Hardback Cover Design 3

[mono570]

Pardon my ignorance for I am new here, and this may be a simple design occurrence for many of you desktop-publishing experts, however, I'm a novice to Quark 4.1 and I would definitely appreciate some help on a concept I cannot grasp. Here goes! I've just finished designing a 100-page animation manual using Quark 4.1. and Photoshop 7 on Mac OS 10 platform. The document pages measure 8.5" X 11". Since the finished product will hopefully be displayed on bookshelves, in libraries and stores, I'd like the cover to be a hardback edition. Ultimately, I've designed the front and back covers to contain a single image to be 11' X 17" which will stretch across both pages. With that in mind, Quark 4.1 does not display the first and last page of the document side by side (or does it?) so I cannot place my 11" X 17" image into the document to see how the whole cover will look. Furthermore, the publication requirements call for a spine on the book which will contain the name of the book, and which can be easily legible on a display shelf. How do I design for a spine if there is only a single page view of each cover page? Must I create a new document measuring 11" X 17" just for the cover? How thick should the spine be for a 100-page document? Any input would be a fantastic help.
Regards
Alexandra

 

[blueark]

It's quite common to design the cover in a different file to the rest of the book. The easiest way is to create a file that's 11" x 17" + the width of the spine. The thickness of the spine is a tough call, because it depends on the thickness of the paper you're using.

I normally try and find a similar publication and measure that, but I would contact the printer before finalising the design to get a more accurate measurement. Also, make sure you leave a lot of bleed off either side of the document just in case the spine isn't big enough.

 

[PixelMasher]

Contact your printer that you will be using. Tell them the specs to your job and have them give you a spine size.

Build the covers separate from the text. I work for a printer and we will build the cover files 11x17 plus the spine width. If your spine is lets say .25 your document will be 17.25 in the width. Place your Back cover at 0,0, create your spine at 8.5 in the width, then place your front cover at 8.75. add bleed and make sure your color butt.

Or ask your printer how you can handle it.

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