The printer must learn more than he now knows about art or he will become only a caddie in the game of booklet printing, with the artist and ad.-writer making all the puts. The printer is depending too much upon the artist and too little upon himself. The possibilities of type arrangement have not been exhausted and never will be, yet many workers at the printing trade act upon the assumption that good printing is impossible without the artist’s initiative and co-operation. Many a good job of printing has been spoiled by inferior lettering or decoration, the work of a poor artist.
Withal, there is nothing more ideal than a good printer and a good artist working together to produce perfect printing.
Page from an automobile catalog designed by Thomas Maitland Cleland. The caption is grouped in spaced capitals of Bodoni Book. The illustration is from a pen-and-ink drawing ]
Unusual treatment of a specifications page. Words in capitals are letterspaced. Rules are used to add character to the page. These reproductions are one-half the size of the originals ]
Ruskin, enumerating three branches of architectural virtue, requires of a building (1) that it act well, and do the things it was intended to do, in the best way; (2) that it speak well, and say the things it was intended to say, in the best words; (3) that it look well, and please us by its presence, whatever it has to do or say.
These three requirements, like many others that are important in the eyes of the architect, can be applied to the illustrated catalog, which most printers at one time or another are called upon to produce:
(1) The catalog should act well; it should be constructed in a manner fitting the purpose for which it is issued. If, say, it contains a list of plumbers’ supplies, it should be bound in strong stock of a color that will not easily soil. If it contains a list of jewelry and is for retail purposes, it could be bound delicately in light stock.
(2) The catalog should speak well; the illustrations should be faithful presentations of the articles to be sold, and the descriptive matter should be well written, accurate and informative.
(3) The catalog should look well; the type-faces, paper, ink, binding and other elements should be harmonious; the illustrations and descriptive matter should be arranged with regard to balance and proportion, and the treatment as a whole should be pleasing and interesting.