Doing my nut in

Evaluation

This brief had a personal connection with me due to my birth origins and nature. I was able to relate myself within content, and grasp a better understanding. I have live in 12 different houses in 5 big cities so have a broad range of knowledge about dialect and accent, so was able to use this in communicating speech well. 

I had always wanted to write a brief which had a focus on type and content as I knew it was a skill of mine which needed improving, so it was best it was about something I was interested in and could produce imagery alongside - In this case the book covers. Toward the end of the brief, I was getting compliments about my type and layout which I never thought would happened!

Because I had a personal interest in the content of the book, it meant I enjoyed the brief, which resulted, I feel, in it being completing in good time, and to a high standard. Originally this was meant to take just a 2 weeks to complete as I was going to mock up products, but I really wanted to see and feel the products - I was able to do this due to good time management. Alongside other brief I found any 'spare time' to go to book binding workshops, to find out how best to approach it. It took 6 hours to glue, cut and bind all the books, as I hadn't produced anything like this before. Its certainly a skill I want to improve further and take into FMP. A problem I did have was after producing some high quality books, I found it difficult to photograph to retain the quality, but after the workshop I managed to obtain some good photographs for the boards. 

SOmething I would do differently next time, would be to focus on both sides of the brief, image and type, and for them to be as good as one another. I feel the covers could have been so much stronger if I had explored printing processes within it. I'm that bothered about it, I intend on taking this brief into FMP as a second, or special edition and improving on the designs.

Overall I have learnt a lot within this brief, my time management skills saved my sanity, book binding isn't as simple as it seems but now I know how, and my type skills although still not brilliant, I'm getting there.

Doing my nut in - Final product Photographs

Doing my nut in - Final Books

I'm super happy with the final outcome. It took me 5 hours to bind and cover them but they look like 'real' books, which was kind of the point...

I've found pushing myself into learning more print processes, Finishes and workshops has really pushed my work to a new level. In 1st and 2nd year I was quite lazy in finishing a product, last year a simple staple bind would have done me justice. Its certainly something I want to push into FMP, especially book binding, although time consuming the end product is certainly worth the wait.

Doing my nut in - Final binding and producing of Books

So It took me 5 hours to bind and cover all 5 publications. A very, very, very long time, but knowing how long it would take I had timetabled the whole day to do it (very good idea!) I had a lot of help as I had no idea, but once I was shown how to do one, I was able to do the rest, the repetition really helped and will certainly be something I remember!

The binding process

The Book covering process

Pressing to straighten binds and ensure quality

Doing my nut in - Liverpool & Ireland Publication

Doing my nut in - Initial Binding stages

So I wanted to try binding just the one book, so I knew exactly what I needed, how long it would take, and know how to do the process, so I can come back with the completed publications and have some idea as to how to do them.

Doing my nut in - Yorkshire publication

Doing my nut in - Final book jacket designs

Re-worked back page

Applied to book jackets

Doing my nut in - Newcastle content

Doing my nut in - Book Jacket Designs

I've finally got round to putting my designs into context, so I've designed a range of book sleeves which will be wrapped around a thicker stock to provide a stability to the book. I've made the size 3mm larger than the publication to be sure it covers the density of the amount of pages. This will be glues onto the front and back page of the publication, which itself will be bound with a simple bind.

Doing my nut in - Further experimentation with stock

I wanted to see what best stock my coat of arm designs would best suit. I've printed a large range to take to the crit tomorrow, to hopefully gain some feedback as I'm very unsure as to which would go best. Also the scale of the design within the centre of the page I'm unsure about, as to what would be most appropriate.

Doing my nut in - Pagination

So before I could really start putting together my publications, I needed to understand how best to print them, to be kept professional, and easier to put together. I've mocked up a draft version, numbered each page, and noted whats being put on which page, to help me in the designing process.

Doing my nut in - Publication design content - Birmingham

I've really stuck to the dictionary like format in designing my publication. I've tried to keep it as simple as possible, using just black on white, Times new roman font, centre aligned. The information I've used contains the word / phrases, how to pronounce it, the type of word/s it is, and several meaning and contexts of the word, with a translation below.

For the crit I've printed out each page and simply bull dog clipped it, to give a sense of how it will look and feel.

Doing my nut in - Exploring stock & Print

I want the Coat of arms to be very robust as part of the front cover design, to be used on a thick substrate to be outstanding from the rest of the publication. I tried and tested a few stocks but found each were two textures and grainy, this led to the ink running, and lines becoming wavy. I want my coat of arms designs to be very crisp and bold so my choice of stock will have to change.

Doing my nut in - Further Sketchbook Development

I wanted to start exploring possible formats now I have collected the content for my books. After the crit, I gained some useful feedback, to which I have acted upon. The idea of making it small enough to be put in someones pocket, originally the publication was going to be rather large, I hadn't considered transportability. I am working with the idea if layering and the use of different stocks, to differentiate the 'languages', giving definition to a regional phrase or work. I intend on using a cut out, or layering acetate to establish meaning.

Doing my nut in - Finalised coats of arms

I've finalised the coat of arms, being influenced by the cities flags and icons, this too has been considered when choosing the colour palette. For each publication, the same colour palette will influence the content. The feedback from the crit did help, and I have reacted to some suggestions, others I felt would take away from the appeal.

Doing my nut in - Identity sketchbook development

Layout and format

I'm interested in looking at layers and materials to show visually the dictionary format for a phrase or word. The layering will lie on top of words to either change, cover up or distort the word to become the dictionary format. The way I intend on doing this is through creating a concertina format, which means there is constant layering and interaction with a reader.

Publication Identity and logo design

I'm focusing on the idea of creating a coat of arms for each publication, so its iconic to see and recognisable as to which location the book is focusing on. This will be done through colour (the citys flag) and icons, such as iconic locations and logos which symbol and reflect the city and culture. I also intend on involving the roots of the accent, for instance 'Geordie' came from the Miners in Newcastle, castle fellow minors 'George'. 

I will be focusing on print methods too to make the coat of arms a interesting and vibrant symbol rather than representing something historic.

Generating idea's as to how to overlay phrases with dictionary terms.