Poll: Thinking About Page Layout (Patreon)

One side effect of breaking an ankle and then having a ton of building work is that I’ve had a lot of time recently to think and work. I’ve got many exciting (to me) irons in the fire I hope to share in the future. 

Please read on, as I'd like your opinion!

One thing that’s been on my mind recently is the thrilling subject of page layout. Now, you might be thinking—hold on; layout is not thrilling—it’s actually pretty boring. On one hand, you’d be right—oh so right. However, on the other hand you’d be wrong. 

There are many facets to successfully publishing game resources and one of those is layout. Good layout can make or break a book. It doesn’t really matter how good or bad a book’s contents are; if the layout is a disaster and/or hard to use it’s not going to be a go-to or even particularly useful book. 

Good Design Should be…

Good design should be invisible. A book’s layout should get out of the way, and let the reader (the GM) use the contents quickly and easily. This is particularly the case when a book is used “live” at the table. 

The sad thing is, I’ve recently realised RPG game layout hasn’t really improved since the advent of computers. At least in my mind, book layouts are basically unchanged since the Good Old Days. Of course, we now have colour and actually laying out books is very simple, but essentially we have two or sometimes three columns of text with some graphics. Twenty years ago, it would be tremendously difficult—if not impossible—to run Raging Swan Press like I do now. It would seem sensible to start embracing the advanced in desktop publishing and the like to make a GM’s job easier (which is Raging Swan Press main goal). 

So What?

Our 20 Things line essentially presents lists of themed dressings the GM can use to add cool little details to his sessions. The line has been popular, but I think it could be more useful. 

With that in mind, I’ve spent some time thinking about redesigning the line’s page layout. I’ve started using my iPad (along with an Apple Pencil) more and more in game and I wanted to come up with a format that was quick and easy too use. Focusing on digital use only, freed me from the constraint of worrying about page counts and so on. 

So—here’s a screen shoot from my iPad of the old page layout:

I think it does a great job of presenting loads of information, but it’s a bit cramped and I can see how in the “heat of battle’ could be a bit difficult to use. 

Now here’s a screen shot from my iPad of the new layout:

I think—for tablet use—this is much better. It’s more open, easier to read and use literally at a glance. It only presents half the information the old page layout did, but as I’ve designed this layout exclusively for tablet use I don’t really see this as a downside. Sure, there's lots of white space, but I don't see it as wasted space. 

Another plus side of this layout is that when I do a multi-page view, it’s easy to see which page I want to quickly bounce to. 

I’m testing this layout in my weekly game at the moment on a normal-sized iPad to see how it works “in the heat of battle.” Hopefully, I'll find it jolly useful--or at least find out why it isn't!

What Do You Think?

At the moment, I'm only considering this layout as an addition to the 20 Things lines. 

What do you think of this new layout? Please vote in the poll below!