Andy Pastuszak
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What I collect: United States, Ukraine, Ireland
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Post by Andy Pastuszak on Mar 7, 2022 3:38:04 GMT
I'm playing with the idea of using 10 x 11.5 pages and since it's Sunday night and I am bored, I tried to make a page inspired by Scott album pages. Im curious what people think of these pages. I will not be offended if you tell me you like these better than my regular pages. And I won't be offended if you tell me this page is lousy. Here's the page:
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brightonpete
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Post by brightonpete on Mar 7, 2022 11:13:02 GMT
It looks OK. I am always adding a bit of info to explain the stamp, sometimes a lot. But the three at the top look off to me. Too much on the left, and I prefer aligned at the bottom. Using AE, I end up aligning at the top at times when stamps in a row differ too much in height. In my single country collections, I dumped the country name at the top, starting with the year. With me being right-handed, I like info on the right when there's not enough room below. Stamp info goes in the frame of each stamp. That way, it is there to see when I need it, then covered up when filled with the item in question.
The info for the sheet was too wordy - is the beginning of the first sentence needed? I'd have been tempted to put the souvenir sheet on the next page, have two lines with stamp descriptions - top row, then bottom row. Four stamps should fit on each line.
I had an instance in Canada where the souvenir sheet wouldn't fit on the page with the singles. So I added a couple of stamps below the singles and the ss on the next facing page. It was a HUGE souvenir sheet and took the entire page!
Like I said before - making up pages is a personal decision, and everyone is different! Whatever works for you is what it'll be.
Peter
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Andy Pastuszak
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What I collect: United States, Ukraine, Ireland
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Post by Andy Pastuszak on Mar 7, 2022 16:54:11 GMT
Your right handed comment is very interesting. I am right-handed. My mom told me when I was a toddler I would try to do everything with my left hand. And she forced me to do everything with my right hand, because in the late 60s/early 70s, being left-handed was almost like a handicap. My uncle was left-handed and my mom watched the nuns try to "cure him" of being left-handed. She didn't want that for me. So, I'm right-handed in practice, but I am probably left-handed genetically. That may be why I prefer the text on the left.
It's odd. I always favor my right hand, but I am very aware I favor it. I wonder if I could train myself to be ambidextrous.
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Andy Pastuszak
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What I collect: United States, Ukraine, Ireland
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Post by Andy Pastuszak on Mar 7, 2022 17:07:51 GMT
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brightonpete
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Post by brightonpete on Mar 7, 2022 17:10:19 GMT
That looks better!
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Post by dgdecker on Mar 7, 2022 18:06:20 GMT
I do admire all of you who make your own pages. It gives me encouragement to try more of my own.
The first example looked ok to me but the second just is more appealing to the eye. As I left handed person, I fight constantly with the dire fir left hand alignment.
I find I am conflicted about « too much » text. My main purpose is to display the items. I do find it helpful to know something about the stamp too. Always a case of finding the right balance.
David
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Andy Pastuszak
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Post by Andy Pastuszak on Mar 7, 2022 18:51:45 GMT
Andy some minor tweaks. I think this looks better.
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Andy Pastuszak
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Praying for my family and everyone in Ukraine.
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What I collect: United States, Ukraine, Ireland
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Post by Andy Pastuszak on Mar 8, 2022 2:20:08 GMT
OK, which one do you like best? Number 1: Everything Palatino Number 2: Descriptions in Neue Haas Unica Number 3: Descriptions in Optima
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eggdog
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Post by eggdog on Mar 8, 2022 3:15:50 GMT
Andy, I love Optima. I find Palatino very hard to read; in a character set display it looks wonderful, but on the page it often looks cramped and kind of astigmatic. The Unica is a real nice sans, but the general feeling of the stamps is traditional and I don't think Unica is a great fit there. (Optima has a modern tone, too, but not quite so defiantly.)
