Forms, Folds, and Sizes: All the Details Graphic Designers Need to Know but Can Never Find [Paperback]

Poppy Evans (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2004

Forms, Folds & Sizes is the book that is always next to a designer's computer. Completely practical with only the most needed information, this book will provide designers with all the little details that can make or break a design such as how much space to leave in the gutter when designing barrel folds, how to layout a template for a box and the ratios of each part, metric conversion charts, standard envelope sizes in the USA, Europe, Canada and Asia, etc. This hardworking handbook is 2-color with a durable soft vinyl cover.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Poppy Evans is an award-winning writer and graphic designer who lives in Park Hills Kentucky, a suburb of Cincinnati, Ohio. She is the former art director of Screen Printing and American Music Teacher magazines, and former managing editor of HOW magazine. Since shifting into design-related writing and editing in 1989, her writing achievements include eleven books and over 200 articles that have appeared in Print, HOW, Step Inside Design and other design trade magazines. Her most recent books include The Graphic Designer's Ultimate Resource Directory, Fresh Ideas in Photoshop, Your Perfect Home-Based Studio, Graphic Design Makeovers, The Designer's Survival Manual, and Extraordinary Graphic for Unusual Surfaces. Poppy also teaches design-related courses at the Art Academy of Cincinnati.

Product Details

• Paperback: 264 pages
• Publisher: Rockport Publishers (May 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1592530540
• ISBN-13: 978-1592530540
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #274,576 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

108 of 114 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Don't be FOOLED like I was: an overpriced piece of junk, February 22, 2007

By 

Erik Fleischer - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Forms, Folds, and Sizes: All the Details Graphic Designers Need to Know but Can Never Find (Paperback)

I read so many positive reviews that I thought I just couldn't go wrong buying this book. Boy, was I mistaken. I have yet to find one truly useful bit of information in this book, and I'm no life-long veteran in the trade.

But lest you, fellow buyer, dismiss me as some silly impulsive reviewer, let's have some random facts.

1. Fully 90 of the 250 pages of actual content are devoted to process colour tables.

2. Twenty-two pages are devoted to "samples" of "text typefaces". The "samples" are 12-point alphabets and lining figures (no accented characters or punctuation). Among the 60 or so "text typefaces" included are such staples of book/magazine typography as Friz Quadrata, Eras and American Typewriter.

3. Chapter 9, "Packaging Styles", brings 18 pages filled with line drawings of boxes, cartons and such. Not a single illustration is accompanied by actual dimensions or even proportions. Knock yourself out trying to replicate a "six-sided carton with push-in closure". (Hey, isn't this the book that claims to contain "details on all the things you can never find"?)

4. Several pages are filled with such valuable, useful and current information as the proper abbreviation for Soviet Union.

5. You want to learn a little more about imposition so you can have an intelligent conversation with your local printer? Sorry: "imposition" is not even in this book's index.

But maybe I really am just an old crank. So many other people swear by the usefulness of this book! I'm sure they're not friends of the author.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Discussions of type measures, postal standards, typography, March 8, 2005

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Forms, Folds, and Sizes: All the Details Graphic Designers Need to Know but Can Never Find (Paperback)

Any graphic designer working with forms and folds or the written word will find Poppy Evans' Forms Fold Sizes a 'must' for properly designing everything from brochures and envelopes to laying out the written word. Here are informed and informative discussions of type measures, postal standards, typography - virtually everything needed to graphically translate the written word properly, whether it be to page, envelope, or folder. Forms Folds Sizes is an essential guide and strongly recommended for professional and academic Graphic Arts collections, as well as the publisher reference resource shelf.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great tool for print novices and veterans, August 26, 2005

By 

PAC - See all my reviews

This review is from: Forms, Folds, and Sizes: All the Details Graphic Designers Need to Know but Can Never Find (Paperback)

In a nutshell, I love it. Forms, Folds and Sizes provides all the basics facts and figures that designers and production staff need for developing and sending materials off to print. Don't remember exactly what a standard size is for an item....just look it up. Need a quick template for a pocket folder - flip to page 84. Want to know what type of paper will emboss the best...it's in here.
With an extensive glossary of terms...you'll never be at a loss for words with your print vendor.
If there's a designer, production person or recent art school grad in your life.....make this their next gift.
There I said it and I'm glad.