Showcase of beautiful typography done in TeX & friends

Question

If you were asked to show examples of beautifully typeset documents in TeX & friends, what would you suggest? Preferably documents available online (I'm aware I could go to a bookstore and find many such documents called 'books'). Extra bonus for documents whose LaTeX source is available.

This is not an idle question. Seeing great examples of any craft is both educational and inspiring, let alone explaining why we prefer TeX to Word or other text editors.

For instance, I like how Philipp Lehman's Font Installation Guide looks. I don't know enough LaTeX to realize how much customization was done, but the ToC looks polished.

Your nominations, please ...

Answer 1

I wonder why nobody suggested the original works of Donald Knuth. To me they are beautiful examples of typesetting. As far as I know, his books and papers are typeset using TeX (vs. LaTeX), but for the sake of the topic, I guess, it doesn't matter.

Some examples:

• The Art of Computer Programming (TAOCP)
• The TeXbook
• The METAFONTbook

The complete list of Knuth's publications as well as preliminary drafts of the TAOCP Vol 4a chapters (in post script files) can be found on his home page. The sources of the TaOCP book (tex files) are also available in peer-to-peer networks.

Answer 2

One of the most interesting books typeset with TeX that I know, is "Trees, Maps, and Theorems" by Jean-Luc Doumont. It offers beautiful typography down to details such that each paragraph is typeset as a perfect rectangle (which means a lot of textual rewriting, so whether this is a good idea I leave open).

I agree with this answer from Frank Mittelbach that this format is nice, but I was exhausted just thinking about the hard work to obtain only this "detail". Write carefully a book and then rewrite it just to fit in rectangular paragraphs? What a nightmare!

But LaTeX can make automatically rectangular paragrahs with no/minimal rewriting. With two columns, a simple \parfillskip=0pt and some reasonable tuning of microtype options make wonders. The trick is so simple that struck me not to have seen this solution anywhere. However, it was already explained in the egreg's long time ago in Is there a tool that makes paragraphs into rectangles?).

The solution is not always perfect, specially in one column. The badness concentrated in the last line of some paragraphs could be nicely scattered in the whole paragraph using \emergencystretch in many cases (explained also in the egreg's answer), but sometimes the best solution is still add or remove some words.

Nevertheless, even without \emergencystretch one can write the whole Lore Ipsum in two columns with \lipsum[1-150] (22 pages) and obtain 150 paragraphs nicely formatted. So, you can also impress to your readers without working hard:

Answer 3

OK, so here is one "from the Friends". I am a great admirer of typographic skill of Hans Hagen and Metafun manual is one of my favourites. Also available is Metafun manual source.

Answer 4

I'm not sure this is exactly 'beautiful typography'. It is a TiKZ picture. However, somebody urged me to publish it a while ago and this is the first place I've seen where it might almost belong.

It originally began as a result of seeing Claudio Fiandrino's answer but Claudio is in no way responsible for my subsequent mangling!

I modified some code from https://tex.stackexchange.com/a/29154 and https://tex.stackexchange.com/a/41628, but the timeline is also based on ideas and techniques which I learnt from other questions and answers here. I am sorry that I cannot acknowledge everybody from whom I have learnt. If I have failed to acknowledge you, do let me know!

It isn't possible to post a very large image here without its being converted to JPG. However, PDF is available here and can be zoomed to inspect the details.

Answer 5

My two cents:

https://github.com/alexisflesch/nexus

It's a work in progress, but I'm quite satisfied with the result already. The little squares in the footers are clickable links to the corresponding chapters.

A big part of the code was borrowed to stackexchange contributors.

Answer 6

Complete Source Code and Thesis

Since I've got four more exams on my plate there was no time to tidy up the code and the way the chapter headings are written, they prevent the use of tikzexternalize.

An image from my end-of-term-thesis and the .pdf above (sadly only two links can be posted as new user):

It is mostly reverse engineered wherever I needed a solution for my ideas, but could have more easily been accomplished with classic thesis, I assume.

The data sctructure is from Matthias Posspiech's thesis template, but seems to have a good amount of redundant code in it. The headings are customized personally, while the chapter titles are a version from the Grande Orange Book (spelled correctly?).

