Parliamo

Italian student book

Parliamo italiano insieme Level 1 Student Book 2nd edition was typeset for Cengage Learning Australia.

Nikki M Group provided publishing services including:

• typesetting
• illustration
• project management
• creative artwork
• preparing press-ready PDF files.

Publication design

Parliamo was typeset based on a sample design developed by the publisher, which defined how the publication design should look and function. The sample design included a chapter, preliminary material and end matter.

The sample design provided art direction for:

• chapter openers and sub-sections
• paragraph, character and object styles
• text boxes, tables and icons
• framing, speech bubbles and graphics
• realia and creative artwork.

Typesetting

Parliamo was typeset as part of a publishing process that involved a number of stages. Manuscript files were handed over for initial typesetting before proceeding to correction rounds. Each stage was done remotely, with authors, editors and publishers exchanging marked-up PDF files online.

The typesetting process involved five key stages:

1. Extracting artwork from the previous edition.
2. Refining templates and design assets before typesetting.
3. Laying out content from a combination of new manuscript, mark-up from the previous edition and artwork briefs.
4. Taking in author corrections.
5. Final handover and prepress.

Creative artwork

Every page is a combination of detailed creative artwork – combining design elements, photos, illustrations, realia, tables and text boxes into highly visual pages that engage students and help them learn.

• Content is laid out into distinct sections and text boxes.
• Text is arranged with graphical devices such as lines, backgrounds and arrows.
• Images are combined for visual communication.
• Design elements are used to create information hierarchies.

Creative artworking combines many skills including typesetting, graphic design, layout and concept development. It is also the ability to combine different files, formats and techniques together.