Non-Designer’s Type Book, The, Second Edition

Chapter 31. Telltale Signs of Desktop Publishing

Desktop publishing has matured from the classic ransom notes we were inundated with in the mid-1980s. People have become much more visually aware and informed about the professional way to set their own type and design their own pages. But telltale signs of do-it-yourself desktop publishing still creep into even the most professional work. Some of these signs are a result of not knowing the software well enough to control certain features, and some are simply evidence of using convenient features that really shouldn’t even be options —or, in some cases, defaults—on the computer.

Give yourself three penalty points for each of the following telltale signs that you perpetrate. If you score three ...