Sadly I didn't get the full width floats right ;(

Answer 7

There are two templates for theses at CTU (Czech Technical University in Prague) and CU (Charles University in Prague). These templates provide remarkable design which differs from standard theses created by LaTeX. The first mentioned template is called CTUStyle and the second is CUStyle. The title page of a bachelor's thesis created by CUStyle is shown here:

Charles University is an ancient school so there is its logo created as Kings seal on the ribbon.

There are full examples of student's work. First two are from CTU (in English) and the third is from CU. 480.pdf (or 480.pdf), 339.pdf (or 339.pdf), mirek-bakalarka. The third one is available including source code.

Both templates are based on OPmac. Notice that students are able to use pure plainTeX + OPmac (no LaTeX were used).

Answer 8

I'd like to add our main project report, which was created the last semester at a 2-year technical college.

Main Report as pdf (OneDrive link)

Stripped-down example/template (needs XeLaTex)

(Note: This template bears some marks from being taken from a paper written under a constant time-pressure with multiple revisions, and was never meant to be shown off in public)

Here are some outtakes:

Answer 9

My humble contribution, using Memoir and EB Garamond.

% !TeX program = xelatex
\let\counterwithout\relax
\let\counterwithin\relax
\documentclass[a6paper,12pt,final]{memoir}
\usepackage[top=0.4in,bottom=0.3in,right=0.78in,left=0.78in]{geometry}
\usepackage{pdflscape}
\setlength{\parindent}{0pt}


%dark red defined as \h{}
\usepackage[svgnames]{xcolor}
\newcommand{\h}[1]{\textcolor{FireBrick}{#1}}
\definecolor{bblue}{rgb}{0.74,0.80,0.84}
\usepackage{psvectorian,fancyhdr,lipsum,multido}


%to open PDFs in full H-Fit
\usepackage[hidelinks,bookmarks=false]{hyperref}
\hypersetup{pdfstartview={XYZ null null 1.22}}
\usepackage{bbding}
\usepackage{lettrine}
\usepackage{fontspec}

\setmainfont[Ligatures={Required,Common,Contextual,Rare,Historic,TeX},Numbers=OldStyle,RawFeature={+ss05,+dlig,+hlig,+calt,+liga},ItalicFeatures={RawFeature={+cv04,+clig,+swsh,+calt,+liga,+hlig,+ss05},CharacterVariant=5:0}]{EB Garamond}


\usepackage{pgfornament}
\usepackage[final]{microtype}
\begin{document}
    \pagecolor{bblue}
    \thispagestyle{empty}
    \topskip0.01pt
    \large

    \begin{center}\Large
    \textsc{the paradox of}\\   \rput[r](-3pt,3pt){\psvectorian[width=2em, 
     color=Maroon]{102}} \textit{Epimenides}    \rput[l](0pt,3pt) 
     {\psvectorian[width=2em,mirror, color=Maroon]{102}}\\

        \large
    \end{center}
    \vskip.25cm

    \lettrine[loversize=0.3,
    lines=3,
    slope=-0.1em,
    nindent=5pt,
    lhang=0.35]{E}p\textsc{imenides} was a Cretan and a philosopher (600 
    \textsc{bc})
    who made an \emph{immortal} statement:

    \begin{quote}
        \emph{``All Cretans are liars.''}
    \end{quote} 

    but, Epimenides, was a Cretan and therefore, a liar. A statement by a liar, cannot be true and it meant, Cretans did \emph{not} lie, but spoke \emph{truth}.\\

    Now, if, Epimenides speaks \emph{truth,} then by his own statement, he, a Cretan, is a liar. Does Epimenides \emph{speak truth} or \emph{lie?}\h{\pgfornament[width=17pt]{1}}\hfil\\

    \begin{tiny}
        \begin{center}
            \textsc{typeset in latex by ajay kd}
        \end{center}
    \end{tiny}


    \vspace*{\fill}



\end{document}

Answer 10

I really like the documentation of Philipp Lehman. The Font Installation Guide was mentioned in the question, but I also think for a simpler article (rather than the book style) his package documentation is hard to beat aesthetically, e.g. biblatex's

In biblatex manual [was: Can I make a document that looks like this?], the author explains how to recreate this style (fonts and such).

