Spatial context as an aid to page layout : a system for planning and sketching

Abstract

A graphics system has been developed to enable a user/designer to create a spatial context as an aid in page layout. This system facilitates the planning and structuring of a complex design work by providing programs to construct, view and evaluate serial pages. A user dynamically defines pages and their constituent elements. Pages are defined by their dimensions and have areas delineated by grid structures. The pages become the structure upon which the design problem is mapped out. Text and image areas are defined and modified dynamically. Series of pages constitute the spatial context and can be combined, ordered, and arranged. Using this system a designer has the ability to view the work as a whole, simultaneously developing the compositions of distinct pages . Thus design problems are viewed in their entirety. Unity is maintained, pacing and sequencing are analyzed and applied to page compositions.