Zine help - export / image settings for printing and online publishing - ZINE LINK ADDED***

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toohuge

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Morning all,

I've just returned from 2 weeks in the Philippines documenting the work of an NGO out there. Really good fun (and hard work). A lot of family and friends have expressed an interest in the work etc. and I figured it would be easier to put together a short zine / magazine of the work, along with a series of articles that I have written about each of the assignments I shot out there.

I have been using Affinity Publisher - I think it's great btw if anyone is looking to learn / start doing this, it has a really nice interface - anyway - I have set the images to be embedded, however I have exported all my images (most from the GFX 100) at full jpeg, consequently the file size is enormous! I know jpeg output is excessive for printing and web viewing, but could I ask for a little advice?

Should I re-export the images from lightroom at a lower quality / resolution - my thinking was to go through and re-export the images that I plan on using in the document and export these at 300dpi - but could anyone let me know the appropriate lightroom settings so I may create this document with the potential to print later on and share with my friends overseas etc?

Happy to post the finished product here for those interested.

Thanks Chris :)
 
Depending on the zine size, A5, 210 square, etc - I usually export/resize the image sto be 3000px on the long edge - this gives be plenty of latitude within Affinity for bleeds etc. If teh image is going to be across a double page spread I will resize/export it larger.
 
Mr Perceptive said:
Depending on the zine size, A5, 210 square, etc - I usually export/resize the image sto be 3000px on the long edge - this gives be plenty of latitude within Affinity for bleeds etc. If teh image is going to be across a double page spread I will resize/export it larger.
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Ah ok .... this is going to get complicated haha.

The zine will be A4 - I should have added that information to the original post.

Is exporting each image at 300 dpi not sufficient - or have I misunderstood the complexities of this?

I do have some images that span a spread
 
I usually export to 300ppi at the size I want the images to appear in the zine.
 
toohuge said:
Ah ok .... this is going to get complicated haha.

The zine will be A4 - I should have added that information to the original post.

Is exporting each image at 300 dpi not sufficient - or have I misunderstood the complexities of this?

I do have some images that span a spread
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If zine is A4 then I would export longest side at 12 x 300dpi = 3600px , unless image is across a double spread - then it would either be 16 x 300 dpi or 24 x 300dpi depending on whether the zine is in portrait or landscape format.

Yes 300dpi is sufficient, though if you are being picky then you must allow for the bleed in your export dimensions (assuming images go to edge of page)
 
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I don't embed images into Affinity. I shove my full size jpegs in a folder (sometimes on a USB stick if there are lots) and link them into affinity, resizing as I see fit on the page when I am working on a layout and don't know in advance what size they'll get used. Seems to work and saves me having to think about what size etc to export them at!
 
Ed Sutton said:
I don't embed images into Affinity. I shove my full size jpegs in a folder (sometimes on a USB stick if there are lots) and link them into affinity, resizing as I see fit on the page when I am working on a layout and don't know in advance what size they'll get used. Seems to work and saves me having to think about what size etc to export them at!
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Oh is that how linked images work!?
 
That's a cracking piece of work Chris.

You didn't ask for feedback, but I do have some if you want it. If it's too late, I'll keep my yap firmly shut. It's pedantic, but it's such a good piece of work I actually went right through it.
 
Harlequin565 said:
That's a cracking piece of work Chris.

You didn't ask for feedback, but I do have some if you want it. If it's too late, I'll keep my yap firmly shut. It's pedantic, but it's such a good piece of work I actually went right through it.
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Yes please ! This is the first draft - I need to work on the foreword as it doesn’t read very well. But I’d like to knock this out the park
 
toohuge said:
Yes please ! This is the first draft - I need to work on the foreword as it doesn’t read very well. But I’d like to knock this out the park
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OK. These are the notes I made in case you said yes :) My wife was an editor and she is a rabid critic of my writing (apart from when I don't show her because my ego won't stand it), so this comes from a place of love... You have so much to show and say and it really comes across in the content, so don't compromise too much based on what I've said... I'll copy/paste my text file as it's quicker than typing it out again.

Fonts: Stay consistent. p2 Courier + whatever you're using doesn't work visually.
Text picture descriptions: Font looks very small. Is it smaller than 8pt? Could you go to 8 or ideally 9?

P2: Font thing, plus drop that LH paragraph to the same height as the right one.
P3: Boxes around the text (this is a common theme but only for the first few pages and I don't know if it's the PDF, or whether they will end up in print - maybe @Mr Perceptive or @Ed Sutton could shed light)
P4: Drop caps in the "I" don't look good
P5: Drop the camera logo thing. It's distracting. Drop the hyphens from your introduction to the chapter. It's a sentence and doesn't need a hyphens.
P8: Drop caps "wide awake" doesn't look good. Same for the p in project, and v in volunteer (this is a common theme)
P9: Gap before the first paragraph. Level it out with the right hand column.
P11: Lift the text. Better to have it higher with a bigger gap at the bottom than central.
P12: Text box issue. I would raise the bottom image and lower the top one a little. With page cutting that gap in the middle might look bad. make a decision on whether to have explanatory text above or below the image.
P13: Text box issues. Big gap in the middle of the page with not much room top or bottom. Even 'em out.
P14: Text box issues. Text on the lower image needs justifying to the right and centralising with the image. Or aligning with the top or the bottome... You decide.
P15: Text box issues.
P16: Lower images - raise the left hand one and lower the right hand one so that they are level. Gaps between image and text are different here too.
P17: Text box issues and a big middle gap.
P20: Same issues as P8 with the drop caps (apart from the H which looks fine).
P23/25: Your sentence stops with a photo in-between them. Doesn't read very easily. People will stop reading to look at the pic, or skip the pic. Neither is great IMO.
P26: Drop caps W is grim. Photo description text may be lost in the print as it's very close to the edge. I reckon move the image off centre so your text will more likely survive.
P30: Courier font again for some reason?. "A collection of.." needs centralising.
P40: Just the "P" and "V" drop caps again.
P43: Right hand column needs to go up a bit to align with the LH one.
P48: The first photo with no explanation!
P52: The drop caps again. P, V, A and I.... Shoot me :)
P54: Left hand column needs a lift.
P56: Three photos and 2 descriptions. Not sure what's attached to what.
P55-58: This time a double page spread in the middle of your sentence. People will skip it to carry on reading.
P59: Text needs a lift to align it with the photo.