Answer 11

While writing it, I really liked my bachelor thesis Implementation of a Read Mapping Tool Based on the Pigeon-hole Principle, even though the margins (and some other things) were all wrong.

Looking back, I probably wouldn’t use such a heavy font again (Hoefler Text). But I still like the chapter headings a lot:

Answer 12

I wrote both my PhD thesis and presentation in LaTeX. Most images were directly created in LaTeX, using tikz/pgfplots.

A particularity of my template is that it features one page turning animation on each side (hourglass on the left and a glider on the right). Both animations were also generated using LaTeX.

The source code is available at GitHub.

Thesis

Presentation

Answer 13

I made an abstract book for a conference on this webpage, using LuaLaTeX and TikZ, and automating the process from a database: Abstract Book

The book also has comment fields to add comments and save them on the PDF

Answer 14

A Brief Introduction to Neural Networks is a beautiful one.

Answer 15

Since there are very few "and friends" entries, let me point out to my PhD thesis Sequential decomposition of sequential dynamic teams: applications to real-time communication and networked control systems. It is, by no means, unique or beautifully typeset; but if one takes into consideration that I had to follows all the horrible typographic guidelines laid out by the university (margins, fonts, headings, interline spacing, and what not), I think that the result is rather pleasant.

The thesis is typeset using ConTeXt + LuaTeX (0.43). I think that it might be the first thesis typeset using LuaTeX. This was before ConTeXt was split into MkII and MkIV, and before LuaTeX had Opentype math font support.

I do use a rather unconventional style for typesetting multi-line equations with subscripts (see, for example, pages 27-29). Most of this was done manually (wrapped behind macros, of course). I also had to do some manual tweaking to get the bibliography just as I wanted it.

The ConTeXt source is available, although so much has changed in LuaTeX and ConTeXt MkIV in the last three years, that I doubt it will compile without some tweaks to the environment files.

Answer 16

I would like also to show something, which isn't that sophisticated but I believe it's a nice way to make simple but fancy covers with spine and flaps. I hope you find it usefull. What it's going to follow is some covers I made for my thesis using zwpagelayout package which can fe found here and pgfornaments which can be found here

The preamble is the following

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{pgfornament}
\usepackage[english,greek]{babel}
\usepackage[iso-8859-7]{inputenc}
\usepackage{kerkis}
\usepackage[pdftex]{graphicx}
\pagestyle{empty}
\usepackage{xcolor}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{decorations.fractals}
\usepackage{multicol}
%^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
\usepackage[papersize={,297mm}, strictheight=false,topmargin=0mm, botmargin, flap=50mm, textwidth=209mm, spine=13mm, cropmarks, cropframe, croptitle=Εξώφυλλο Διπλωματικής]{zwpagelayout}
\usepackage{rotating}
 %^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
\linespread{1}
\begin{document}
%There goes the code!
\end{document}

The following lines contain code for four covers as well as the output of each code. Each code is placed between begin{document} and end{document} in the aforementioned preamble.

First Cover

Code

\hbox to \textwidth{%
\vbox to \textheight{\hsize \CropFlap \centering \textcolor{white}{Front Flap}
}\hss
\vbox to \textheight{\hsize \UserWidth \vfill \leavevmode \textcolor{white}{ISBN+EAN}}\hss
\vbox to \textheight{\hsize \CropSpine \vfill
\begin{sideways}\hspace{-10cm}Αθανάσιος Ν. Σταματόπουλος \hspace{5cm}{\Large Μελέτη     Ανιχνευτή \latintext{MicroMEGAS}}  \end{sideways}\vfill}\hss
\vbox to \textheight{\hsize \UserWidth \vspace{1cm} 
\setlength{\unitlength}{1cm}
\begin{picture}(20,27)

