The Shih Tzu book

This book, found in a thrift shop, shows how to care for a Shih Tzu. It was published in 2003 and it is aimed at dog owners and dog lovers.

I believe the typeface used for this book is “Times New Roman” which is a serif font. The layout of this book is an example of a grid system composed of  three columns. There is a certain structure and repetition in the way each spread was designed. Indeed, even if all the pages are different, the designer used certain strategies to make the spreads consistent. For example, to distinguish some of the information from the main text, certain paragraphs are framed and separated from the body text with the help of the grid. The grid should allow pictures and type to interact harmoniously, but it is not the case. In my opinion, the flow of the text is not optimal because the columns are too narrow for the size of the font which creates rivers in the text. Furthermore, sometimes, the paragraphs are wrapped around the images in a way that makes it hard for the reader to follow the text.

In conclusion this book will influence my work because it illustrates design mistakes that could be avoided. It is important to use the grid in a way that helps the reader separate the different interest points and sections  to avoid confusion.