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Subject:Re: Who's Job is it to Layout a Book? From:Ginna Dowler <gdowler -at- QUESTERCORP -dot- COM> Date:Thu, 15 Jul 1999 13:31:24 -0700
Jim Grey wrote:
> Everywhere I've ever worked as a tech writer (all three software companies),
> design (book and online) fell to either the writer or to another writer within
> the department specially assigned to create page designs. In all cases, when
> the design was final, it was each writer's responsibility to lay out their own
> work within that design.
If what you mean by design is "full template in Frame (or Word etc.)",
then I agree with you. BUT I've been in a situation in my last company
where they hired a graphic designer to come up with new designs for
everything we did that was printed. They looked great in the samples he
gave us, but they were all mock-ups in Illustrator -- not templates. I
then had to take his design and try to use it. I spent weeks trying to
replicate his complex page layout in Frame in a way I could actually
use. (And then butted heads with him because I couldn't follow it
*exactly*.)
My advice is that if a graphic designer is going to design a layout,
that's great, but work with them so that you end up with something you
can really use.
--
_______________________________
Ginna Dowler - Technical Writer
Quester Tangent Corporation
Sidney, BC
gdowler -at- questercorp -dot- com
