The front page of my blog has been used to document the making and designing of my dissertation. The tabs up top have been used to section the various elements of my research, ‘Mind Moments’, ‘Presentation’ etc.
Enjoy.
Wow. Never thought I’d see the day where I’d survive dissertation.
Book and slip case side by side and inside each other. Who knew that several months ago, my dissertation would take shape to this, Im really proud how I persued my topic and explored various avenues of design as inspiration.
Today is the day when my books have finally arrived. Couldnt wait to open the parcel and see how all those months of work had paid off. Although the finish of the books werent ultra high-class I was extremely pleased with the way the cover was semi glossy and the inside pages were of an adequate gsm. When matched with the slip case I have designed and printed, I think it looks like a complete piece of work which I could be really proud of.
Below are several images which illustrate the spreads in the physical book format.
It only took me one attempt to construct this folding technique and I’ve never been so relieved. Seeing as I only printed two, I was under pressure and I’m pleased that it succeeded. The effect was really nice, and I have managed to unfold it to see whether your view of the poster is obscured and I don’t think it is.
The final print of my slip case/ poster. The contrast was really nice and the cmyk colours almost made the effect 3D. The heavy stock matte paper really complimented the imagery and strong bold typography. When folded I could tell that it would be nice and robust to with stand handling.
These images below document the process of printing the slip case, now that I have the correct dimensions of the book which has been successfully ordered!
For the printing of the slip case, I decided to use a rich stock of paper [translucent] which came in about 300gsm. I have used this previously for another project and I loved the effect of the print. I thought this would be nice as you the viewer would get a sneaky clue as to what the cover would be looking like and somehow intrigue you. Nice contrast with the printed images on the slip case. Nice montage overall.
Although half way through printing I noticed that some of the images were bleeding and smudging. I stop the printing process straight away as I knew that this wasnt going to acceptable. The images of the smudged areas are shown below.
>> So what now? Take two on a thick white stock? 250gsm.
I looked at other companys online which offered self publishing. I found Blurb and LuLu, although when trying to upload my files to Blurb they ket on being rejected for some peculiar reason. LuLu offered a great range of sizes and paper ranges to suit my needs. I used this sight but the one downfall was that they were located in America. So ordering as soon as possible was key. I ordered them on the Monday 9th of Jan.
I have been enquiring into the costings for printing my book, three times over! I have found a lovely bookbinders, [London Bookbinders] which judging by their portfolio of work have years of experience and can cater to any requirements.
>> For three copies, perfect bound, printed on smooth white paper of a substantial gsm, came to over £440. Maybe I should have expected that seeing as they are located in london and the amount of hard work which has been put in to it. I had to put it in to context whether or not the book would be worth that much money alone. I have worked hard on the design inside and the slip cover and I was certain that I could find an alternative place to print at a much lower cost.
I think it would be a lot of money to hand over for three copies of a book without having a guarantee of what it would look like. I keep thinking of it as more money to spend on my exhibition and final major project.
This is the design which I have implemented for the slip case.
I used cmyk colours to border the images and staggered the sizes in order to create a patch work of my work. The bold type is complemented with the small discreet type which explains the intentions of the poster.
I have found a way of folding the poster down into a creation which can be used as a slip case. Five simple folds create seams which act as a snug fit for the book.
As I am trying to find somewhere to print, I am keen to present my book in a slip case. I’d prefer if the slip case was a reinforced card not a rigid slip box. I had the idea to also use my slip case as a poster to demonstrate something more personal.
My dissertation focuses a lot on the use of clichés in industry standard campaigns and examples, so I had the idea to use my own back log of work to create a poster to in some ways campaign the originality of ME! Like displayed in my book, I thought the use of a cliché would be a novel way to tie in the book and the content so I started searching for an appropriate line. I think in design, many people are often blinded by the visuals and stereotypically of the piece rather the originality, so a cliché which worked well with this concept was…
Remove those rose-tinted glasses [An optimistic perception of something; a positive opinion; seeing something in a positive way, often thinking of it as better than it actually is] I think this is what happens with design in some cases. I wanted to promote the risk of taking something new and allowing the viewer to be challenged in uncovering the meaning and connotations behind the originality.
I think this example of a photographic poster is so simple but it gets the point across and allows each photo to shine. I like the use of the grid and I think using my work, this sort of structure could work. I might tweak some of the alignments so it gives a more contemporary feel.
Typography wise, I will consider using the same typefaces as those used in the book so it alludes consistency.
Creating an original in a copycat world 