Saturday, 18 November 2017

Book Developments




Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3

Figure 4
Within figure 1 I experimented with the positioning of the text that, making the text central with the type of bind I want to do (perfect bound) may make it difficult to read. The placement of this text also does not particularly work with the grid system I have chosen to use within the book. Figure two shows a new alignment of the main title text, I have fitted it to the third full module of the grid, this is something that will be moved along with each of the main titles to represent the transition within the audiences own personal journey and the development of their own cultural development in Sapa moving forwards. I have also added the Vietnamese language for experience, which further supports the link towards the Vietnamese culture the book is enriching your experience of.
Figure 3 and 4 show a development in the type used within the actual content of the book itself. The text between the suggestions on the relevant content and the actual instructional content needs to be differentiated visually, the content needs to be subjective, by making the content that isn’t bold it gives the audience the chance to see it clearly but also choose what they do with that information. Therefore, by making the type bold and not only capped it gives this visual separation from the other context but also remains in the same typeface, holding onto its consistency.
In order to include an element of the audience making the book about their own experience rather than the content that is just available already, I have included small markers over the page which indicate where the audiences own polaroid photos can be placed. This is something I want to run throughout the book as it gives me the allowance to be able to indicate the type of interaction the people have with the book while retaining the design style that I will be creating. These placeholders will always cover some of the content, thus playing on the idea of them making the book their own as they move through.


Figure 5 
Figure 6

Figure 7

Figure 8

Within figure 5 and I explored a composition for the full double page image spread. Figure 5 works better here, as it creates more of a bold and obvious impact, to the audience it will make them want to throw themselves into their journey and achieve what the type is saying. To make this also more achievable within figure 7 I added the co-ordinates of where the photo had been taken, this is something that I think adds an element of intrigue and gives the audience the ability to explore and find the location themselves.
After speaking with Dom, we decided that the idea of content being covered and the book developing into an aid for the persons own personal journey should be more evident throughout the design. Therefore, the images should be more covered and manipulated in other ways rather than just the addition of text over the top, I began by creating an overlay and lowering the opacity of the image to make it almost not visible. This would leave the audience to go and find the scene themselves to experience the beauty first hand, which would be achievable by following to co-ordinates. I then experimented with the addition of sections of the image overlaid over the original background image and rotate in such a way that the image becomes not recognisable, I ensured that each block was a contrasting colour to that of the background, creating an uncomfortable visual, which still manages the capture the beauty of the nature in the image. My final experimentation I removed the blocks of the image all together only allowing the audience to see the basics of the image from the background and the co-ordinates, making them want to explore the place themselves. Although my final exploration works best with the concept of removing the content and allowing the audience to find the locations themselves, although I don’t think it coincides with the rest of the visual literacy evident in the book. As the book is so minimal and simplistic throughout these double page images where originally placed here to allow an injection of colour and vibrancy to showcase the beauty of the location. Baring this consideration in mind I will be further developing the second exploration in the book as the colour is full in vibrancy and the blocks of manipulation allow for a sense of difference which in keeps with the intriguing visuals to encourage the audience to go visit this location.

Further Development:

Before

After

Before
After


Before

After
Image Format: 
Figure 9

Figure 10

Figure 11

Figure 12
Figure 9 -12 are explorations of image format to use throughout the design of my book. So far in my book design I have used 3 formats of image, the square, full bleed and polaroid image. Although in feedback from my crits it was highlighted that this should be simplified to keep a more consistent design style throughout the book. Within figure 9 I explored the way that a full bleed image could be used, although through doing this it would take away the dividing nature of the double page spreads and lessen the impact of the images chosen within said spread, as mentioned in the previous exploration. Through making the image full bleed on just one side it also takes away from the interactive nature of the book, as the content is almost impossible to escape from the page. Therefore, I do not agree that only polaroid and full bleed should be used alone. Figure 11 shows how the image would appear when in polaroid format, which ties in with the entire aesthetic of the book as of yet, as the page is singled out within this screen shot. Although when taking into consideration the rest of the images in the book with this format it the publication itself becomes more of a collection of someone’s holiday images than anything else, which then eliminates the element of traditional guides that I wanted to include, and may also make the audience feel as if they could not interact with the book on the level they could if it was a travel journal style (this visual link can be seen in figure 12). In order to keep the style of publication and to appeal to the audience I will be keeping the three styles of image, as justified, which will leave a contrast of images throughout the book. Although I will not be ignoring the feedback I have been given and will be making a sequence out of the style of images evident in the book to keep consistency to the design and tie it together more as a complete publication, e.g. polaroid, square, full image, polaroid etc.

A later consideration of the design also highlighted to me that if I were to keep the design purely polaroid based it would become a complete polaroid scrap book, with the addition of the interactive elements from the user themselves. This could make the book seem as if it was made as part of the polaroid company as a client, the corporate side of things is something I wanted to move away from, further supporting my design decisions.


Test 1

Test 1

Chosen
The final pages of the book took a different type of consideration as majority of the page is text based, with three small illustrations. Within my first test I crated a typographic treatment for the page that allowed for white space, to coincide with the rest of the book. This treatment allowed for enough space to include all of the content whilst keeping the illustrations a key aspect of the spread, it also allows for the instructions of what to say and do to be clear. Numbers were added to the sequence to make it clearer, acting almost as a key. Although this design works I feel as if it appears on the page as too top heavy, making the white space not seem purposeful/intentional. Within my second exploration I aligned the content to the grid in a more equal way, the numbers on the right-hand side of the spread have remained to tell the audience the order they should do the act of drinking rice wine with the locals, although the numbers are no longer needed with the addition of spacing. The information on the right-hand side of the spread has been placed on the lower half of the page to even out the weighting from the heavy lines evident in the upper half and the smaller type evident in this paragraph. Overall I will be further developing the app with the second exploration in mind, as it is more even and a better representation of the book itself through the way it wraps to the grid used.



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