Feel free to ignore what you like. As I said - it's a great piece of work IMO. You should join our zine exchange next time round :)
 
Gosh thank you @Harlequin565 for going through the whole thing! I need to figure out how to make the changes you've suggested - some of them are easy like removing the drop caps. I seem to like hyphens haha

The boxes came up after I ran it through a compression tool - it's a big file otherwise.

I'm waiting on some copy feedback from the volunteers I shot and I'll integrate your comments and repost for another review

Thank you very much for going through in such detail! It's very much appreciated
 
Harlequin565 said:
P3: Boxes around the text (this is a common theme but only for the first few pages and I don't know if it's the PDF, or whether they will end up in print - maybe @Mr Perceptive or @Ed Sutton could shed light)
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I'd expect that if it shows in the PDF it'll show in print.

My 'top tip' for layouts is make a style sheet for the publication. Note down all the parameters that need to be kept consistent such as type faces and sizes, paragraph and frame styles, etc. Print it out and keep it to hand.

Top tip number two is keep it simple. It's too easy to get carried away with all the design things that can be done.
 
Ed Sutton said:
I'd expect that if it shows in the PDF it'll show in print.

My 'top tip' for layouts is make a style sheet for the publication. Note down all the parameters that need to be kept consistent such as type faces and sizes, paragraph and frame styles, etc. Print it out and keep it to hand.

Top tip number two is keep it simple. It's too easy to get carried away with all the design things that can be done.
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Thanks - I made some master templates in affinity to try and keep things consistent - hence the drop caps repeating etc. so much to learn !!!
 
It's worth remembering that the things being pointed out represent different ideas not mistakes, and the best ideas are those that look good to the greatest number of people.
I introduced DTP to the printing dept. I worked at, and my first efforts were torn to shreds by the manager (ex RSM and previous editor, compositor and proof reader for the Times of Zambia), and looking back, how right he was :)

I have downloaded photography pdf books in the past resetting them to print out, not because they were wrong, but because I found them hard to read. Just personal taste, the right way is what most people prefer, and that is where the basics of setting and layout are as valid now as they were 100 years ago.
 
toohuge said:
@Harlequin565 how is this looking now?
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I guess the main question is how do you think it looks?

This is my second time though so apologies if they were missed 1st time.... Also - I haven't gone through the copy in detail simply because it's a zine and needs to sound like you, rather than sounding perfect & edited. Also - I really don't feel like it's my place to pass comment on the content.

p5: "Portraits a small collection of portraits" - delete the first word.
p10: Lift the RH paragraph to align with the LH one.
P40: Text is very close to the bottom of the page. Maybe lose a line break in the top half of the page somewhere to raise it a smidge? (like you have on p52)
p57: Remaining paragraph needs to align to the top, not the middle IMO
Overall: The "Project/|Volunteer" bit could be a little bigger font to draw attention if you wanted now that you lost the drop caps.

Much better to read for me, and even though there are places where the text feels a little cramped, as I said before, I think that's because you've got a lot to say. That's a "you" thing which personalises this work and I'm not sure I'd advise you to change it. I'd be chuffed to bits if I'd produced this, so very well done.

Edit - In answer to your other question, I'd go silk. Glossy can be hard to read. It's nice for pics, but not so nice for text. I had a bunch of course notes printed for my courses and wish I'd gone matt rather than silk, because I felt even the silk was too glossy for text. If you're doing a large print run, I'd ask your printer to do you some samples on various papers to see what you think. They don't have to print the whole thing, just a couple of pages so you can see how it looks. It's very much a taste thing though.
 
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Thank you @Harlequin565 your comments and feedback at very much appreciated. I think the changes I made really tightened up the document, I like the look of drop caps but maybe that's just me. Being mindful of the white space and increasing the caption font size has really filled out each page - I think it's close - with your final revisions - to being done.

I'm struggling with affinity publisher and how the spacings etc for text boxes work. Not sure why the formatting of the text to align with each other is so difficult.

Overall, I am very proud of this work. It was a hard assignment and delighted with the results and articles I've written too. Excited to finish this to share digitally and get the print stuff going too.
Chris
 
Smashing, thank you @Harlequin565 , @Sangoma and @Ed Sutton for all your help.

For anyone else interested, here's the latest version:

Google drive link

I think it looks a lot more polished and coherent, really happy with how it's shaping up. I need to design a cover for it, but will take a day or two away from this project to review the copy with fresh eyes etc.

Thank you all so much for helping me bring this together - it's turning out to be a really lovely piece of work
 
toohuge said:
I need to design a cover for it, but will take a day or two away from this project to review the copy with fresh eyes etc.
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Always a good idea. (y)

Have you printed out some sample pages? I find that helps as what I see on the screen, particularly text size, can look 'wrong' when printed out at actual size.
 
Ed Sutton said:
Have you printed out some sample pages? I find that helps as what I see on the screen, particularly text size, can look 'wrong' when printed out at actual size.
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Another :plus1:
 
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