Final Book Production

Within my book I wanted to create something that had the most professional looking finish to it, this is because of the nature of the book. As my previous research had shown trusted brands could get away with a lack of design, because of how established they were. My target audience is younger adults many of which this will be their first time travelling, therefore by creating a product that comes across trustworthy and believable is immanent.

As previously discussed, after digitally printing my book onto Olin 200 gsm paper, I would be perfect binding my book to achieve the desired finish. This went well in experimental stage, once the page had been bound together I would place them within the sleeve with a further layer of glue, securing the book further. Although when completing this process I faced some complications.

Perfect Bound

Perfect bound

My first attempt at doing a perfect bound book did not work as planned. As the glue went on too quick the pages warped in the process of doing so, some of the glue did not take to the paper correctly meaning when I took the book out of the clamp it began to fall apart straight away. The glue also seeped through onto the front page, leaving pieces of grey board bound to the intro page, which completely contradicts the whole aesthetic of the design and therefore makes this binding method completely redundant. This binding process made me realise how unrealistic this method would be for this style of book, as it is not tactile enough to be used as a durable and interactive publication. Due to the order of the production the book needed to be spot varnished on the individual pages before being bound, meaning I could not take apart the book and simply try to bind it in a different method. Taking into consideration my previous research, I will be using a 2 up saddle stitch to secure the book as it works in terms of keeping the book in low price point, and still ensuring its durable enough to be used with its purpose. I will be dividing the book into two sections, by making two signatures for the book it will eliminate the creep and I will be able to keep the book as secure as possible. The two booklets will then be secured into the cover sleeve with glue, by using this type of bind I also eliminate the issue of loosing any content in the centre of the book. 

The second type of binding was successful and held the book together it also gave the book a sturdy spine and made the book feel more durable as a whole. It also still retained the professional look and feel I wanted to keep with the whole aesthetic, as the book was made with two different signatures. Because of the change in the binding method and time constraints, I couldn’t reprint the cover so had to use the current one, this meant having to lose the pouch for the back of the book; but I still managed to retain the side flap with wraps around to make room for the elastic to wrap around, this again adds to how sturdy the book is.

Eyelet

Final Book

To complete the production of the book I needed to add the eyelet to the book which the elastic is added to, to secure the centre of the book and further support the book. The eyelet machine works as a hole punch, this was cantered on the book as per a pre-printed spot added in the design process.