Module 2: Working on PDFs and digital material (d)

Illustrations
Many publications have line drawings (e.g. charts, diagrams, maps), halftones (anything with
shades of grey from solid black to white – e.g. photographs), full colour illustrations, maybe even
all of these. It is beyond the scope of this course text to discuss the technical details of
photographs and digitally created illustrations, but you should be able to cope with the basic
principles of checking illustrations:
• if you are working on proofs that are made up into their final layout (page proofs), you must
check that each illustration is the right item, in the right place, saying the right thing
• if you are working on a draft proof, not yet made up into its final layout, you will need to give
clear instructions as to where each illustration is to be positioned, following the copy-editor’s
guidance if there is any.
You might encounter the following:
• in publishing, it is common practice for artwork prepared by a specialist artist or
draughtsperson to be checked before it is sent to the typesetter for inclusion in the proofs;
however, typesetters often prepare straightforward diagrams and charts, and checking
these illustrations will probably be part of your proofreading job
• authors increasingly prepare their own artwork, but this often has to be re-drawn by a
professional artist or graphic designer: in this scenario, you might need to check the final
version carefully against the author’s original if there was no copy-editor carrying out that
task
• commercial companies are likely to have staff in their publications department who
specialise in preparing artwork for company documents, and these illustrations will usually
adhere closely to a prescribed style and format which might not need such careful
checking.
So, always find out whether you are expected to check any of the illustrations and, if so, which
ones and to what degree. At the very least, however, read every part of each illustration to make
sure that it is legible: for example, check that the type size is not too small to be comfortably read
without a magnifying glass; if there is wording in boxes, make sure that the box outline does not
cut off any part of the wording.

Labelling
It is quite common to cast an eye over the labelling in maps and diagrams to double-check that
it is correct. There may be minor inconsistencies in capitalisation and hyphenation (or even,
sometimes, spelling) between the text and the labels, and sometimes the captions too: for
example, a medical book might discuss the ‘sino-atrial node’ of the heart, but the diagram
labels this as ‘Sinuatrial Node’ (with variations in spelling, hyphenation and capitalisation); or a
book on Europe might spell the Swiss city of Basle alternatively as Bâle (French spelling) or
Basel (German spelling) on the maps and in the accompanying captions. This can happen when
the illustration drafts are edited and sent for drawing before the copy-editor has looked in
detail at the text. Decisions might be made at this early stage that have had to be altered when
the text is copy-edited.

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© M E Aherne and GV Clarke 1 Module 2(d)

 If you find yourself in this situation, make a note of any differences in the labelling, and then
find out how important it is for the labels to match the text. Depending on the time available
and the cost involved, it may be decided to alter all of them, only those with particularly
noticeable differences, or none.

Captions

In books, the caption copy might be typed at each place where an illustration is ‘flagged’ for
insertion on galley proofs; alternatively, the caption copy might be gathered together at the
end of the edited chapter or of the e-file, or even in a separate e-file. If you are proofreading
without edited copy to check against, you will need to use your common sense!
You can proofread captions in either of two ways:
• as a separate exercise: reading all the captions in one go is the best way to pick up
inconsistencies in presentation (e.g. typeface, the presence or absence of closing
punctuation, use of italic, and so on)
• as you read the text: this method allows you to make sure that the caption is a good
match with the text that the illustration accompanies. If you work in this way, it’s worth
marking each one after you have read it; the mark acts as confirmation, just in case you
get so involved in reading the text that you forget to proofread some of the captions.
(Don’t forget to remove these marks before returning the proofs, though! Better still,
keep a duplicate of the file you’re reading and use the duplicate to make your own notes.)
Check that the correct illustration has been placed with each caption: it has been known for a pair
of line diagrams showing the human reproductive organs to be swapped round, the female
diagram with the caption ‘The male reproductive system’ and the male with the caption ‘The
female reproductive system’. A botany book once famously put the wrong captions beneath a pair
of photographs of mushrooms, one of which was poisonous – but the poisonous one was declared
in the caption to be safe. That could have life-threatening consequences!
Sometimes a photograph is replaced at a late stage but the caption isn’t altered to match. This,
too, can have embarrassing results if the oversight is not spotted until the publication is in the
hands of the reader.
Captions often contain important information about the illustration’s copyright status, including
details of the copyright holder and the permission that they have granted for the illustration to be
used (the credit line). Often, this permission is given on condition that the copyright holder can
stipulate the wording of the credit: this must be adhered to, or the permission might be
invalidated.
As in the comments above on labelling, you should check that the editorial style used in the
captions matches that used in the text. While it can be difficult and expensive to get a diagram
changed, there is no such excuse for allowing inconsistencies in simple wording!

