White streaks in some pics problem resolved in Pothi.com recent delivery of part autobio book; Cover page has readability issues and so changing it

Last updated on 20th June 2019

On 18th June 2019 morning, I received two copies of my part autobio book (one as replacement for white streaks paperback copy, and another as my last order).

The good news is that the white streaks in printing of some pics problem that was there in previous delivery (see https://ravisiyer.blogspot.com/2019/05/got-part-autobio-paperback-with-some.html) has got fixed. None of the pics in the inner content of these two copies have a white streaks problem.

The not-so-good news is that while the new cover page with blue background is more noticeable than the earlier one with grey background (in front cover), there is a readability problem with black foreground text on blue.

Given below are pics of the latest copy (or one of the two latest copies, to be precise) and previous copy (delivered to me in end May) kept side-by-side, with latest copy to the left of the previous copy. The order of pics is front cover, spine and back cover.

[To open pic in larger resolution, right-click on pic followed by open link (NOT image) in new tab/window. In new tab/window you may have to click on pic to zoom in.]

White foreground text on blue background is easily readable as one can see from how author name is much more readable than book title in front cover of latest copy.

To solve the issue, I have taken two key steps:
a) Adopted black background colour instead of background pic, along with white foreground text colour, for back cover page and spine as was the case with previous copy.

b) Used background pic only for front cover page and positioned the text and flamingo bird on it in such a way that there is no overlap between them. Changed book title and subtitle text foreground colour to white. I think this solves the readability problem.

I also modified the Not-for-profit box so as to have yellow foreground text directly on image and removed the earlier black box.

The proposed full cover pic (back cover + spine + front cover) is shown below.

It took around three weeks totally, from around end May to 18th June for first the white streaks problem in prints of some pics to be investigated, understood and resolved, and then the new paperback book copy with new cover to be printed and delivered to me. I wanted to save time for checking out the above mentioned cover. So I decided to print the new part which is only the front cover page part using colour printer shop(s) in Puttaparthi.

I have done one successful test on 18th Jun evening of printing a slightly different version of above front cover part of full cover, on glossy paper using an Epson inkjet colour printer in a Puttaparthi shop. The readability problem is not there in this printout. So, in all probability, the next book print with above full cover page will also not have any readability problems.

I need to do one more test tomorrow (19th Jun) with perhaps another Puttaparthi colour printer shop as I have since made the modification of removing the black box background of the Not-for-profit text segment. Note that the above full cover pic is the latest version.

I will share pics of these colour printing output sheets done using Puttaparthi colour printer shops, in the near future.

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Given below are comments on my Facebook post-pic, https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=2519451924938036&set=pcb.2519452141604681&type=3&theater, associated with this post.

In response to a comment, I wrote (slightly edited):
--Name-snipped-- - Firstly, I thank you for your constructive criticism. As a former software developer, designer, reviewer of software code & design & architecture, and consultant giving consultancy advice on these areas for a livelihood, I have learned the value of constructive advice. In the software development field, constructive criticism helps catch flaws which if not caught early on might result in great damage later on and associated cost in correcting the damage. So constructive criticism is something my former profession has trained me to value highly.

So I thank you very much for your knowledgeable views as you are a graphics designer. Please don't apologize for it in any way. Instead you are always welcome to offer constructive criticism on any of my posts/pics.

I will study your comments in-depth and then provide my response.
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I wrote (slightly edited):
--Name-snipped-- I will provide my response in multiple comments here:

I like the hills & water cover. It also captures a part of my Puttaparthi walking life as it is of Enumulapalli (also called Yenumulapalli) small lake when it had water from the rains. The ebook version has this cover. See here: https://pothi.com/pothi/book/ebook-ravi-s-iyer-autobiography-indian-software-techie-and-spiritual-aspirant-%E2%80%93-part-1.
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But when the same cover is used for the printed paperback, the printed cover uses darker shades than what the pic shows. I cannot control the printer using darker shades part and have to instead factor that in, in my paper cover choice & design. The printed paperback cover using the hills and water pic, makes the book look somewhat greyish and dull. In comparison the ebook using the same cover pic does **not** appear dull.

I showed this printed book cover to a few people in (outside ashram) Puttaparthi. One suggestion I got was that the cover should be brighter. Another point I noted is that under dull lighting environment, the book cover does not catch the eye. So I felt that the suggestion to make the cover brighter is a good one.

The background pic of what seems to be flamingo birds in a blue water background is an eye catching one. It was taken by my sister's family & relatives in a safari trip they made to Tanzania. Here is the original pic: [pic omitted].
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So I thought: let me use this bright pic for the cover. It ran into some issues of the colour of the bird coming in the way of text (title/sub-title) readability. To cut a long story short the current version resolves those problems by moving the text and flamingo apart.

