Written by Stefan Nikolaj
21 Sep 2020
Beauty then and now
A few examples
For example, these very beautiful covers for books of that time show what I am trying to explain:
Do you notice anything similar with these covers? Modern programming books don’t use this style of artwork on them anymore. The main components that make these covers look retro are the gradients and parallel lines being prominent.
Don't judge a book by its cover...?
Now, due to the limitations in printer technology in color being less affordable than today, the actual graphics inside these books are simplistic, and most often text only. That is where I want to add another (in my opinion) underappreciated form of art – textbook designs. Modern day school textbooks are, often, very beautiful inside. With typography, visual design and UI/UX being massive fields at the moment, the demand for good-looking textbooks have never been higher.
That's cool, but I've never made a textbook
For a while I had been looking for software to make such books with, and I believe that I have found the right one – Adobe InDesign. I had had contact with Adobe InDesign in school, where it was briefly talked about in graphic design classes, and had some experience with it. Adobe InDesign is mostly used for things like brochures, flyers, magazines, business cards and other text-based material where looks are important to catch the reader’s attention. Due to me having a graphic design class in school, I already know my way around 3 Adobe programs, so InDesign was simple to learn. Luckily for me (and everyone on the internet), free online tutorials and knowledge sharing are common, and I was able to learn for free what a few decades ago I would have needed to take an instructor for.
Software woes
I really like InDesign and I wish there was a free and open source alternative that was as good as InDesign. Maybe even an alternative that works on Linux. But for now, I’m stuck with the Adobe ecosystem. Thankfully, my school offers access to Adobe products so at least I can use them without a problem.
Testing... Testing...
I have some prototype designs, but I’ll test them out with my schoolmates in 2 days, along with the first version of my project. I won’t post anything yet, but I’ll post how the first (alpha?) version of my project turned out around this Wednesday. I managed to get 3 students with different levels of programming knowledge (almost none, beginner and semi-advanced) and I’ll get their opinions and feedback. Until then, I’ll keep learning about typography and graphic design, which turns out is an insanely deep field which I have no chance of fully understanding, but it seems fun, just like the entire process of making the project (for now). That’s it for today and expect my first draft results in a few days!