One particularly mammoth project we recently completed was the annuals Editors' Choice Awards issue of The Absolute Sound magazine. This issue's format is completely different from a traditional one. Instead of individual stories, and individual page layouts through production that gradually build into a book, we created this as one continuous 200-plus page page layout. The reason for this is the nature of the content - short, capsule-like reviews of hundred of products, broken into categories but with no chapter or intro page breaks - we receive the text in one long continuous document, so treat the layout and page design the same way. That includes adding images sporadically/aesthetically that are designed to flow with copy changes, so their corresponding review always immediately follows the image.

It sounds like a nightmare, but actually runs more smoothly than most production cycles. With a few simple rules for paragraph breaks across columns and pages, we're able to predict with a high degree of certainty how many pages we'll need, ad placement, and number of rounds of edits required.

Also, I love making contact sheets like this, when patterns you had no idea existed start showing up. This image also - in my opinion - proves my point that advertisers need to use more color. If every ad in the magazine is black, the reader will pick up on that pattern immediately, and consciously or not, start avoiding looking at them.