PAGE PROPORTIONS
Mechanical
Mechanical page proportions refer to
page sizes that are dictated by:
News: Convenience key to satellite
Variety: Art in the Twin Cities: Classy,
classic or downright disturbing?
Two points of view
Page 3
Page 5
Aquin
Page 8
The
Volume LXXXIV, Issue 7
Industry standards. Newspaper pages,
for instance, all are a uniform size to
accommodate national advertising.
■ Economy. By using paper in standard
widths, printers save money. For instance, many magazines are in an 8.5
by 11 inch format, the so-called U.S.
letter size, because it fits a standard
size of paper and produces little
waste.
■ Packaging. A pamphlet to go with a
CD is square, not because it couldn't
be some other shape but because it
must fit the CD package.
■ Custom. Your business card doesn't
have to be 3.5 by 2 inches, but that's
the customary size.
Opinion: Women in the priesthood?
campuses’ success
Friday, November 5, 1999
Published for the
St. Thomas community
■
UST baseball may play in Cuba
Game could
break down
barriers, forge
academic
relationship
By Jon Krawczynski
Aquin sports editor
The University of St. Thomas
baseball team is one step away from
becoming the first collegiate team
ever to play in Cuba, according to
school officials.
UST already has approval from
the United States Treasury
Department and is awaiting the
same authorization from the Cuban
government before the event
becomes official, said Miriam
Williams, UST associate vice president for academic affairs.
“Right now we’re trying to get
permission from Cuba,” Williams
said. “We don’t know if or when
that will happen. This process has
not been easy, and it’s not over yet.”
UST President the Rev. Dennis
Dease first began making efforts to
establish a relationship between the
school and Cuba nearly one year
ago. His first visit to the communist
country was in November 1998.
Williams and 16 other UST faculty
members traveled as the second
wave of UST ambassadors last
January as part of a cultural and
educational exchange with two
Cuban institutions, including
the University
of Havana.
During the
trip, Cuban educators expressed
desire to meet
UST faculty
members and
students. The invitation was extended to Dean
of Student Life UST awaits OK from communist country
Allen Sickbert,
and the long, difficult authorization
However, baseball might be the
process began.
catalyst toward smoother ties.
“Our relationship with Cuba is a
“They asked about our athletics
strained one,” Williams said. and said it would be great for us to
“Because of the political friction come down and play them in an
between our countries, the process athletic exchange,” Sickbert said.
hasn’t been easy.”
“They love sports in Cuba. They
idolize them. They also see it as a
way to break down some of the barriers between the U.S. and Cuba.”
Sickbert said dealing with the
Cuban government has been an eyeopening experience. “It’s so much
different than doing things here,” he
said. “Here, we’re just used to making a phone call, and it happens. It’s
not like that down there.”
When Sickbert lost touch with
his original contact last year, plans
stalled. However, the relationship
resumed when Cuban professors
visited the UST campus last spring
and in October 1999.
“The people down there are extremely anxious to meet us and our
students,” Sickbert said. “It would
be very interesting to see it happen.”
See CUBA, page 6
Car thieves
on break-in
binge at UST
By Joy Anderson
Aquin staff writer
from around the country, including many
prominent American social activists. It
offered people the chance to network with
those interested in the same causes and to
learn about other social issues calling
attention.
The participants shared their thoughts
and feelings on sensitive issues like environmentalism, civil rights and the U.S.
sanctions against Iraq.
In between panel discussions, participants gathered to share poetry, music and
their insights on discussion topics.
In the past two months, 20 vehicle break-ins have
occurred at the University of St. Thomas’ St. Paul campus, including 11 in one week, according to UST Public
Safety.
“We’re trying to spend more time out in the parking
lot,” said Brock Rasmussen, investigations officer for
Public Safety. He added that some other ACTC schools
also have reported an increase in thefts from vehicles.
Approximately half of the thefts targeted vehicles in
UST parking lots, while the other half targeted vehicles
parked on area streets. Lot C, near Selby Avenue and
Finn Street, and Lot N, near McCarthy Gym and the
tennis courts on South Campus, have been especially
susceptible, according to Rasmussen.
