#layout design

STEP ONE: COLORED GRADIENT TEXT. link

STEP TWO: DIVIDERS AND PICTURES.

dividers, pngs, headers. 👇

⬆️ some of my favorite resource peoples.

and you can find pictures on pinterest.

if you layer things right (dividers, pics, gifs), you can make things like this. 👇

(the pic below features dividers from @/uzmacchiato and a gif from pinterest.)

and always make sure to state that whatever you use isnt yours and credit them by tagging them like this ' dividers by @/whoever and pics found on pinterest. ' so that you dont take credit!

the style i use for layering usually is one divider, one or two pics, one divider, if you use all of that in one go it will be thin and weird, so take your time.

STEP THREE: LAYOUT FOR YOUR FANFICS.

when youre making fanfics, you should be able to preview it and see what youre going to read. for example, this is how i do it and here are some tips i added.

if you try reading a fic and it says absolutely nothing about what youre about to read, it feels a bit confusing (at least for me), so i make layouts like the pics above.

(using my fanfic OCEAN EYES as an example) for tagging, if its fluff, pay attention to the tags and try not to click whatever pops up. instead, think about your fanfic and the genre of it, and choose what fits. 👇

STEP FOUR: ADDING MUSIC TO YOUR POSTS.

STEP FIVE: MATURITY

most of tumblr are teenagers, so make sure to add maturity to your posts or fanfics is they feature triggering or inappropriate topics or themes.

STEP SIX: LINKING

just double tap on your text, drag the bar away, click the circle with the chain, paste your link, and tap away.

STEP SEVEN: TAGLISTS AND MASTERLISTS

PART ONE: TAGLISTS

taglists are easy, just make a post and tag a few friends, copy it to your clipboard, and paste it whenever you make fanfics or anything important.

TAGLIST: @/whoever @/whoever @/whoever

PART TWO: MASTERLISTS

it might seem intimidating, but masterlists are just the same. make a post, type the name, date, and optionally the summary of your fic (link the fic to the name).

STEP EIGHT: BANNERS link

you can make your own headers and banners if you dont want to search pinterest for the perfect one, just use some pictures and add them onto a banner and download it.

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i just told you everything i know, omg. might add more to it later, BUT HOPE THIS HELPS.

TTRPG Magazine Style OC/NPC Spread

I custom designed this spread for my Curse of Strahd character, Helene Crow, meant to look like info pages for an NPC in a TTRPG! I've been getting really into designing character infographics and layout designs recently and am currently working on other homebrew NPC projects and possible supplements!

all character art in these pages were commissioned pieces, created by the following artists (in appearance order): @vampariart , @kinothecleric on instagram, @zullkharn , @juhiroseart

Modern college AU of the Iliad I did for a concept class last semester 🤩🤩🤩

There are briefs for how the info/roles are interpreted but TLDR Greece (Sparta) and Troy are frathouses and they’re fighting over Helen who is represented by a revered and beloved horse mascot. I think everything more or less gets explained here, as for the ending after Patroclus dies (gets detained) Achilles does his whole thing knocks many people unconscious and then is expertly disarmed by Hektor, eventually ends up getting arrested as well for both trespassing and also aggravated assault, then instead of the two of their ashes getting mixed together in death they’re put in the same holding cell lmao.

‿̩͙⊱༒︎༻ averythemayo layouts ༺༒︎⊰‿̩͙

f2u w/ credits ♱⋆ཋྀ ˚₊‧⁺

requested by @tranquilmoobloom and @dazzlesstuff0 ♱⋆ཋྀ ˚₊‧⁺

art cr : 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 ♱⋆ཋྀ ˚₊‧⁺

Between Age of Scorpius and Shy Girl I'm beginning to think very few people actually know what a printed book should look like, but I'm not sure how much I can blame the authors in question since there also aren't a lot of easily digestible resources on it for folks with zero experience. It's honestly a really complex process, and most of the resources I've found for indies are either too basic, thereby missing key elements, or too granular, which I can imagine is overwhelming to people without design experience.

The fact is, if you're willing to take your time, you absolutely can do this yourself, and very few people will be able to tell the difference. It's totally fine you're an indie author and don't want to hire someone to lay the book out for you—or if you can't afford it, when I was active in the industry my rates were around $10 a page, and the current standard for actual professionals looks to be upwards of $30 an hour plus a deposit—but there are some things that I really think you need to understand if you want readers to have a pleasant experience.

Good book layout is basically invisible to 90 percent of readers, and as a result people don't realize how important it is. Conversely, bad book layout can literally cause migraines.