Rebirth 04: Starting from Taking an Unconventional Approach

Han Fei woke up from his sleep, lying in his armchair staring at the ceiling. How long had he slept? He sat up and looked at the clock on his desk. 10:36.

The phone rang. Han Fei took out his phone and answered it.

Chen Jianguo called to report on the situation at the printing plant. Han Fei could hear Chen Jianguo panting heavily, with the rumble of machinery in the background.

"President, I've been waiting here for almost two hours. The factory manager just got back to the factory. He said there will be a slot available for the CTP machine after 11 a.m. If we can deliver the documents before noon, they can work overtime during lunch break to produce the plate and start prototyping at 1 p.m.

"I understand, Teacher Chen," Han Fei said. "You continue to keep an eye on things there, just in case anything goes wrong."

Han Fei yawned, stretched, and stood up.

A square of sunlight shone onto the floor. The office was silent; he was alone.

Ruiyi didn't come?

Where did Wenjie go?

No, here comes Ree. Her black handbag is lying quietly on another armchair.

Han Fei rubbed his eyes, walked into the corridor, and arrived at the door of the art and design studio.

The office was only about 20 square meters. In the center of the room was a large table and three work areas. There were no windows, and the four walls were lined with shelves filled with manuscripts and various reference materials. On one wall hung a picture of a woman's back. Han Fei knew that it was a picture that Zheng Xiaowen used as an illustration reference.

Zheng Xiaowen and Lu Hai were huddled in front of a computer, the screen displaying the interface of the Feiteng typesetting software. Zhang Ruiyi stood behind them and saw Han Fei at the door.

"You're awake."

"So you're here," Han Fei said, walking inside. "Did you see Wen Jie when you came in?"

Zhang Ruiyi shook her head.

"Oh," Lu Hai said, looking down at the manuscript, his red pen flying across the paper. "He said he was afraid of waking you, so he went to the archives to work by himself."

Han Fei rubbed his face: "I can't believe you fell asleep sitting there. How's the layout?"

"The cover, back cover, and illustrations are all finished," Zheng Xiaowen said without turning around. "The main text is on page 48, there are 16 pages left, it will only take about ten minutes to finish."

Han Fei lit a cigarette and looked at the screen. He was currently typesetting "The Door My Brother Closed," the layout as clean as ever. The title used Song typeface, the body text was in Old Song typeface, the line spacing was appropriate, and an illustration of a hotel corridor was placed between the text. At the end of the article was a line of bold gray text: This installment is finished. To be continued in the next installment.

"President," Zheng Xiaowen moved the cursor to the Photoshop 7.0 interface, "come and take a look at this."

Han Fei leaned forward, squinting his eyes: "Wow, this cover. Isn't that the woman from 'Borrowing Seed'?"

The cover's background color resembles ochre. The reason it resembles ochre is because the color has clearly been mixed many times. It's not a dull, dark ochre, but rather has some warm tones added, making the image more transparent, like the color of an earthen wall bathed in the setting sun. The saturation is just right, making it impossible for the eye to linger on it.

The title, "Bluebird: Special Issue on New Rural Fiction," is displayed horizontally at the top in a moderate font size. The font is a slightly handwritten variant of Song typeface, with strokes that convey a sense of sharp, chiseled strength. Each character is a dark brown, two shades darker than the background color, conveying a sense of composure without being dull.

A round, bright yellow label with torn paper edges is affixed to the upper left corner of the cover, making it appear pasted on. In the center of the label are four lines of bold, black text:

20 readers

Paid subscription

Mobile Dream Network

Certification authority

Han Fei felt that having this thing there was like a man wearing a suit with a big red flower pinned to his chest. At first glance, it seemed glaring, but upon closer inspection, he felt that the red flower should be pinned there.

The cover features an illustration in the center. It depicts the back of a woman standing in front of a half-open window, her head slightly tilted, as if listening to something or waiting for something.

The moonlight streaming in through the window outlined her features with silver edges, illuminating half of her profile and revealing only the eyelashes of one eye, a small section of the bridge of her nose, and a wisp of hair. That eye was lowered, the shadow of the eyelashes falling on her cheekbone.

Her right hand hung at her side, clutching a pair of scissors. Most of the scissors were hidden in shadow, only the tips were illuminated by the beam of moonlight from the window, gleaming with a metallic sheen, like a flame that might be extinguished at any moment.

The entire scene was devoid of blood and violence; in fact, it was extremely quiet. But that quietness was like a taut string, ready to snap at any moment.

At the bottom of the screen are the titles of this issue's featured articles. The three titles, "Borrowing Seeds," "The Door Closed by My Brother," and "Living a Widow's Life," are arranged vertically side by side, with a font size one size larger than the regular titles and a dark red color.

Han Fei exhaled a puff of smoke, which veiled the magazine cover, adding a layer of haziness to the image.

Zhang Ruiyi and Zheng Xiaowen looked at Han Fei with expectant smiles. Before Han Fei could react, Zhang Ruiyi eagerly asked, "What do you think?"

Han Fei rubbed his chin, lost in thought.

"I was just thinking," he began, "that if this magazine were placed in a newsstand, next to 'Story Club,' 'Zhiyin,' and 'Family,' which one would people see first when they pass by?"

Zhang Ruiyi tilted her head to one side: "Who?"

Han Fei pointed to the computer screen: "It."

Zhang Ruiyi and Zheng Xiaowen looked at each other and laughed simultaneously.

"This was designed with the help of Ruiyi," Zheng Xiaowen said.

"Oh?" Han Fei looked at Zhang Ruiyi with a surprised expression.

"Have you forgotten?" Zhang Ruiyi said, "I graduated with a degree in journalism."

Han Fei looked puzzled: "Journalism Department?"

Zheng Xiaowen smiled slightly and explained that graphic designers focus on visual effects, simply figuring out how to make things look good. But Zhang Ruiyi pays more attention to the dissemination effect, so she provided many novel ideas in terms of color matching, illustrations, and typography that are often overlooked by graphic designers from a professional perspective.

For example, Zheng Xiaowen originally treated the phrase "20 paid subscribers to Mobile Dream Network" as just a line of ordinary text and placed it at the very bottom of the cover. However, Zhang Ruiyi suggested designing this phrase as an eye-catching circular label, like a "bestseller" sticker, and placing it in the corner of the cover.

Regarding the cover illustration design, Zheng Xiaowen wanted it to be aesthetically pleasing or to create an image that matched the novel's atmosphere. Zhang Ruiyi suggested choosing the most conflict-ridden and intriguing moment from the novel, making the cover itself a hook for the story.

Han Fei suddenly realized what was going on and gave Zhang Ruiyi a thumbs up: "Amazing!"