Some of the serif fonts that have come with Windows in recent years the "C" ones like Caladia and Constantia - are excellent. And they tend to have pretty good character sets for diacritics.
Overall, I'd say I like the standard edition of your Ukraine pages more than this one. They're both really good, though. You definitely have an excellent touch for layout styles.
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brightonpete
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Post by brightonpete on Mar 8, 2022 3:37:30 GMT
I prefer the Neue Haas Unica page.
On my pages, I use Jet Brains Mono - ya I am a geek!
But I like it!
Peter
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brightonpete
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Post by brightonpete on Mar 8, 2022 3:40:09 GMT
Actually, in looking over them again, I'd space out the lines a bit. They look a bit close to me. Opening it up a bit would help, IMO.
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Andy Pastuszak
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What I collect: United States, Ukraine, Ireland
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Post by Andy Pastuszak on Mar 8, 2022 12:17:01 GMT
I prefer the Neue Haas Unica page.
On my pages, I use Jet Brains Mono - ya I am a geek!
But I like it!
Peter I like Fira Code and Cascadia Code. Haven't used them on print work yet. But for monospaced displays, I really like them.
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Andy Pastuszak
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Praying for my family and everyone in Ukraine.
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What I collect: United States, Ukraine, Ireland
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Post by Andy Pastuszak on Mar 8, 2022 15:17:31 GMT
Actually, in looking over them again, I'd space out the lines a bit. They look a bit close to me. Opening it up a bit would help, IMO. I reduced the point size of Neue Haas Unica, which should also increase the space between lines.
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renden
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What I collect: World W collector with ++ interests in BNA (Canada etc) and USA
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Post by renden on Mar 8, 2022 15:29:23 GMT
I prefer Neue Haas Unica font - my opinion !
René
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Jerry B
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Post by Jerry B on Mar 8, 2022 15:31:58 GMT
Andy
I have a question. Two dates, one on top of the stamp box and one below it. What dates are these? What date is more important? If you need both dates put them under the stamp box with a abbreviation as to what date (similar to what you did with Block 174). I think it would look cleaner that way. Just my 2 cent opinion and taste.
Jerry B
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Andy Pastuszak
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What I collect: United States, Ukraine, Ireland
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Post by Andy Pastuszak on Mar 8, 2022 16:03:40 GMT
Andy I have a question. Two dates, one on top of the stamp box and one below it. What dates are these? What date is more important? If you need both dates put them under the stamp box with a abbreviation as to what date (similar to what you did with Block 174). I think it would look cleaner that way. Just my 2 cent opinion and taste. Jerry B The date on the top is the date the stamp was released. The number on the bottom is the MICHEL catalog number for the stamp.
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Andy Pastuszak
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Praying for my family and everyone in Ukraine.
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What I collect: United States, Ukraine, Ireland
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Post by Andy Pastuszak on Mar 8, 2022 16:08:44 GMT
Tightened things up a bit
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Andy Pastuszak
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Praying for my family and everyone in Ukraine.
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What I collect: United States, Ukraine, Ireland
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Post by Andy Pastuszak on Mar 8, 2022 17:08:42 GMT
And to prove I am a total font nerd....
Apple released a bunch of typefaces in 2019. New York is a serif typeface and San Francisco is there sans-serif typeface. So, I had to try them out:
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brightonpete
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Post by brightonpete on Mar 8, 2022 22:29:17 GMT
The more you do, the more I have to say!
Looking at the three up top, I'd reduce the width of the text box on the 2nd & 3rd, as there is room. That will give better separation between the 3.
I use centre justification and rarely ever justified. That "or-der" throws me off! I would futz around making the centre-justified text look good, without breaking up words and separate from other stamps in the row. The 1st one has good separation, but...
THAT is just me!
Peter
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Andy Pastuszak
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Praying for my family and everyone in Ukraine.
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What I collect: United States, Ukraine, Ireland
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Post by Andy Pastuszak on Mar 8, 2022 23:25:39 GMT
The more you do, the more I have to say!
