OUGD406 Evaluation

I have really enjoyed the final module as all of the briefs (in some sense) were live briefs, which I thought was really interesting and also really motivational to create really good outcomes. I particularly enjoyed the Secret 7 brief even though I didn't get chosen, as it was fun to experiment with different styles of work than I ususally go for, and I found it really useful as I learnt about multiple different designers that are famous for album cover designs. I also really enjoyed the Studio Brief Three where we had to create exhibition branding, as I really enjoyed working in a group, even if the outcome wasn't my preferred style, I thought it was an insight to what industry could be like.

I think a strength of the module was my time management, as I kept really up to date with the work on every project and I think I contributed a lot to the group project. I also think a strength was screen printing even though I had never done it before at this point, as it's a new skill that I will definitely take forward into other projects.

I think a weakness of the module was probably deciding on the artist that I wanted to create artwork for in Secret 7, as I found I was really indecisive as I had quite a few ideas for each artist, however I overcame this and I think my final outcomes were really successful.

I think If I were to do the module again, I would try to screen print the Secret 7 album designs onto actual vinyl sleeves and send them off instead of the digital copy, as I think it would've been really interesting and quite complex to get right, something I would really like to experiment with.

OUGD406 Digital Printing of Book (Studio Brief Four)

I went to digital print and decided to print off my final book design for this project. I hadn't really thought before which stock I wanted, however I thought I wanted a 120 gsm quite matt stock. I looked through the stock collection and James told me about a new stock he had that was a double sided slight gloss. I thought this could be really effective to produce my book in as it's cheap and it looks quite professional. This is the book once it was printed, which I was really happy with.

I had already printed out the book before the final crit, however Jo pointed out that I had missed some capital letters from the body copy. I checked it and there were three capital letters missing. I thought it wasn't a massive thing really, however I thought I would print out a second copy with corrections. I printed it onto the same stock as the previous.

OUGD406 Final Crit (Studio Brief Four)

In the final crit, I got really positive comments from quite a lot of people, and everyone said that it was a really successful book and really relatable. They thought that the fact I chose to do it in a really serious way was funny because it's a book that is actually taking the piss. The comments that people said can be seen below, which was scribed by Hattie.

OUGD406 Reasons I Haven't Changed The Content (Studio Brief Four)

In the final crit, I was advised to change some of the content so it was aimed at graphic design students specifically. I attempted to do this, however the book just lost its humour as it became about more serious things. I decided against changing the content, because I personally thought the book was a lot more successful aimed at all students including graphic design students, instead of aiming it at only design students. I didn't really see the point of this, as I could hand the book out to every graphic design student and they would relate, however I could also hand it out to every student and they could also relate. I don't really understand why I'd want to slim down the market for my book dramatically when it already fulfills the brief, so for this reason I am not going to.

Although, the aesthetic of the book will appeal to graphic design students specifically as it is all typeset and a modern style.

OUGD406 Interim Crit (Studio Brief Four)

In the interim crit, people generally really liked my idea and thought it was relevant for them and the brief. They liked the simplistic layout that I had created and the humour involved.

The main thing that was negative about my design was that a tutor said that it wasn't aimed specifically at graphic design students, and apparently this was part of the brief. However, I read through the brief and the only mention about graphic design students specifically was:

'What might you say, do or give to next years graphic design students to make the transition into the student experience, particularly this course more welcoming?'

However, personally I think I have covered this in a better way than aiming my book specifically at graphic design students as ALL students can relate to it, including graphic design students.

Simon also questioned what the aim of the book that I had created was. The aim of the book was to advise to be more light-hearted and open to new people, as you can't change the flatmates you are given and you only have to put up with them for a year. The aim was to take things on the chin really.

OUGD404 Evaluation (Studio Brief Two)

Overall I am really happy with the final outcome of this project. The project as a whole was quite the learning curve, as I made multiple mistakes, such as the pagination of my book. However, in the end I managed to correct the mistakes and produce a really successful book. I think if I was to do the project with more time in the future, I would really like to try to screen print every single page of the book, however there wasn't enough time for this project, so I only managed to screen print the front cover. I think it would be really interesting to send a copy to The Daily Street and see what their opinions are on the book and what they have to say about it.

I think a strength of this project was the screen printing aspect, as I was persistent and determined to get atleast one successful screen print, and managed to get around five. It was a really time consuming process but I think it paid off really well and I am really happy with the front cover of the book. Another strength of mine on this project was the production of the book using InDesign, as I am still quite new to InDesign, however managed to teach myself how to use it properly, and even learnt a few shortcuts.

