How important is an interior page background?

[Kevin A. Ranson]

Having recently completed the sourcebook for Kindling Moon, it was suggested to me that having minimal graphics (header or footer) on pages that were primarily text didn't look as professional as a full-page full-bleed backgrounds that looked like parchment, computer displays, or whatever the genre entails.

Is full-page, full-bleed backgrounds necessary, just nice to have, or something that adds value turning a not-bad into a must-have?

[Matt Snyder]

The answer is ... it depends. It certainly is NOT necessary. Indeed, many RPG books that have such backgrounds are atrociously designed. In some cases, those backgrounds make the book difficult to read. The worst example I remember off-hand is a parchment background Green Ronin used in their first edition of Testament, a biblical D20 supplement. The background was so dark and varied that it made the book hard to read. I have it in my head they acknowledged and corrected this, but I can't recall for certain.

Designing your publication is not about making it look cool. That should be secondary to your most important design function: making it readable and functional. If you buy into much of what the Forge has to say about games and game texts, then you book is an instructional manual, not a collectible artifact. It should, therefore, instruct. Consider how people will use the book, what will make that work easier for them, and so on.

Now, there is nothing objectively "wrong" with such backgrounds. They can make a book look very attractive if done well. Publication design offers a nice opportunity to show players what you want the game's color to "look like." That's the looking cool, fun part of design. But, again, make it readable and usable first.

[Jennifer Rodgers]

Full-bleed page backgrounds are definitely not necessary. In fact, simpler can be better.

In my opinion, border art that just frames the text and doesn't bleed can be very classy. If it's done well of course.

[Sydney Freedberg]

I'd check out The Mountain Witch as an example of a gorgeous book most of whose pages are just text -- plus artfully arranged pull quotes, sidebars, and section headings -- with no pictures of anything whatsoever. The only "art" in the book in the sense of illustrations (except I think the design of the text itself is artistic) is set aside on special pages, like the illustrative plates in a serious nonfiction text. It works brilliantly.

Funky page backgrounds, little pictures all over the place, quotes from rock bands at the top of each chapter, etc., all scream "hey! this is an RPG!" to everyone who is familiar with the White Wolf books. Which is fine, but it also screams "this is really busy! And kinda weird!" to anyone unfamiliar with those books.

[Ron Edwards]

Hello,

In support of points others have made, it all comes down to what you'd like people to use the book for.

1. If you'd like them to be able to read it and understand specific points, then the layout and graphics need to draw the eye to the text (as opposed to other things), to help the readers' eyes to avoid fatigue, and to keep the reader oriented as to where he or she is, in the overall organization of the book.

2. If you'd like them to appreciate it as a physical or graphic object, then consider what that appreciation consists of - is it supposed to be cool and edgy? Expensive and classy? Punky and basement-y? Clearly, the layout and graphic features you choose rely on that desired content.

3. If you'd like them to use it for reference during actual play, then organization is the key feature, not only for the overall text, but for a given page. Outlines, bullets, diagrams, illustrations, and chunks of text need to be set up relative to one another as maximum usage devices.

Some folks reading this are going to be thinking, "why not all three?" And indeed, all three are simultaneously possible. However, certain versions of any one of these things are incompatible with at least one of the other two.

You'll have to decide whether one, two, or all three of these priorities are going to be favored by your game as a physical object. Then you'll have to decide what details or features will serve those priorities best.

A word of advice: don't let others tell you what is or is not "professional." Ultimately, if you're publishing your own game, then you must take ownership over that term, as you see fit. The alternative is to be buffeted about by the intrusions and assertions of others.

Best,
Ron

[Josh Roby]

All of the above is very good advice.  If you want to go further into specifics, Kevin, can you tell us the specifics of the book, its intended use, and its marketing plan?  You say it's a supplement -- is it the kind of supplement that gets referenced in the midst of play, or the kind of supplement that maybe gets referenced in character generation for background color but after that nobody touches the book at the table?

[Justin D. Jacobson]

Another major consideration is whether or not you are releaseing in pdf format. Most customers will squawk about a pdf with major graphical elements as they often print them out wholesale and the extra graphics are a toner hog.

[KeithBVaughn]

Background crap makes it hard to scan and will drive an OCR scan crazy.  Too bad it also makes it hard for the human eye to read under less than bright lighting conditions.

Keith

[Josh Roby]

Background crap makes it hard to scan and will drive an OCR scan crazy.

Keith, are you offering that as a bug or a feature?

[MatrixGamer]

Kevin

Your question is about aesthetics. Some print techniques work well, others don't. If you google "Book Design" you can begin learning about this field. Why not avail yourself of five hundred years of experience?

From a printer's point of view background boarders and frames press the text of a work into the center of the page and give a lot of wiggle room in book trimming. When text comes too close to the edge of the page it is easy to mess up the trim (cutting off words) and also shows up misaligned text bolcks real fast. (The side of the book is a straight edge to measure the text block by.)

Book design...There is a lot to learn there...even if the work is only done as a PDF product.

Good luck with the project!

Chris Engle
Hamster Press = Engle Matrix Games

[KeithBVaughn]

Joshua,

LOL It was an observation on why the "big guys" use those horrid backgrounds of half faded pictures that can make their books hard to read in dim light. I don't like piracy but the measures that some companies take, make their books almost unreadable (as if the writing wasn't bad enough!)

Keith

[Joshua A.C. Newman]

I think it's atrocious. It hinders legibility, it detracts from the content (which may be the point, if the game's not good), and it wastes space.

It's a lot like fonts in the 1980s: "Hey! I've got fonts! I'll use all of them!"

I find it eye-rollingly unprofessional. It's ornamentation for its own sake, which makes it, in design history, no less than a century behind the times, yet without the tremendous craftsmanship and taste that marked those times.

It is my belief that The Elements of Typographic Style is the most important book any self-publisher can read. If you find it fun and fascinating, you'll be able to use it to make beautiful books. If you find it boring, you should hire someone to do your book design for you.

[andrew_kenrick]

In the same vein I'm a big fan of Editing by Design. It's more aimed at magazine designers/editors but many of the themes are equally as applicable to our industry, especially thoughts on white space and font usage.

When I laid out Dead of Night I borrowed heavily from the clean design of Nobilis, keeping each page as simple as possible, partly because of it's size and the risk that it could become overcluttered, and partly because I'm a big fan of white space in a book.

Likewise I adore the graphic simplicity of Polaris and believe it makes it far more powerful and beautiful than if an expensive graphic had been used in the background of each page.

[Ron Edwards]

Hello,

The last few posts are starting to become opinion-editorials, which is an ongoing problem in this forum. I think the basic questions have been asked and the range of useful answers has been given.

Let's call this thread closed now. Kevin, as you can see, you'll have to make a few decisions before arriving at a look and feel for your page design. Please feel free to start new threads about any of the next steps.

Best,
Ron

[Kevin A. Ranson]

Sure. Okay.

..... so why's it still open?