\put(0.7,1){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(1.7,1){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(0.7,2){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(1.7,2){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(0.7,3){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(1.7,3){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(0.7,4){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(1.7,4){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(0.7,5){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(1.7,5){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(0.7,6){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(1.7,6){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(0.7,7){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(1.7,7){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(0.7,8){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(1.7,8){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(0.7,9){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(1.7,9){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(0.7,10){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(1.7,10){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(0.7,11){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(1.7,11){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(0.7,12){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(1.7,12){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(0.7,13){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(1.7,13){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(0.7,14){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(1.7,14){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(0.7,15){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(1.7,15){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(0.7,16){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(1.7,16){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(0.7,17){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(1.7,17){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(0.7,18){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(1.7,18){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(0.7,19){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(1.7,19){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(0.7,20){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(1.7,20){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(0.7,21){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(1.7,21){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(0.7,22){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(1.7,22){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(0.7,23){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(1.7,23){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(0.7,24){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(1.7,24){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(0.7,25){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(1.7,25){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(0.7,26){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(1.7,26){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
%-----------------------------------------------------------
\put(3.4,23){\includegraphics[width=3.3cm]{ntua-logo}}
\put(7.1,25.4) {{\Large Εθνικό Μετσόβιο Πολυτεχνείο}}
\put(7.1,24.9) {{\Large Σχολή Εφαρμοσμένων Μαθηματικών\&Φυσικών Επιστημών}}
\put(7.1,24.4) {{\Large Τομέας Φυσικής}}
\put(7.1,23.9) {{\Large Εργαστήριο Πειραματικής Φυσικής Υψηλών Ενεργειών}}
\put(6,14){{\huge Μελέτη ανιχνευτή \latintext{MicroMEGAS}}}
\put(7.5,7.5){{\Large Σταματόπουλος Ν. Αθανάσιος}}
\put(9,1.5){{\Large Οκτώβριος 2012}}
\end{picture}}\hss
\vbox to \textheight{\hsize \CropFlap \textcolor{white}{Back Flap}
}}

Output

Second Cover

Code

\hbox to \textwidth{%
\vbox to \textheight{\hsize \CropFlap \centering
\textcolor{white}{Back flap}\vfill}\hss
\vbox to \textheight{\hsize \UserWidth \vfill \leavevmode \textcolor{white}{ISBN+EAN}}\hss
\vbox to \textheight{\hsize \CropSpine \vfill
\begin{sideways}\hspace{-10cm}Αθανάσιος Ν. Σταματόπουλος \hspace{5cm}{\Large Μελέτη     Ανιχνευτή \latintext{MicroMEGAS}}  \end{sideways}\vfill}\hss
\vbox to \textheight{\hsize \UserWidth \vspace{1cm} 
\setlength{\unitlength}{1cm}
\begin{picture}(20,27)


\put(0.7,1){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(1.7,1){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(0.7,2){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(1.7,2){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(0.7,3){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(1.7,3){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(0.7,4){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(1.7,4){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(0.7,5){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(1.7,5){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(0.7,6){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(1.7,6){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(0.7,7){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(1.7,7){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(0.7,8){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(1.7,8){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(0.7,9){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(1.7,9){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(0.7,10){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(1.7,10){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(0.7,11){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(1.7,11){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(0.7,12){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(1.7,12){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(0.7,13){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(1.7,13){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(0.7,14){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(1.7,14){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(0.7,15){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(1.7,15){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(0.7,16){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(1.7,16){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(0.7,17){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(1.7,17){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(0.7,18){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(1.7,18){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(0.7,19){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(1.7,19){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(0.7,20){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(1.7,20){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(0.7,21){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(1.7,21){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(0.7,22){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(1.7,22){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(0.7,23){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(1.7,23){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(0.7,24){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(1.7,24){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(0.7,25){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(1.7,25){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(0.7,26){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
\put(1.7,26){\pgfornament[width=1cm]{25}}
%-----------------------------------------------------------
\put(9.5,23){\includegraphics[width=3.3cm]{ntua-logo}}
\put(8,22) {{\Large Εθνικό Μετσόβιο Πολυτεχνείο}}
\put(5,21.5) {{\Large Σχολή Εφαρμοσμένων Μαθηματικών\&Φυσικών Επιστημών}}
\put(9.5,21) {{\Large Τομέας Φυσικής}}
\put(5.5,20.5) {{\Large Εργαστήριο Πειραματικής Φυσικής Υψηλών Ενεργειών}}
\put(6,14){{\huge Μελέτη ανιχνευτή \latintext{MicroMEGAS}}}
\put(7.5,7.5){{\Large Σταματόπουλος Ν. Αθανάσιος}}
\put(9,1.5){{\Large Οκτώβριος 2012}}
\end{picture}}\hss
\vbox to \textheight{\hsize \CropFlap \centering
\textcolor{white}{Front flap}\vfill}}