Looking at the three up top, I'd reduce the width of the text box on the 2nd & 3rd, as there is room. That will give better separation between the 3.
I use centre justification and rarely ever justified. That "or-der" throws me off! I would futz around making the centre-justified text look good, without breaking up words and separate from other stamps in the row. The 1st one has good separation, but...
THAT is just me!
Peter I put up a center justified page before and people HATED it. Obviously I design these pages for me, but I also want people to get into collecting Ukrainian stamps, so it's good to make pages people like. Plus, I'm no graphic artist. So, it's good to get other people's opinion.
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Andy Pastuszak
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What I collect: United States, Ukraine, Ireland
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Post by Andy Pastuszak on Mar 8, 2022 23:45:21 GMT
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Post by PostmasterGS on Mar 8, 2022 23:53:19 GMT
IMHO, that’s looks less professional. Justify the text w/o hyphentions.
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brightonpete
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Post by brightonpete on Mar 9, 2022 0:50:56 GMT
See? Everyone is different!
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brightonpete
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Post by brightonpete on Mar 9, 2022 0:52:35 GMT
I guess I'm not a professional. My knowledge from all the years is superficial, with not that much interest in complicated series. So why did I jump into the Machin's?
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Andy Pastuszak
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Praying for my family and everyone in Ukraine.
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What I collect: United States, Ukraine, Ireland
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Post by Andy Pastuszak on Mar 9, 2022 1:56:21 GMT
IMHO, that’s looks less professional. Justify the text w/o hyphentions. Justifying without hyphenations causes pretty large gaps in the description text between some words. It looks worse than the hyphenation.
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Andy Pastuszak
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Praying for my family and everyone in Ukraine.
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What I collect: United States, Ukraine, Ireland
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Post by Andy Pastuszak on Mar 9, 2022 1:58:29 GMT
I really like the New York font for stamp names, but I am not allowed to use it. Apple's license only allows it to be used for the UI of MacOS/IOS/iPadOS/tvOS app. :-(
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Andy Pastuszak
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Praying for my family and everyone in Ukraine.
Posts: 1,533
What I collect: United States, Ukraine, Ireland
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Post by Andy Pastuszak on Mar 9, 2022 5:10:43 GMT
Because I'm a glutton for punishment, and because I am cheap, I redid the page using only open source fonts. This page uses Adobe Source Serif 4 and Source Sans 3. I'm struggling with the stamps in the upper right corner. The two together make up a series, so I want to keep them together, but I'm not sure the best way to do that.
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brightonpete
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Post by brightonpete on Mar 9, 2022 12:05:34 GMT
I would centre the first line in that pair of stamps in the upper right, make the text box width the same as the two stamps, then the text however would flow from there. Then I'd fiddle with one or all three of the sizing of the text, the text box width and the distance the two stamps are apart from each other.
Peter
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JeffS
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What I collect: Oranges Philately, US Slogan Cancels, Cape of Good Hope Triangulars, and Texas poster stamps and cinderellas
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Post by JeffS on Mar 9, 2022 15:35:35 GMT
andy Pastuszak Suggestions: 1. Don’t waste space stating the obvious. For example. The miniature sheet… we can see it is a miniature sheet. And by golly, there are stamps. We can see that. 2. Order of the Heavenly Hundred Heroes - in your text, the word “order” should likely be capitalized as it is a proper noun. What are the Euromaidan Protests? 3. Don’t repeat heading description in text as with your paintings captions. Also, I think the painting title should come first before the artist name, after all that’s what you are showing. 4. Catalog numbers are irrelevant and distracting. Just my opinions formed over 60 years of collecting and exhibiting. Jeff
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brightonpete
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Post by brightonpete on Mar 9, 2022 20:05:22 GMT
Funny - I was looking at the style, not the content of what was written!
I agree with JeffS comments.
Peter
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