out some of the sample pages on the Reel Shame web site). I think this is a crappy reason to alter a design, especially since I think we can find someone to do the design we want at a price we can afford.
I looked to Chris Magyar for some support in this decision and he came back with the answer that screens are just so '80s I should probably take them out for design reasons, regardless of the economics. I was a bit taken aback by this; screens were a favorite tool back in the days of the Triton Tribune at Eckerd College, and I kind of enjoyed using them again in the book. Then Chris put it to me another way: he compared it to 1995 page design. Would I design a web page these days with a black background, neon green text, and little animated "under construction" graphics?
Shudder. Perish the thought!
I'm still not entirely convinced that the screens need to go. The print world is not quite the rapidly changing place, design-wise, that the web is, but it did make me pause to think. And so I turn to my vast array of People With Opinions (PWOs),and I put it to you: screens or no screens?
If I ditch the screens, I'll probably have to do some slight redesign to thicken the border of the box, maybe alter the point size of the type ever so slightly to compensate. No, Lisa, don't have a heart attack – I won't move any indexed words from one page to another! But I'm willing to do it if the book will look more professional that way.
Let me know what you think, in comments or via e-mail.
And now, back to the cooking
I used some of my new "China #1 Ginger Powder" from the Spice House in a loaf of bread today, but forgot to add the honey. Whoops. The resulting bread was good, but without the sweetness of the honey to offset the ginger, it was a bit too gingery. Don't think I'll be doing that again.
I found a source of dutch-processed cocoa in town. There's a bulk grocer just down the street, not 20 blocks from here. They seem to be part bulk-food and spice-house, part herbal medicine shop, part aromatherapy consultants, part gift boutique. Oh, and you can get fresh-ground peanut butter if you want it, too. And Scharffen-Berger chocolate at just $2.50 per teeny-tiny bar.
Reasons to Hang Up Your Leather Jacket
Today I found tiny little holes in my jacket, in curious little sets of three. If I had to guess, I'd say they were Suzie-sized.
Today was spent doing the routine "my machine sure does lock up a lot" chores, punctuated by e-mails from the various printers I've gotten in touch with about getting the book published. I still haven't decided on four-color or spot color, but I have started to design the actual cover. It's a bit rough at the moment, but I think it's a good start. The back side is a whole new nightmare.
Scott has been pushing me to ditch the 10% gray screen that exists in the boxes that set our sidebars apart from the rest of the page. His reasoning is that then we'll be able to use the printer from whom we have received the cheapest quote so far. (For whatever reason, they strongly discourage the use of such screens. If you're lost and don't know what I'm talking about, check out some of the sample pages on the Reel Shame web site). I think this is a crappy reason to alter a design, especially since I think we can find someone to do the design we want at a price we can afford.
I looked to Chris Magyar for some support in this decision and he came back with the answer that screens are just so '80s I should probably take them out for design reasons, regardless of the economics. I was a bit taken aback by this; screens were a favorite tool back in the days of the Triton Tribune at Eckerd College, and I kind of enjoyed using them again in the book. Then Chris put it to me another way: he compared it to 1995 page design. Would I design a web page these days with a black background, neon green text, and little animated "under construction" graphics?
Shudder. Perish the thought!
I'm still not entirely convinced that the screens need to go. The print world is not quite the rapidly changing place, design-wise, that the web is, but it did make me pause to think. And so I turn to my vast array of People With Opinions (PWOs),and I put it to you: screens or no screens?
If I ditch the screens, I'll probably have to do some slight redesign to thicken the border of the box, maybe alter the point size of the type ever so slightly to compensate. No, Lisa, don't have a heart attack – I won't move any indexed words from one page to another! But I'm willing to do it if the book will look more professional that way.
Let me know what you think, in comments or via e-mail.
And now, back to the cooking
I used some of my new "China #1 Ginger Powder" from the Spice House in a loaf of bread today, but forgot to add the honey. Whoops. The resulting bread was good, but without the sweetness of the honey to offset the ginger, it was a bit too gingery. Don't think I'll be doing that again.
I found a source of dutch-processed cocoa in town. There's a bulk grocer just down the street, not 20 blocks from here. They seem to be part bulk-food and spice-house, part herbal medicine shop, part aromatherapy consultants, part gift boutique. Oh, and you can get fresh-ground peanut butter if you want it, too. And Scharffen-Berger chocolate at just $2.50 per teeny-tiny bar.
Reasons to Hang Up Your Leather Jacket
Today I found tiny little holes in my jacket, in curious little sets of three. If I had to guess, I'd say they were Suzie-sized.
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