Output

Third Cover

Code

\hbox to \textwidth{%
\vbox to \textheight{\hsize \CropFlap 
\vspace{20.5cm} \begin{tikzpicture}\draw[color=gray!50,fill=gray!50] (0,0) rectangle     (5,-2);\end{tikzpicture}\vfill}\hss
\vbox to \textheight{\hsize \UserWidth \vspace{20.5cm}     \begin{tikzpicture}\draw[color=gray!50,fill=gray!50] (-2,0) rectangle     (30,-2);\end{tikzpicture}}\hss
\vbox to \textheight{\hsize \CropSpine \vfill
\begin{sideways}\hspace{-10cm}Αθανάσιος Ν. Σταματόπουλος  \hspace{5cm}{\Large Μελέτη     Ανιχνευτή \latintext{MicroMEGAS}}  \end{sideways}\vfill}\hss
\vbox to \textheight{\hsize \UserWidth \vspace{1cm} \line(1,0){40}{} \Large Σταματόπουλος     Ν. Αθανάσιος \line(1,0){320}\\ \setlength{\unitlength}{1cm}\begin{picture}(27,17)
\put(1,7){\includegraphics[width=3.5cm]{ntua-logo}}
\put (5.5,9.5){\Large Εθνικό Μετσόβιο Πολυτεχνείο}
\put (5.5,9){\Large Σχολή Εφαρμοσμένων Μαθηματικών\&Φυσικών Επιστημών}
\put (5.5,8.5) {\Large Τομέας Φυσικής}
\put (5.5,8) {\Large Εργαστήριο Πειραματικής Φυσικής Υψηλών Ενεργειών}
\put (1,1) {\huge Μελέτη ανιχνευτή \latintext{MicroMEGAS}}\end{picture}
\begin{tikzpicture}
\draw[color=white,opacity=1] (0,2) -- (10,2);
\draw[color=gray!50,fill=gray!50] (0,0) rectangle (25,-2);
\node at (3,-6) {\large Οκτώβριος 2012};
\end{tikzpicture}
}\hss
\vbox to \textheight{\hsize \CropFlap \vspace{20.5cm}     \begin{tikzpicture}\draw[color=gray!50,fill=gray!50] (0,0) rectangle     (4.5,-2);\end{tikzpicture}\vfill}}

Output

Fourth Cover

Code

 \hbox to \textwidth{%
 \vbox to \textheight{\hsize \CropFlap 
 \vspace{20.5cm} \begin{tikzpicture}\draw[color=red,fill=red] (0,0) rectangle     (5,-2);\end{tikzpicture}\vfill}\hss
\vbox to \textheight{\hsize \UserWidth \vspace{20.5cm}     \begin{tikzpicture}\draw[color=red,fill=red] (-2,0) rectangle     (30,-2);\end{tikzpicture}}\hss
\vbox to \textheight{\hsize \CropSpine \vfill
\begin{sideways}\hspace{-10cm}\textcolor{blue}{Αθανάσιος Ν. Σταματόπουλος}  \hspace{5cm}    {\Large \textcolor{blue}{Μελέτη Ανιχνευτή \latintext{MicroMEGAS}}}      \end{sideways}\vfill}\hss
\vbox to \textheight{\hsize \UserWidth \vspace{1cm} \begin{tikzpicture}\draw[red,very     thick] (0,0) --(3,0); \node at (6.3,0) {\Large Σταματόπουλος Ν. Αθανάσιος}; \draw[red,very     thick] (9.6,0) -- (20,0); \end{tikzpicture}\\ \setlength{\unitlength}{1cm}\begin{picture}    (27,17)
\put(1,7){\includegraphics[width=3.5cm]{ntua-logo}}
\put (5.5,9.5){\Large Εθνικό Μετσόβιο Πολυτεχνείο}
\put (5.5,9){\Large Σχολή Εφαρμοσμένων Μαθηματικών\&Φυσικών Επιστημών}
\put (5.5,8.5) {\Large Τομέας Φυσικής}
\put (5.5,8) {\Large Εργαστήριο Πειραματικής Φυσικής Υψηλών Ενεργειών}
\put (1,1) {\huge Μελέτη ανιχνευτή \latintext{MicroMEGAS}}\end{picture}
\begin{tikzpicture}
\draw[color=white,opacity=1] (0,2) -- (10,2);
\draw[color=red,fill=red] (0,0.2) rectangle (25,-1.8);
\node at (3,-6) {\large Οκτώβριος 2012};
\end{tikzpicture}
}\hss
\vbox to \textheight{\hsize \CropFlap \vspace{20.5cm}     \begin{tikzpicture}\draw[color=red,fill=red] (0,0) rectangle     (4.5,-2);\end{tikzpicture}\vfill}}

