&Type!_/_ Type Voice_/_ Initial Letters _/_Festival: Gallo Fonts _/_ Letterheads _/_ Goudy Birtham _/_ Village Illuminated initial caps by Fred Showker Last month's article on Initial Letters, by Ilene Strizver, inspired me to take another look at what we've got in the Publishers Warehouse to adorn holiday communications. As I told my GRPH 243 class at JMU yesterday, while introducing them to Quark Xpress, page Layout programs have taken something that was once a tedious process and made it easy to make drop caps. But I cautioned: If you want to do a really superb job, the automated functions of page layout programs, and yes, even word processors will never suffice.To make something really special, you need to place (import, etc.,) the letter with care, size it with care, then produce a runaround that really, really makes the initial cap do what you want it to do. URTON INITIALS is an illuminated letter font included in this month's Publishers' Warehouse. It comes as both an actual font, and a graphic font. This makes it the ideal illuminated letters to demonstrate this month's technique. Why load an entire font for one letter. Since these letters are square, they're perfect for a standard placed picture block with a runaround. Be sure to scale the letter so that it occupies just the number of lines you wish, and them tweak the runaround so that the lines stay properly spaced. In Quark I would rather use the Command/M dialog to set the scale than attempting dragging to scale. In the dialog I can quickly specify the exact depth I need. For instance, if the font in use is 12 points, set on 14 point leading, and I want a 4-line drop, then I know I need the block to be 54 points deep. Using a graphic as opposed to an actual keyed in letter from a font offers some improvements over the software's "auto" drop-cap for more professional results. But either way will work. In Quark Xpress the Initial Cap function doesn't allow proper kerning. (That's moving the rest of the letter closer to the cap letter.) When you kern via the built in kerning function, the second and third lines also kern and can mess up the intention of the drop cap. So, let's take a look at how to properly structure your type. About the author: Fred Showker conducted Newsletter Make-Over Clinics all over country for Dynamic Graphics Educational Foundation, In-House Graphics Magazine, Multicom, and other training providers. He has conducted dozens of custom publication make-over clinics for such clients as Southwestern Bell, Chicago Harald Newspapers, National Teachers Association, The Special Olympics, Byrd Papers, Sysco Corp., Merck, and various departments of the Federal Government. ___ He is available to help your company, organization or conference with a fast-paced, informative and entertaining design or make-over presentation that will help you achieve your publishing goals! Showker Graphic Arts & Design, Harrisonburg, Virginia: 540-433-8402. Back to &Type! [ The Design Center ] _ [ DTG Newsletter ] _ [ Designers' Bookshelf ] Want to discuss it? Subscribe to The Designers' CAFE You are visiting: http://www.graphic-design.com/Type/ Copyright 1996 - 2000, Showker Graphic Arts, for the The Design & Publishing Center, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Notes: The screen shots herein represent the copyrighted works of their respective owners, and are used here for editorial demonstration purposes. please read and be aware of our Legal Properties & Disclaimers document. Not all areas of the online environment allow special characters such as the registration and trademark marks. This file will alert you to proprietary works that cannot be duplicated or distributed. Copyright 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001 by Showker Graphic Arts, The Design & Publishing Center, on behalf of the respective authors and artists. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. &photographic, Photoshop Tips & Tricks, &Type, WebDesign & Review, and Pixelsmith are all trademarks for The Design & Publishing Center. Other products mentioned in these pages are the registered trademarks of their respective owners.