Now the pic is bright even in the test print that I did. Here's a pic of a test print of the front cover part on glossy paper using Brother inkjet colour printer in a Puttaparthi shop (A5 image printed on A4 glossy sheet):
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Hmm. The pic is not being accepted by Facebook here. I don't know what's the issue here. I was able to put up the pic as a separate post here: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=2520016038214958&set=a.1616532491896655
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But I get your point of the big bird pic fighting for attention with my pics. And yes, the bird's red foot coming out of two of my pics looks a bit weird. I had not noticed that earlier.

As I think about it, I am getting convinced that what may be the main thrust of your argument which is that the big bird pic is dominating over my pics, is a valid one.

The suggestion from you to consider making the bird smaller seems to make sense.

Looks like I will have to do more work on this!

The background pic is too loud! Hmm.
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--Name-snipped--

I discussed the matter with quite a few people and also did a lot of thinking on it. I have given below the outcome of it in points.

1. Your point about bird being large and competing with other parts of cover page pic is well taken. I mean, it is a valid point.

2. I have limited skills in using graphics design tools. Recently I have got some exposure to some image manipulation features in GIMP (free software as against Adobe Photoshop which is not free and which I do not use). Other than GIMP I use Microsoft Paint and sometimes a little bit of Paint 3D. I tried to create a smaller bird and reflection pic, and then paste that into the background of blue water. The result shows that it is patchwork. I am sure more experienced people would be able to make the bird smaller in the blue water background without any appearance of patchwork. But I do not have that ability as of now.

3. For paperback book, most people I spoke to, felt the cover page overall to be attractive & good. They did not have much of an issue with the bird being big and its red legs sticking out of pics of me! The typical issue was with the passport authority marks on my first two pics which appears as dots when looked at casually but when carefully viewed get revealed as Passport authority letters. While I could use GIMP to remove those Passport Authority letters from the two pics, I felt that it is appropriate to leave them there in the interests of authenticity.

4. Some felt that the other cover pic (hills and water of greyish colour) on paperback book is dull and strongly preferred the blue water and bird background cover pic.

Given all of the above, I think that for paperback book I will go ahead with the big bird and blue water background cover pic, despite it having the issues you mentioned. Later on, say after a few months, if there is lot of negative feedback about the paperback cover page, I will explore changing it.

For the ebook however, your feedback has been very helpful in making me decide that I will retain the hills and greyish colour water pic for ebook cover page.

Thanks once again for your very valuable feedback which forced me to look at the matter more in-depth.
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--Name-snipped--. BTW I am self-publishing the same book but in 6 in. x 9 in. size (262 pages) with another self-publishing platform-company in India called Notion Press. It got put on sale today though I have not yet ordered and checked a copy (I will order it shortly).

This cover page uses only blue water background without the bird - this is how I submitted it a few days ago. But I have used the background for spine and back cover page too. It is only after I receive the printed copy that I will know whether there are readability issues for black foreground text on blue.

You can see the front-cover page on the sale page here: https://notionpress.com/read/autobiography-of-an-indian-software-techie-and-spiritual-aspirant-part-1
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Here's the full cover page in Notion Press book: [pic omitted]
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In response to a comment, I wrote (slightly edited):
--Name-snipped--

Thanks again for your valuable opinion.

I think these suggestions are with respect to the Notion Press (6 in. x 9 in. paperback) cover page given above (note that one of my earlier comments explains why for the Pothi. com A5 size paperback book, I currently plan to go with the blue water and bird cover).

So wrt Notion Press cover above, here is my response to your helpful input:
a) You wrote "blue will hold the white and its more fresh". It has been a recent learning for me that black type on blue while quite readable on monitor is not so readable in printed book. This Notion Press cover was done prior to that learning. I ordered the Notion Press copy yesterday night just to see how it will be in actual print. The key reviewer at Notion Press had felt that black on blue and orange on blue will be OK (readable) and that's why I used that colour.

In print if it does not look so good, I will discuss it with the key reviewer in Notion Press and suggest white on blue instead of black or orange on blue.

Noted your view that title (heading) colour (reddish-brown) is good. Maybe I will retain that if the printed book cover also shows the title well.

b) Noted your suggestion about author name and place. Will think about it.

c) The black box: This came from a lack of tools and tools-related knowledge. I am skipping the background explanation. But now I have a solution which allows me to avoid that black box.

So in the next iteration for the Notion Press cover page, I will only have yellow text on the image. Why yellow? Well, this is my "Not-for-Profit and Free reuse" stamp-like thing. It is different from other cover page content. So I felt a yellow coloured smaller font message would be appropriate. Note that the Pothi.com cover (blue water with bird) has the yellow text message without the black box.

Thanks again --Name-snipped-- for your valuable views.
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