A weakness of this project was probably the digital printing aspect, as although I did paginate the book correctly on InDesign, I didn't realise that I had to print it a specific way and therefore I wasted some money on a useless book. I think another weakness was the panthlet stitched book, as although I kept the book in a V shape when piercing the holes, it still didn't go through the very centre of the spine, and therefore some of the pages at the back don't open fully like I had planned. Although having said that, I think that my open spine binding was incredibly successful and I am really happy with the outcome.

OUGD404 Final Crit (Studio Brief Two)

In the group crit I got a lot of useful feedback and I am really pleased with the outcome as it seems people really liked my binding method and the general feel of the book. I was originally worried about the stock choice as I originally wanted to do it on thinner newsprint, however people said it was a better idea doing it on thicker as it is more durable and works with the binding more effectively. They also said that they thought the two column grid, and some said they preferred one, however one was impossible to do due to the content volume. My feedback can be seen in the below photograph. 

OUGD404 Self Reflection & Evaluation (Studio Brief Two)

Overall, I am really happy with the final outcome of this project. I think it was quite a learning curve as I made multiple mistakes, however in the end managed to correct them and produce a successful book. I think if I was to do this project in the future, I would try to screen print every single page. It would also be interesting to send a copy to The Daily Street and see what they have to say about it.

I think a strength of this project was the screen printing and also the production of the book using InDesign, as both of these outcomes were successful first time around.

A weakness of this project was probably the digital printing, as I messed it up the first time around.

OUGD404 Open Spine Book Binding Process (Studio Brief Two)

Today I went to book binding and attempted to create my open spine bound book. Once we got there, we found out that the tutor that is trained in book binding wasn't actually in, so we were advised by the other tutors to look at some tutorials online. The tutorials were really difficult to follow and luckily for us, a student working there knew how to create them and she showed us how to do it. I think it's really successful and all the pages fit together really well. The spine also looks really interesting and I'm glad I decided to use four holes instead of five, as I think it looks really neat.

OUGD406 Front Cover & Book Design (Studio Brief Four)

As for the colour scheme of my book goes, I reverted back to this colour chart and their meanings that I created for my PPP Self-branding project. According to the chart, the colour blue is the colour of trust. I think for this reason, I am going to use this colour as the background colour for my front cover. I am going to do this, as it will be ironic as the books advice is going to be very bad advice, however the colour will be ironic to this. As my book is going to be based on texts sent to friends and general social interaction with people asking for advice, I have decided I will also use the colour orange on my front cover, as the colour orange is the colour of social communication and optimism.

Below are the front and back cover designs that I have come up with. I used the typeface Helvetica. I think they're really successful, as the orange type against the blue background is not too hard to read, however it's not as clear as the white type, which is good as it's a subheading that is a sort of disclaimer. I also did the same with the disclaimer on the back cover.

I then got to work on the inside pages of my book. I decided to use a similar style for the complaints as the title - huge type and left-alligned. Below are the layouts that I came up with, which I think are very successful and the rag of the type is edited quite nice to match with a modernist style. I used all lowercase as I wanted it to be very informal, like someone complaining to a friend, however the anger is expressed by the use of swear words and also the huge typeface.

I then started the create the responses to all of the advice. I decided that I would use a two column grid, and make all of the type start at the top line of the complaints. I also decided that I would use actual punctuation and lower and upper case, as the person responding is supposed to be a lot calmer than the person complaining. My designs are below.

I then also created a small introduction/content page, which can be viewed below. I did it in the same style as the advice comments, as this person would also be calm as they aren't being personally effected by the annoying flatmate.

The final book can be viewed on issuu HERE. Before I print this, we luckily have an interim critique on Monday so I will ask if anyone thinks I should change anything and also if they think it has an element of comedy. I showed it to some of my friends and they thought it was really funny, one of them said that she wants a copy to leave in the kitchen of her own flat.