Output

Answer 17

I know two nice repositories (the last one has already been listed here):

1. Dario Taraborelli shows some of the elegant and beautiful features of LaTeX.
2. There is the TeX Showcase, edited by Gerben Wierda, which contains examples of what you can do with LaTeX. Most, if not all, of these examples are of exceptionally high quality.

Answer 18

Admittedly, you asked for LaTeX, not TeX, but the TeXbook is quite nice. Its source is freely available, but you are not allowed to compile it.

The source file, texbook.tex, starts with the following code.

% This manual is copyright (C) 1984 by the American Mathematical Society.
% All rights are reserved!
% The file is distributed only for people to see its examples of TeX input,
% not for use in the preparation of books like The TeXbook.
% Permission for any other use of this file must be obtained in writing
% from the copyright holder and also from the publisher (Addison-Wesley).
\loop\iftrue
  \errmessage{This manual is copyrighted and should not be TeXed}\repeat

Answer 19

Perhaps a little off the track of beautiful document typography per se, but I often turn to the TikZ and PGF examples pages when I'm seeking inspiration or solutions re snazzy and relatively easy to produce vector graphics typography.

Answer 20

The articles from the online journal 'Semantics & Pragmatics' seem to come out very well.

Answer 21

I think Lorenzo Pantieri's books and articles very nice. He uses his package ArsClassica and are written in italian.

At aprende matematicas (learn mathematics) you will find some mathematical books also written with LaTeX.

And at the Malaysian LaTeX User Group Blog there is a tutorial explaining how to design a not so boring book.

Answer 22

Here's another shameless plug for one's own thesis: Narrowband CARS spectroscopy in the molecular fingerprint region

Here's some of the typographically relevant code I used, plus the code for the abstract page: http://pastebin.com/JWFjbZ1q

Answer 23

The last document I opened that made me say "wow" was the elsarticle document class documentation.

The layout is highly nonstandard, and it wouldn't be suitable for most purposes, but it sure displays beautifully.

Answer 24

Just finished writing my PhD thesis, which is written using the memoir class and all figures are drawn using TikZ. The PDF is available on http://kth.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1185339/FULLTEXT03.pdf, and the source code is freely available on https://github.com/gablin/ghb-thesis.

Answer 25

This will look narcissistic for sure, but here's the current version of my curriculum vitae. It's basically a single full-page tikzpicture, compiled with XeLaTeX. Lots of randomized coordinates here and there (I got slightly influenced by the interface of the game Persona 5).

