anatomy of the page
just as it is importune to understand the language of typography that describes the precise characteristics of letters, the parts of letters, and the space inside and between letters, as well as to understand words, paragraphs and arrangement, it is just as important to think about typography in terms of how and where it is specifically applied. this includes considerations particular or peculiar to certain kinds of artefacts.
the typographic page in print can be considered in its simplest from as one side of a piece of paper. A single page may be referred to as a 'folio' (particularly in book work) and two facing pages as a 'spread' of sometimes as a 'double-page spread' (DPS), as in magazine design. Facing pages in book design are also referred to in terms of the 'verso' (left page) and 'recto' (right page)
in publication design (for example, book, magazine, newspaper and brochure design), the page is ofter divided into text and marginal areas. Margins for Publications are often referred to as the head (top), foot (bottom), fore-edge (outside) and back (inside or towards the spine). Margins may contain other typographic matter in support of the main text itself, such as notes. Captions, running heads or footers, folios (page numbers) and other typographic devices may also be included.
single page designs (where unbound) use the terms 'left margin' and 'right margin' as opposed to 'fore-edge' and 'back'.
The 'text area' may be of a single width or divided into columns or 'cells' (as described previously in the section on Grid systems in pp.60-69). although there are many ways to divide the typographic space, as a broad rule, the 'foot' margin is always made proportionally larger than others; otherwise the text area will appear too low on the page. This problem of optical balance is also encountered when determining the vertical centre of a page, whether in single pages of spreads. the optical centre is always slightly hight than the mathematical centre, the latter appearing too low also.