Layout: How Your Job Looks and Flows

With enough time, patience, and persistence (and the right programs), anyone can format text and graphics into a readable, pleasant end product. If you've spent time working on your church newsletter, or a brochure for your business, you have an idea of just what is involved.

At HRF Incorporated, we can lay out your project to your satisfaction in a fraction of the time it would take you to do it yourself. And we're used to dealing with those intangibles - when you come up against a layout problem and can't seem to make it work the way you want it to. From running headers, to stylish, flowing text and image wrap-arounds, we can make your project sing.

We use the latest programs for layout, including Quark, Freehand and Photoshop (for your print jobs); Photoshop, and the full Dreamweaver / Fireworks / Freehand suite (for web design). Our choice of font styles is extensive, giving you the opportunity to make your project distinctive without being unreadable.

Design for Print and Web

Many designers have no problem coming up with compelling designs. Only a few have mastered the art of designing a piece which will print without undue complication. It's important for a designer to know what happens in the print shop, so the design won't fall apart once the inks start flying. A similar problem exists on the web, since designs are often made with little regard for readability. If you have an unlimited budget, you can just skip this section, because this doesn't apply to you. If you're like most of us, though, you operate on a budget which can only give in one direction - out of your pocket.

A design which uses heavy reverses on thin type, for instance, can cause your printer to add thousands to your bill as he tries to keep the inks from filling in your type - or it can make your Web Site illegible.

        Low contrast designs, improperly done, bleed into bizarre third colors where two colors collide, or artwork simply disappears, swallowed by the surrounding colors. The first picture at right shows an improper trap on the words "FAT TYPE," where the type is set to spread instead of knock out. "Bizarre Colors" simulates what can happen to a printed piece when type is placed on a similar background. The second picture displays one alternative which corrects the problems.