Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Child & Domestic Abuse - paperback version

This is the tentative cover for the paper back version. If you look
carefully you will see that the back cover is one of the pages of the
Synopsis that was heavily edited by Rav Sternbuch. The front cover may
still end up being the original one - however I just don't have access
to photoshop right now.

2 comments :

  1. The print makes it come off very amateurish.

    * First of all, no title uses "vol."; that's an abbreviation for bibliographical entries. (On the spine where you have it I guess it makes some sense.)

    * Second, what's with the dash? That's for prose or lists of some sort, not title settings.

    * Third, what's with the change in font & italicization for "Torah, Psychology & Law"/"Perspectives"; it's supposed to be one phrase!

    * Fourth, what's wrong with spelling out ampersands, anyway? (I'll grant that in the main title - "Child & Domestic" - that makes sense, but even there it's more the stuff of graphic design, which you're not utilizing here at all.) Also, note that the standard convention would be to list separate with TWO commas: "Torah, psychology, and law". The way it reads makes it sound like Torah on one hand, with the intersection of psychology & law on the other (sort of like the "law & society" subfield of legal studies).

    * Fifth, I think you've misconstrued the hierarchy of your own syntax. It's really meant to be understood like this:
    ."Child & Domestic Abuse,"
    .."Volume 1: Torah, Psychology, and Law Perspectives"
    The first is the title, the second the subtitle (and, yes, "Daas Torah Series" the series title).

    * And just curious: why not spell out your full names? Again, reads like a bibliographic entry. You're not exactly "Simon & Garfunkel," I take it?

    * A suggestion: Omit your names from the spine, and lengthen the title by prepending "Daas Torah" in small cap font.

    Sorry if I sound harsh. Just trying to be helpful.

    By the way, I am fond of your new choice of door. Combines the "closed door" metaphor of before with the suggestion of rootedness in the rigid constraints of old world society. Also, being more like a "shaar", unlike the domestic door of before we are allowed to envision its opening (with inquiry); we are invited to knock on a gate, not on a bedroom door.

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  2. I'm glad that Back To Square one said it so that I didn't have to. He offers many important critiques. The front cover is very important. Likewise, the formatting of fonts and general appearance throughout the rest of the text is also very important and needs to look professional. I hope that these constructive criticisms offered by back to square one will be taken into consideration.

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