Positions of illustrations

It is part of the proofreader’s job to check that the illustrations are in the best possible position.
In general, illustrations are best positioned as close as possible to where they are first
mentioned in the text, so that the reader can refer to them easily. The copy-editor working on
paper will have put a note in the margin along the lines of ‘Figure 1 near here’; when the copy-
editor is working on screen, a simple way to flag the optimum position of an illustration is to
key ‘<Fig.1>’ or some such on a separate line. NOTE: it is quite normal for an illustration to be
referred to more than once – but the copy-editor must be careful to indicate the best position

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© M E Aherne and GV Clarke 2 Module 2(d)

 for it only once. It should NOT be flagged at each mention, or the typesetter might think it
should be inserted into the text more than once! If you are working on galley proofs, where the
typesetter will need to be told where each illustration is to be inserted, make sure that you
copy over the copy-editor’s instructions precisely and thereby give the typesetter clear
guidance on where the illustrations are to fit.
The copy-editor should have ensured that every text mention of an illustration refers to the
correct one but you will be making a simple double-check when you ensure that it is placed in
the best possible position.
It isn’t always feasible to place an illustration where it is mentioned. For example, half-way
down the page the text mentions Map A . . . which is deeper than the space available. The map
will therefore be placed as near as possible to its mention: probably on the next page which,
with luck, will be a facing page.
Some designers prefer illustrations to appear either at the top or at the bottom of the page.
This usually works, but there may be occasions when an illustration will have to appear in the
middle of the page in order to be within the relevant section of text. If you are unsure about
the preferred positions of illustrations, do ask. (Make a note of any you are worried about and
then query them all in one go.)
Other problems with illustrations arise when several are mentioned close together within very
little text. The resulting placement of the last one some way from its mention is unfortunate but is
probably unavoidable in, say, a medical textbook in which economy is vital and one cannot spread
out the illustrations with the relevant text on partly empty pages. It is usual to place all illustrations
after their mention in the text but, if a lot of them are mentioned together, placing the first one
just before its mention can have a dramatic effect on the placing of the others. If you think that
this would help, mention it to your supervisor.
It is also part of the proofreader’s job to make sure that the illustrations are the correct way up:
we will examine this problem in more detail in Module 4.

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© M E Aherne and GV Clarke 3 Module 2(d)

 Illustrations checklist

The illustrations themselves

• Is each illustration in the right place?
• Is each illustration the right way up/round?
• Is all the content legible?
• If there is any sequencing (e.g. a flow chart), is it in the correct order?
• If there are boxes containing text, is all the text clear and not cut off by the box outline?

Captions
• Does each illustration have the correct caption?
• Does the editorial style of the caption match that of the text and the illustration?
• Does the caption contain source details, copyright information and permission from the
copyright holder to reproduce the illustration? – if not, should those items be added?

Relationship with the text

• Does the illustration have sufficient space around it, to separate it from the text?
• Does the labelling on the illustration match the editorial style of the text and the caption?
• Is it the correct illustration for that part of the text?
• Most importantly, does the illustration show what the text says it shows?

Now do Exercise 2.4, which is an illustration that accompanies the policy document you
encountered in the previous exercise.

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© M E Aherne and GV Clarke 4 Module 2(d)