I recreated the union jack by hand for fun (you can choose between 1:2 and 3:5 ratios and the width of the stripes and stuff remains correct):

\newcommand{\unionjack}{%
    \begingroup%
        \def\urationum{3}%
        \def\uratioden{5}%
        \def\uheight{2ex}%
        \definecolor{ublue}{RGB}{0, 39, 118}%
        \definecolor{ured}{RGB}{198, 12, 48}%
        \colorlet{uwhite}{white}%
        \begin{tikzpicture}[
                    draw = none,
                    line width = 0pt
                ]
            \coordinate (sw) at (0, 0);
            \coordinate (nw) at (0, \uheight);
            \coordinate (ne) at (\uheight * \uratioden / \urationum, \uheight);
            \coordinate (se) at (\uheight * \uratioden / \urationum, 0);
            \clip (sw) rectangle (ne);
            \fill[ublue] (sw) rectangle (ne);
            %
            \coordinate (nwsebegtop) at ($(nw)!\uheight / 10!90:(se)$);
            \coordinate (nwsebegbot) at ($(nw)!\uheight / 10!-90:(se)$);
            \coordinate (nwseendtop) at ($(se)!\uheight / 10!-90:(nw)$);
            \coordinate (nwseendbot) at ($(se)!\uheight / 10!90:(nw)$);
            \fill[uwhite]
                (nwsebegtop) -- (nwsebegbot) -- (nwseendbot)
                -- (nwseendtop) -- cycle;
            \coordinate (swnebegtop) at ($(sw)!\uheight / 10!90:(ne)$);
            \coordinate (swnebegbot) at ($(sw)!\uheight / 10!-90:(ne)$);
            \coordinate (swneendtop) at ($(ne)!\uheight / 10!-90:(sw)$);
            \coordinate (swneendbot) at ($(ne)!\uheight / 10!90:(sw)$);
            \fill[uwhite]
                (swnebegtop) -- (swnebegbot) -- (swneendbot)
                -- (swneendtop) -- cycle;
            %
            \begin{scope}
                \clip (nw) -- (ne) -- (sw) -- cycle;
                \coordinate (nwsebegtopred) at (nw);
                \coordinate (nwsebegbotred) at ($(nw)!\uheight / 30 * 2!-90:(se)$);
                \coordinate (nwseendtopred) at (se);
                \coordinate (nwseendbotred) at ($(se)!\uheight / 30 * 2!90:(nw)$);
                \fill[ured]
                    (nwsebegtopred) -- (nwsebegbotred) -- (nwseendbotred)
                    -- (nwseendtopred) -- cycle;
            \end{scope}
            \begin{scope}
                \clip (sw) -- (se) -- (ne) -- cycle;
                \coordinate (nwsebegtopred) at ($(nw)!\uheight / 30 * 2!90:(se)$);
                \coordinate (nwsebegbotred) at (nw);
                \coordinate (nwseendtopred) at ($(se)!\uheight / 30 * 2!-90:(nw)$);
                \coordinate (nwseendbotred) at (se);
                \fill[ured]
                    (nwsebegtopred) -- (nwsebegbotred) -- (nwseendbotred)
                    -- (nwseendtopred) -- cycle;
            \end{scope}
            \begin{scope}
                \clip (sw) -- (se) -- (nw) -- cycle;
                \coordinate (swnebegtopred) at (sw);
                \coordinate (swnebegbotred) at ($(sw)!\uheight / 30 * 2!-90:(ne)$);
                \coordinate (swneendtopred) at (ne);
                \coordinate (swneendbotred) at ($(ne)!\uheight / 30 * 2!90:(sw)$);
                \fill[ured]
                    (swnebegtopred) -- (swnebegbotred) -- (swneendbotred)
                    -- (swneendtopred) -- cycle;
            \end{scope}
            \begin{scope}
                \clip (nw) -- (se) -- (ne) -- cycle;
                \coordinate (swnebegtopred) at ($(sw)!\uheight / 30 * 2!90:(ne)$);
                \coordinate (swnebegbotred) at (sw);
                \coordinate (swneendtopred) at ($(ne)!\uheight / 30 * 2!-90:(sw)$);
                \coordinate (swneendbotred) at (ne);
                \fill[ured]
                    (swnebegtopred) -- (swnebegbotred) -- (swneendbotred)
                    -- (swneendtopred) -- cycle;
            \end{scope}
            %
            \coordinate (n) at ($(nw)!0.5!(ne)$);
            \coordinate (s) at ($(sw)!0.5!(se)$);
            \fill[uwhite]
                ($(nw)!1/3!(sw)$) -- ($(ne)!1/3!(se)$)
                -- ($(se)!1/3!(ne)$) -- ($(sw)!1/3!(nw)$) -- cycle;
            \fill[uwhite]
                ($(s)!\uheight / 6!90:(n)$)
                -- ($(s)!\uheight / 6!-90:(n)$)
                -- ($(n)!\uheight / 6!90:(s)$)
                -- ($(n)!\uheight / 6!-90:(s)$)
                -- cycle;
            \fill[ured]
                ($(nw)!2/5!(sw)$) -- ($(ne)!2/5!(se)$)
                -- ($(se)!2/5!(ne)$) -- ($(sw)!2/5!(nw)$) -- cycle;
            \fill[ured]
                ($(s)!\uheight / 10!90:(n)$)
                -- ($(s)!\uheight / 10!-90:(n)$)
                -- ($(n)!\uheight / 10!90:(s)$)
                -- ($(n)!\uheight / 10!-90:(s)$)
                -- cycle;
        \end{tikzpicture}%
    \endgroup%
}