Junior Anne Schafer had parked her 1995 Pontiac
Sunfire in Lot C—only a few rows from the Public
Safety office—when it was broken into in the early
morning of Oct. 26. The thief scratched her driver’s side
door, smashed the passenger side window, ripped the
plastic from her dashboard and ruined her CD player in
a failed attempt to pry it out with a crowbar.
Schafer estimated that repairs will cost $600-$700.
“Basically, my car just got the crap kicked out of it
for no reason, which kind of makes it worse,” Schafer
said. The CD player, which she guessed could be resold
for about $50, was still in her car, and the thief missed
the cellular phone and CDs that she had left in the glove
compartment. “You would think that if they were any
sort of intelligent car thief, they would at least go
through the car really quick,” Schafer said.
The officer who assisted Schafer after she discovered
the break-in was very helpful, she said. He helped her
tape a garbage bag over the window and find a Pontiac
dealer. But Schafer thinks Public Safety should have
prevented the attack in the first place.
“We pay to park our cars there; [Public Safety]
should at least offer us a little security,” Schafer said.
“I’m really kind of bitter about it. They shattered my
entire window—it must have been loud.”
Although Schafer’s car was vandalized on campus,
sophomore Nathan Lundell’s 1997 Honda Civic was
See CONFERENCE page 2
See CARS, page 3
PHOTO COURTESY OF MARV DAVIDOV
UST Justice and Peace adjunct professor Marv Davidov holds a microphone for a fellow protester in front of the Alliant
TechSystems headquarters in Hopkins last Monday. The protest was part of national conference organized by Davidov.
A peace of resistance
Activists young, old and
famous gathered in
Minneapolis last week
By Matt Bertz
Aquin staff writer
Marv Davidov has seen it all.
From his early years as a civil rights
activist to his current involvement in trying
to halt the production of weapons of mass
destruction, he has experienced more than
most people can dream.
It hasn’t been easy.
“I’ve been beat up, shot at, cattle prodded and jailed,” said the adjunct justice and
peace studies professor at the University of
St. Thomas. “And they still haven’t
stopped me.”
Davidov and the organization he founded, the Midwest Institute for Social
Transformation (MIST), brought together
other activists-young and old-this past
weekend to share their experiences and
prepare the younger generation for the
obstacles facing them in the pursuit of
social justice.
The conference drew 500 participants
PAGE PROPORTIONS
Mechanical
BROADSHEET:
12 ⁄4 inches by 22 inches
3
TABLOID:
11 inches by 14 inches
PAGE PROPORTIONS
Mechanical
4.25 x 5.5
1 : 1.29
4.25
x
2.75
1:1.55
5.5 x 8.5
1 : 1.55
11 x 17
1 : 1.55
Letter size double page spread
8.5 x 11
1 : 1.29
Half-letter size double page spread
Comparison of letter size
and half-letter size
PAGE PROPORTIONS
Mechanical
A4
210mm × 297mm
1 : √2
(1 : 1.414)
A5
148mm
×
210mm
1 : √2
(1 : 1.414)
A3
297mm
×
420mm
1 : √2
(1 : 1.414)
A1
295mm
594mm × 841mm
1 : √2
(1 : 1.414)
420mm × 594mm
1 : √2
(1 : 1.414)
A2
A0
210mm
A4-size double page spread
841mm × 1189mm
1 : √2
(1 : 1.414)
The A4 page, sometimes called the metric
letter-size page, is based on the proportion of
1 to the square root of 2 (1:1.414) It is the
only page size that replicates its proportions
when folded in half.
PAGE PROPORTIONS
Mechanical
Tri-fold brochure: Limited
in format by mechanical page size
(8.5 x 11) and by envelope size
TRI-FOLD BROCHURE
1 : 2.32
Fits in 9.5 x 4 Business Envelope
PAGE PROPORTIONS
Mechanical
Locked-in formats
CD covers and
booklets are a
double square
side by side
Business cards fit a
3.5-inch x 2-inch format
ONE TIN
SOLDIER
“Your place for guns,
ammo and shooting supplies”
Cloverdale Plaza
Muskogee, Okla.
