Peer Crit - Feedback

Questions asked:

The book is based around a cultural trail through Sapa.

Polaroid images will be varnished to give gloss just in the area.

Red marks are going to be photo corners, for people to put in their own pics & make it their own, the book will constantly be developing and changing.

1.     Do the typefaces work together?

2.     Would contrast of the matted paper and gloss (through the use of gloss full bleed images and spot varnish over the polaroid images) work together to give the look of someone putting in their own polaroid’s?

3.     Does the layout/format work consistently (3 different presentation styles of the images – square, polaroid and full bleed)

4.     Any other comments please (How could it be more interactive)

Key feedback points:

1 – Overall the comments told me that the typefaces I had chosen throughout the book were appropriate for the content. Although it was said that the size of the body text should be considered, to make it more legible and consistent throughout. It was also said that the curved nature of the typeface (Bodoni), compliments the curved backgrounds of the landscapes in the photos, which is one of the reasons I chose it.

2- The majority of the respondents agreed that the contrast would work really well, it was also said that the element would add an extra dimension to the book. It would also add a greater sense of interactivity as the other polaroid photos will look more in place in the book. The gloss spot varnish will also show the focus towards the images and reinforce the idea of travel, as film photography have been used for years when people have been travelling; reaffirms the whole concept.

3-  It was bought to attention that the image concept should be kept to one presentation technique, the chosen on mentioned repeatedly mentioned was polaroid, as the concept of the book is for people to interact with their own photos. It was also suggested that if I was to go for this journal mixed photo book the interactive part could be added at the end or as a separate entity that could be sold alongside the book.

4- Comments:

-Could include some leaflets or maps for Sapa.

-Could include co-ordinates for some of the photographs of where they were taken.

-Think it is interactive enough with the photo corners! Too much won’t work. 

Response: 

Original Layout

Two Polaroid Layout

Whole Bleed Image 

x

 The original design that was commented on had this type of spread throughout, this is something that I need to develop and change, to give a more consistent style throughout. In order to do so I changed the format in which the image was presented on the page to in fit with the rest of the books style.

The first adjustment I made was to make both of the images polaroid style, although this fits the style of the rest of the book and the concept, by making all the images the same it gives the book the look of being someone’s photo book from a holiday (scrap book) rather than the interactive style I am aiming for.

This exploration shows a full bleed image contrasting against the full bleed and this creates the best impact for the image itself, although this does take away from the dividing nature of the double page spread images seen elsewhere in the book taking away from the design style throughout rather than adding to it.