Applying Tschichold’s Page-Design Canons in 2025: A Modern Guide for Self-Published Authors
If you read my first post on Jan Tschichold, you already have a good idea of who he was and the kind of impact he had on book design. At its core, Tschichold’s design ethos maintains that good books follow simple, time-tested rules, like generous margins, breathable leading, and proven font choices. In 2025, the tools have changed, but your readers’ eyes have not. This guide shows you how to apply Tschichold’s classic canons with today’s self-publishing tools, so your book looks refined on paper and on screen, while staying friendly to your budget.
If you want help getting this right, our team formats books every day with these principles in mind. Learn more about our Formatting and Typesetting and eBook Design and Validation services.
A quick recap of the canons that still matter
Tschichold studied historical page design and showed how simple ratios create harmony. The key ideas:
Clear page ratios like 2:3, 5:8, and 1 to the square root of 2.
Margins in the ratio 1:1:2:3 for inner, top, outer, and bottom.
Comfortable line lengths, steady rhythm, and tidy spacing.
Order on the page so the text leads the eye without fuss.
These rules are not fashion. They are about comfort and trust. A reader should forget the page and fall into the story.
For background on the canons, see the digest of The Form of the Book and the overview of the Canons of page construction. Our earlier post on Tschichold’s life and ideas covers more history and quotes.
Choose a trim size that respects the ratios and your printer
Your page shape sets the stage. You do not need a perfect golden rectangle to make a beautiful book. You do want a trim that sits near a clear ratio and is easy to print with KDP or IngramSpark.
Here are common POD sizes and which classic ratio they are closest to:
Trim size: 5 × 8 in
Closest ratio: 5:8
Notes: Popular for fiction. Lean and portable.
Trim size: 5.5 × 8.5 in
Closest ratio: ≈ 13:20
Notes: A classic “digest” feel. Good for novels and memoirs (my favourite trim size!)
Trim size: 6 × 9 in
Closest ratio: 2:3
Notes: Standard trade size. Works for nonfiction and longer works.
Trim size: 7 × 10 in
Closest ratio: 7:10
Notes: Good for workbooks and more technical titles with figures.
Trim size: 8.5 × 11 in
Closest ratio: ≈ 11:14
Notes: Manuals, textbooks, or image-heavy content.
What POD supports.
Amazon KDP offers a focused set of sizes, including 5 × 8, 5.5 × 8.5, 6 × 9, 7 × 10, 8 × 10, and 8.5 × 11.
IngramSpark supports a wider range, including many international sizes and casebound options.
If you are printing in Canada and want smooth distribution, 5 × 8, 5.5 × 8.5, and 6 × 9 are safe choices. They keep page counts sensible and shipping costs reasonable. For deeper context on size and paper choice, see our guide on Choosing the Right Trim Size and Paper.
Set up margins and the type area with the 1:1:2:3 rule
Tschichold’s margin rule is simple and strong. The inner and top margins are smallest. The outer is larger. The bottom is largest. This pulls the type block a little high and to the inner side, which the eye finds calm.
How to do it
Pick your trim. Say 6 × 9 inches.
Decide a base unit for margins. A common starting point is 0.25 in.
Apply the ratio 1:1:2:3 to the four sides:
Inner (gutter side): 0.25 in plus a gutter extra for binding.
Top: 0.25 in.
Outer: 0.50 in.
Bottom: 0.75 in.
Do not forget the gutter. Add 0.25 to 0.5 in to the inner margin for glued paperbacks, more for high page counts. This stops text from vanishing into the spine.
In your software
InDesign: File → Document Setup → Margins and Columns. Set Top, Bottom, Inside, Outside. Then Layout → Margins and Columns for spreads. Add Gutter under Layout → Create Guides or in the Print dialog if needed.
Affinity Publisher: Document Setup → Margins. Use Facing Pages. Adjust Inner and Outer independently and set a Column Gutter if you use columns.
Reedsy Studio: Choose trim at project start, then set margins in the Book Settings panel. Reedsy limits fine control, so choose a trim that prints well in their defaults.
A good check is to print a few sample pages on your home printer, cut to trim, and hold the sheets like a book. If the inner text feels tight, increase the gutter.
Typography and spacing that follow the spirit, not just the letter
Tschichold cared about tone and fit. He wanted type that matches the text. You do not need the exact faces he used to follow his thinking.
Pick a face that fits your genre
Serif for most long-form reading. Classic and calm.
Sans serif for workbooks, guides, and modern nonfiction, used with care.
Avoid display faces for body copy. They tire the eye.
Aim for steady rhythm
Line length around 55 to 75 characters, about 8 to 12 words in English.
Body size 10.5 pt to 12 pt for most trade books, with leading about 120 to 140 percent of the point size.
Use first-line indents for new paragraphs in narrative text. Keep them modest, often 0.2 to 0.3 in. Do not indent after headings or at the start of a chapter.