1-708-555-1212
Zeke Mirkwood
PAGE PROPORTIONS
Natural
Natural page proportions mimic proportions found in nature, either in the actual
dimentions of plants and animals or in
mathematics.
Leonardo Da Vinci (1452-1519) outlined
the natural proportions of the circle and
square in the human body. Le Corbusier
(1887-1965) developed an elaborate design
system based on human proportions and
the Golden Section.
PAGE PROPORTIONS
Natural
Pages derived from a circle and square
Double ISO page
1 : 2.828
ISO page
1 : 1.414
Perfect square
Double square
1:2
PAGE PROPORTIONS
Natural
The square is seldom used in magazine
design, and it is considered too static
for newspaper designers, who avoid
using square pictures or square story
packages. But many designers find
working on a square to be a rewarding
and satisfying process. The square design provides a solid, restful feel.
PAGE PROPORTIONS
Natural
1
1
__
√ 2 __
√3
__
√4
Many of the “natural proportions” follow the
Pythagorean Theorum in forming rectangles that
please the eye. Jay Hambidge, in his good The
Elements of Dynamic Symmetry, described the
“root” rectangles, so named because the proportion is always 1 to a square root. Starting with
the square, we draw a diagonal, then rotate it in
an arc until the diagonal line lies horizontal. By
adding a rectangle to this point, we form a new
rectangle, one with a proportion of 1:√2. If we
repeat the process with this “root 2” rectangle,
we get one with a proportion of 1:√3. Repeat it
again and we get a rectangle with a proportion
of 1:√4.
This last “root 4” rectangle is actually a double
square. Remember, the square root of 4 is 2, so
the proportion is 1:2, a double square.
PAGE PROPORTIONS
Natural
The “Golden Section” has a
proportion of 1:(√5) ⁄ 2 .
That works out to about
1:1.618. The Golden Section is less useful for establishing a page size than it is
for establishing units on a
grid or copy block sizes.
1
1
__
√5 ⁄2
PAGE PROPORTIONS
Natural
The Golden Section
can be derived by
drawing a diagonal
from the midpoint
of the side of a
square, then swinging that diagonal
out to form the
side of a rectangle.
Subtract a square
from the Golden
Section and you
have another
Golden Section.
Add a square to the
Golden Section and
you have another
Golden Section. In
this way, it is “selfreplicating.”
a
b
The Golden Section is
present in the pentagon
a : b = (a + b) : a = 1 : 1.618
Golden Section 2-page spread
PAGE PROPORTIONS
Mixing natural with mechanical
5.5"
We can design a page that fits a
classical proportion such as the
Golden Rectangle, or we can
build a text block of classical
proportions on an industry
standard page. This example
uses half of a U.S. letter-size
page with a text block that
comes close to matching the
Golden Rectangle:
4p
4p
4p
25p
8.5"
41p
(41 ÷ 25 = 1.64).
We could adjust the bottom
margin to come even closer to
the ideal proportion, but it's
important to keep your page
dimensions simple.
Does this design look familiar?
6p
PAGE PROPORTIONS
Mixing natural with mechanical
5.5"
4p
The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
4p
By T.S. Eliot
By T.S. Eliot
S’io credesse che mia risposta fosse
A persona che mai tornasse al mondo,
Questa fiamma staria senza piu scosse.
Ma perciocche giammai di questo fondo
Non torno vivo alcun, sx’i’odo il vero,
Senza tema d’infamia ti rispondo.
S’io credesse che mia risposta fosse
A persona che mai tornasse al mondo,
Questa fiamma staria senza piu scosse.
Ma perciocche giammai di questo fondo
Non torno vivo alcun, sx’i’odo il vero,
Senza tema d’infamia ti rispondo.
Let us go then, you and I,
When the evening is spread out against the sky
Like a patient etherised upon a table;
Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets,
The muttering retreats
Of restless nights in one-night cheap hotels
And sawdust restaurants with oyster-shells:
Streets that follow like a tedious argument
Of insidious intent
To lead you to an overwhelming question …
Oh, do not ask, “What is it?”
