layout

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Mise en page (handwriting)

As layout (literally: the laid out , English for "plan, draft , division, elevation", to be translated accordingly as " design " or "design sample"; in older prints or manuscripts the French term mise en page , literally " the arrangement on a page ", used) describes the detailed visualization of a mental image in the sense of an actual draft, usually that of a printed matter. The visualization gives the designer and the client an impression of the form of the later execution and thus serves as a binding decision-making basis for the further execution. You can also use filler or dummy text that does not have to correspond to the later original.

application areas

Due to the distinctive design elements fixed in the layout , the term has also been applied in recent years to the specific overall appearance of media products that are repeated or updated, e.g. magazines , radio programs , brochures , websites . Print media ( books , pictures , catalogs, brochures , etc.), television programs or websites are designed. The regulations for this can vary and are often dependent on the respective industry.

Layout in the media

A professional layout consists of all abstract elements with defined properties, but initially has no content. While layouts for a single printed matter are only created as unique items, standardized layout templates can be used for periodicals and series. Thanks to the almost exclusive creation of layouts on the computer, the layout guidelines can be fixed in the form of digital style templates that standardize and simplify the design regardless of the location or the number of graphic designers involved. Layouts are often created in large companies in order to give the clientele an identical and original appearance. The main goal is to represent your own character and reflect the corporate philosophy ( corporate design ).

The following are usually defined for print products:

  • the format,
  • the print space for text and image arrangement with consequences for the break and
  • the font (size, type) for headings and running texts ( typography ).
  • the white space (placement, distances, image sizes) and
  • the relationship between text and image

In addition, a color climate or spectrum is recorded that relates to the colors of fonts, backgrounds, graphic elements such as information boxes , but also to color images.

Basics for creating a layout

Especially in the field of advertising (including posters and brochures), a visual language is specified when designing a layout, which is intended to increase the recognition value of a brand or a product. With such complex, planning-based layouts, the mix between constants and variables is crucial for long-term success: the constants should provide a fixed framework for variable content without reducing their effect or preventing further development of the design.

The basic element of the design is the format; the subordinate sub-elements are called layouts. They include:

A layout is designed for the individual sub-elements and subdivided into further sub-elements:

Format and layout as well as its sub-elements serve as a "container" for the content that is later introduced there . If a layout has proven to be aesthetic, sensible and efficient in terms of design effort and information content, its basic concept is usually never changed or only in cases in which a permanently successful format needs to be modernized and adapted to a contemporary style.

Strict adherence to format and layout specifications serves on the one hand to enhance the corporate identity of a media product, but on the other hand is an important guide for the target group.

Music and film

In the music industry, one speaks of a layout when a musical work is still available in an unfinished, sketched version. The layout is not yet final in terms of its instrumentation and composition and mostly serves as a preview for clients.

In film productions, layouts are used, for example, to test film music "on the picture"; H. to check whether the picture and music match.

electronics

In electronics , the conductor track arrangement ( circuit board disentanglement ) on a circuit board is also called the layout. In microelectronics , layout means the (editable) graphic representation of an electronic circuit in a form that is close to the later actual geometric relationships on the chip .

Business administration

In business terms, layout is the term used for internal site planning and shows the spatial arrangement options for, among other things, machines within a company (layout planning; cf., for example, Domschke and Drexl 1996).

Graph theory

In graph theory , the layout describes the arrangement of nodes and edges in the visualization of a graph. In addition to freely designed layouts, there are automatically generated layouts (calculated and drawn according to defined rules ).

See also

literature

  • Ursula Rautenberg (Hrsg.): Reclams Sachlexikon des Buches . 2nd, improved edition. Reclam, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 978-3-15-010542-9 .
  • Gavin Ambrose, Paul Harris: Layout . Design, planning and arrangement of all elements of the page design. Stiebner, Munich 2005, ISBN 978-3-8307-1304-3 (Original title: Layout . Translated by Suzanne Fischer).
  • Wolfgang Domschke, Andreas Drexl: Logistics: Locations . Oldenbourg, 1996.

Web links

Wiktionary: Layout  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Markus Wäger: Graphics and design - the comprehensive manual . 2nd Edition. Galileo Press (now Rheinwerk Verlag), Bonn 2014, ISBN 978-3-8362-2513-7 , pp. 36 .
  2. ^ Norbert H. Ott: Mise en Page - On the iconic structure of the illustrations of Thomasin's "Welschem Gast" , in: Movability of the pictures: Text and imagination in the illustrated manuscripts of the "Welschen Gastes" by Thomasin von Zerclaere , ed. Horst Wenzel and Christina Lechtermann, Böhlau Verlag, Cologne and Weimar (2002), p. 33