Keep word spacing tight enough to avoid rivers. Turn on optical kerning. In InDesign, use Metrics or Optical. In Affinity Publisher, enable Optical Alignment.
Justified text is fine if hyphenation is on and spacing is governed. If you see rivers, loosen the hyphenation and review your line length.
For a gentle intro to the mechanics of ebook flow, read our post, What Is eBook Formatting?.
Bring the Penguin rules forward without copying them blindly
When Tschichold joined Penguin, he wrote a short booklet called the Penguin Composition Rules. It set standards for punctuation, indents, folios, and the treatment of headings. The point was not style for style’s sake. It was consistency, which builds trust.
The perpetually iconic mid-century Penguin covers.
Modern takeaways
Keep a house style for headings, extracts, lists, and folios.
Use consistent small caps rules and spacing if you use them.
Set running heads and folios so they do not fight the text. Many novels move folios to the outer corners and drop running heads on chapter openers.
Use optical kerning and watch punctuation spacing. Tidy punctuation raises the whole page.
If you want a short history read, the Penguin Composition Rules entry on Wikipedia gives a good outline. For a modern house-design approach to book styling, see our post, The Unparalleled Joy of House Styles in Book Design (especially relevant for designers of a series).
Use the canons to control cost as well as beauty
Design is not only taste. It is also budget. Smart page ratios and margin choices can lower page count without hurting comfort.
A shift from 12 pt to 11 pt body, with leading set well, can save dozens of pages in a long book.
Moving from 5 × 8 to 5.5 × 8.5 often reduces pages because each line holds more characters.
Trimming excessive outer and bottom margins to match the 1:1:2:3 idea can shave a few sheets while keeping a healthy look.
If cost is top of mind, read our guides on Print on Demand and our piece on cutting production costs. Pair that with our post on Self-Publishing Timelines if you are planning a launch date.
A small case study, from messy to meaningful
Before
A 6 × 9 novel uses 12 pt body on 14 pt leading with narrow gutters and wide outer margins. Lines run long, about 90 characters. There are no paragraph indents, only extra space between paragraphs. The bottom margin is shallow. When you hold the proof, your thumbs cover text and the inner lines feel cramped.
After
We set the trim to 5.5 × 8.5, which fits the voice and reduces line length to about 65 characters. We switch to 11 pt body on 13.5 pt leading, turn on hyphenation, and use a first-line indent at 0.25 in. Margins follow 1:1:2:3 with a proper gutter. The type block sits a little higher on the page. The reader’s eye relaxes. The page count drops by about 8 percent, which lowers POD cost without harm to comfort.
Want that outcome without the trial and error. Our team lives in this work. Explore Formatting and Typesetting or bundle your needs inside our Publishing Packages.
Digital realities, and how to keep the spirit on screens
Reflowable ebooks do not keep fixed margins in the way print does. Readers can change font size and face. That does not mean you abandon order.
Use clean, semantic styles for headings, paragraphs, extracts, and lists.
Keep reasonable default line length by setting a base font size and line height that most devices respect.
Avoid hard line breaks and manual spacing. Let the reader’s device manage flow.
For image-heavy titles, consider fixed-layout EPUB where the page design is part of the content. This suits picture books and complex cookbooks.
To make sure your file passes retailer checks and renders well on Kindle, Kobo, and Apple Books, see our eBook Design and Validation service.
How to set this up in common tools
InDesign
Create a facing-pages document at your trim.
Set margins with Inside, Outside, Top, Bottom following 1:1:2:3 and add extra Inside for the gutter.
Base your paragraph styles on a clear Body style. Set first-line indents, hyphenation, and justification here so the whole book stays consistent.
Turn on Optical kerning and adjust H&J settings to reduce rivers.
Affinity Publisher
Use Facing Pages and set master spreads with your margins and folios.
Define text styles for body and headings.
Check baseline grid against your leading so lines hold steady across columns or facing pages.
If you need platform rules, the KDP and IngramSpark help centres list trim sizes, bleed rules, and PDF export settings. See KDP’s trim and bleed help and IngramSpark’s file creation guides for current specs.
Final thoughts and next steps
Tschichold did not worship typographical rules, but he did use them to serve the text. That is the spirit you want to carry into your own book. Choose a trim that fits the work and your printer. Set margins that give the page a clear shape. Keep lines steady and spacing calm. Your reader will feel the care, even if they never know why the page feels so good.
If you would like a partner who lives and breathes this, we would love to help. Start with a chat or jump straight into production with our Formatting and Typesetting, eBook Design and Validation, or full Publishing Packages. If POD is part of your plan, learn what to expect on our Print on Demand page.
Further reading
The Form of the Book by Jan Tschichold. A short, sharp set of essays on what makes pages work.
Canons of page construction for the geometry behind classic pages.
Penguin Composition Rules for a glimpse of clear standards in action.
Official help for InDesign and tutorials for Reedsy Studio for current tool tips.