Let us go and make our visit.
25p
8.5"
Let us go then, you and I,
When the evening is spread out against the sky
Like a patient etherised upon a table;
Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets,
The muttering retreats
Of restless nights in one-night cheap hotels
And sawdust restaurants with oyster-shells:
Streets that follow like a tedious argument
Of insidious intent
To lead you to an overwhelming question …
Oh, do not ask, “What is it?”
Let us go and make our visit.
41p
In the room the women come and go
Talking of Michelangelo.
In the room the women come and go
Talking of Michelangelo.
The yellow fog that rubs its back upon the window-panes,
The yellow smoke that rubs its muzzle on the window-panes
Licked its tongue into the corners of the evening,
Lingered upon the pools that stand in drains,
Let fall upon its back the soot that falls from chimneys,
Slipped by the terrace, made a sudden leap,
And seeing that it was a soft October night,
Curled once about the house, and fell asleep.
And indeed there will be time
For the yellow smoke that slides along the street,
The yellow fog that rubs its back upon the window-panes,
The yellow smoke that rubs its muzzle on the window-panes
Licked its tongue into the corners of the evening,
Lingered upon the pools that stand in drains,
Let fall upon its back the soot that falls from chimneys,
Slipped by the terrace, made a sudden leap,
And seeing that it was a soft October night,
Curled once about the house, and fell asleep.
And indeed there will be time
For the yellow smoke that slides along the street,
1
6p
1
4p
PAGE PROPORTIONS
Musical
Major 4th 3:4
Unison 1:1
Major 3rd 4:5
Major 6th 3:5
Major 5th 2:3
Octave 2:1
Minor 3rd 5:6
Minor 6th 5:8
Robert Bringhurst has outlined a
set of page proportions based on
the musical scale. It presents many
interesting page shapes, but the
page must fit the content.
PAGE PROPORTIONS
Harmonics
When
pages of
musical
proportion are
divided
into two
pages,
they produce “harmonics.”
Major 5th / Major 4th — 2:3 / 3:4
Minor 3rd / Major 6th — 5:6 / 3:5
Major 3rd / Minor 6th — 4:5 / 5:6
Unison / Octave — 1:1 / 1:2
PAGE PROPORTIONS
How to set up a page of classic proportions
To set up a page of a given proportion
for printing on a U.S. letter page, first
compare the proportion to the letter
page proportion of 1.29.
If the proportion is greater than 1.29,
then divide that proportion into the
long side. In our example, the blue
dimensions use the 11-inch side of the
paper for a narrower page, that of the
Golden Rectangle, with a proportion
of 1.618.
If the proportion is less than 1.29, then
multiply the proportion times the short
side of the paper. In our example, the
green dimensions use the 8.5-inch side
of the paper for a wider page with a
proportion of 1.20
8.5"
6.8" x 11"
(1:1.618)
11"
8.5" x 10.2"
(1:1.20 or 5:6)
PAGE PROPORTIONS
How to set up a page of classic proportions
1. Open a new
document.
Choose U.S. letter,
a common mechanical page size.
The trick is to use
one of the common dimensions
while setting the
other dimension
according to proportion. In this example, we’ve
started with a U.S. letter page (8.5 inches by 11
inches), but we've figured out that by reducing
the width to 6.8 inches, we get a page that fits
the Golden Rectangle. To calculate the new page
dimension, we divide the proportion into the
long side:
11" ÷ 1.618 = 6.7985
Ignore the other numbers in this example. Later
we’ll talk about setting up the margins.
2. On the master page, use the rule tool to draw
a vertical line at each corner. These rules will
become your guide for trimming the page after it
is printed. Once these are drawn, lock them.
Be aware that choosing a proportion closer to
1:1 may require a different calculation. This example using the Golden Rectangle produced a
page that was “taller” than the standard letter
page proportion of 1:1.29.
PAGE PROPORTIONS
How to set up a page of classic proportions
Remember that the page must be
trimmed to produce the final
proportion. By using one side of
the page as one dimension, you
make the trimming easier.
Next we’ll discuss how to determine the margins and define your
copy block.