Quality printing is not accidental. Shops famed for the artistic excellence of their product have maintained their “shop style” despite changes in the force of workmen and executives, and this individuality, or “shop style,” as it is termed, has been obtained and retained only because the copy has been carefully prepared and the work has been intelligently laid out by some qualified person (artist, ad-writer or typographer) who understands shop preferences in the matter of style. It is the “institutional idea.”
In printshops extensive enough to allow of the expense, one or more layout men should be employed, and in the smaller concerns the head job compositor or foreman could do the work. Solicitors, when artistically fitted, could in special cases lay out their own jobs of printing, as personal contact with the customer peculiarly fits them to do it satisfactorily. The important thing, anyway, is to please the customer. While the art side of the practice of typography is important, it is not all important. Typography is also a business.
If the customer’s tastes and prejudices were ascertained beforehand, many of the changes now made after jobs are in type, frequently causing inharmonious arrangements, could be avoided. The average printer rarely parallels the experiences of a few fortunate printing concerns which, when receiving an order for a booklet or catalog, are told the amount of the appropriation and given carte blanche.
Anticipating the appearance of the printed page by utilizing old booklets or preparing specimen sheets of text matter which are cut to proper size and pasted in position. The headings are roughly sketched with pencil ]
Orders for much of the better class of work are obtained thru “dummies” submitted by printers or solicitors. The customer advises a certain number of such persons that he is in the market for a booklet and would like to receive suggestions. Each competitor prepares a “dummy” on the stock and in the binding intended for the completed booklet. The cover design is roughly sketched or otherwise indicated and the inside pages prepared to represent the finished job.
Let us imagine ourselves in a printshop of medium size, which cannot afford the regular services of an artist. From the composing-room force take the most artistic and practical job compositor and install him at a desk. If there is not sufficient desk work to occupy his full time, arrange with him to fill in spare time at the case. In selecting a man for the position it should be remembered that few typographers have qualifications combining artistic perception and thoro workmanship. It is in a great measure true that a nervous, artistic temperament unfits a typographer for thoro, finished work at the case or stone, while on the contrary, a calm, precise, methodical disposition is often accompanied by lack of imagination. Each workman should have opportunity to do that which he can do best. He of the artistic temperament should lay out the jobs, and he of the mechanical turn of mind should construct them.