The weird fuzziness of the header's background was obtained by mistake, by asking for random steps as a decoration (decorate, decoration = {random steps, segment length = 2pt, amplitude = 1.5pt}) and setting rounded corners to a high value (8pt, which is far more than the length of the steps). I liked the result and kept it after a few tweaks.

The lists' bullets are two circles filled in an even / odd fashion:

\newcommand{\bulcircsz}{0.65ex}
\renewcommand{\labelitemi}{%
    \begin{tikzpicture}
        \fill[
            even odd rule,
            lighter!75
        ]
            (0, 0) circle (\bulcircsz)
            (\bulcircsz*0.525, \bulcircsz*0.45) circle (\bulcircsz);
    \end{tikzpicture}%
}

And here's the code for the stars (this is far from perfect, though):

\newcommand{\starwidth}{1em}
% Maximal number of stars.
\newcommand{\starnumber}{3}

% Stars with #1 filled.
\newcommand*{\stars}[1]{%
    \begin{tikzpicture}[
                scale = 1,
                x = \starwidth,
                y = \starwidth,
                every node/.style = {
                    draw = maincolour,
                    line width = 0.75pt,
                    star,
                    star points = 5,
                    star point ratio = 2,
                    minimum width = \starwidth * 0.95,
                    text width = 0pt,
                    inner sep = 0pt,
                    rounded corners = 0.5pt,
                    anchor = center
                },
                baseline = {([yshift = 0.15ex] current bounding box.south)}
            ]
        \foreach \k in {1, ..., \starnumber}
            \node (s\k) at (\k, 0) {};
        \clip (current bounding box.south west) rectangle (#1 + 0.5, 0.5);
        \foreach \k in {1, ..., \starnumber}
            \node[fill = maincolour!50] at (\k, 0) {};
    \end{tikzpicture}%
}

Damn, my post is long. Is there no way to put stuff (especially code) in a little “spoiler” thingy?

Answer 26

The Latex Font Catalogue is a wonderful resource. For some reason it is missing the Zapfino font (as it is nonfree), which was packaged by Walter Schmidt.

Answer 27

If I may be so bold to also plug my own project, here are some documents created with my TeX macro package "DocScape" (Warning: sometimes large downloads!)

budget plan of german federal state

Lighting Product Catalogue

Tools Product Catalogue

Touristic Catalogue

Camping Guide (sorry, no direct download link)

Games Catalogue

Newsletter

While these may not all be highest quality by the typographic standards usually applied to TeX documents (after all, all of them are generated from data bases), they might be stretching a bit the imagination what one would consider to be the typical TeX document :-)

Answer 28

not really as beautiful, but more careful.

To be publsihed at Holborn Project soon!

Answer 29

Shameless plug for my own thesis Learning from Samples Using Coherent Lower Previsions, done with memoir, biblatex, a host of smaller packages, and custom hacking too horrible to share (It’s the layout example that counts).

Answer 30

1. I would not say that it is very nice but probably interesting in terms of coding Light and matter

---

2. This one is very nice but with no sources motionmountain