OUGD406 Mock-Up Layout & Thought Process (Studio Brief Four)

I believe I am now ready to start designing my own book. My book is going to have to be a multiple of four to work as a book, so for this reason I am going to create a 16 paged book. I thought about doing a 12, however I think that the book wouldn't have enough content to be successful, and I have more ideas for content than a 12 paged book would allow. I kept the orientation portrait and changed the size of the book to A5 as although I have a lot of ideas for content, the actual content will only be a paragraph each page, and therefore I think there would be far too much negative space for an A4 book. I changed the bleed of the book to 3mm, as the front cover of my book will probably be a block colour, and therefore I don't want a white border when it is printed out. It'll also make it a lot easier for me to cut it down when the time comes.

This is the rough plan that I have created for my book. I have decided that my book is going to be completely typography. As I want it to be a modernist style, all of my type is going to be left-alligned and a modernist typeface - I think this will probably be Helvetica as it's my favourite typeface, along with Futura. I want all of the inside pages to be black and white, however I think I want the front cover to be in colour. I have decided to call my book 'how to cope with annoying flatmates', with a subtitle 'who steal your shit and constantly moan at you. although, realistically, i'm setting you up for a loss.' I have decided to use all lowercase for the titles and subtitles of my book as I want the book look like it's a quick, angry comment that has been written by a student, possibly via text or Facebook. However I want the advice to use capitals as that person isn't being effected by the flatmate. I did think about using all capitals for the titles, however I think it looked too angry and bold. 

I also want the complaint to be really noticable next to the poor advice. To do this, I have decided that I am going to have the complaints on the left hand side of the double page spread, and then the advice on the right - which makes sense as we read from left to right. I will use a huge typeface for the complaint and a smaller typeface for the advice, as it'll show the anger vs. calm of the situation. 

OUGD406 Humourous Book Research (Studio Brief Four)

As I have now set my mind on creating a book using humour, I have decided that I would look into books that already exist to see how they are designed and also look at some of the content to see how they portray comedy. I found this front cover design below that uses an illustration to express a bit of humour. The book is a thesaurus, and the illustration is of a dinosaur. It's funny because thesaurus sounds like a weird breed of dinosaur. I think the fact that the illustration is over both the front and back cover is effective as it shows the scale of the dinosaurs. It's also good as it cuts off part of the type, however it's still very readable.

I think the book cover design below isn't exactly humourous, however it's clever as it has a wrap around cover that makes the title of the book disappear, which is relevant as the title is 'Don't Judge A Book By Its Cover Only'. However, you can only read 'Don't Judge' and then one the wrap around cover is a list of credits to artists and the people involved in the book. 

I think the book below definitely has a humourous side. It's not exactly to do with the design of the title, it's actually what the title says. However, I think that the fact that the front of the book is literally just the title is really effective as it adds to the comical aspect. I think this would be relevant for me to do with my own book, however I wouldn't want the type centre-alligned, as I want my book to be in a modernist style, therefore everything in my book is going to be left-alligned.

Although this isn't a book, this poster design is really comical as the statement of the poster is relevant to how the statement is set out. For example, the designer has played with the curning and tracking of the type, making it readable, however not very legible. As a designer, it doesn't exactly piss me off, as I think it is still nicely designed, however it does put me on edge quite a bit. I think the actual layout of the left-alligned type is something I want to take forward into my own book.

OUGD406 Research (Studio Brief Four)

Before I start designing an outcome, I want to look into a similar area of design first. To do this, I looked on designinspiration.net. As I have decided that I want to create a book on how to cope with annoying flatmates, I've pinned this under advice. I searched on designinspiration 'advice'. Quite a few designs came up, such as the below 'advice zine'. The zine is really effective as it is a hot dog fold booklet, meaning that the person wanting to read it would have to cut it out themselves. It's also really nicely designed and, although a lot of different colour schemes are used on each page, all of the design has a similar style and therefore fits together really well. It's also really cost effective, as a hotdog fold is made out of one sheet of paper, and ends up creating eight pages. I think this would be quite a good way for me to create my own advice zine, however I don't think it's enough pages for what I want to acheive - I have had quite a lot of problems with my flatmates myself.

I also found this poster design by Brian Burge and Jason Bacher, entitled 'Good Fucking Design Advice'. The poster is incredibly simplistic, an element I think I want my own book to have. I also think it could be really effective if I express anger through my own book by the use of swearwords as it would make it quite personal to me - I have a very foul mouth when I'm angry. 

I think that the use of the colours black and white is also significant in more ways than one, for example black and white of a situation means the below. I think this would be relevant, as there isn't a clear way to cope with flatmates, as they often don't listen to you. Also, as I want my book to be humourous, the book is going to have some very bad advice to follow. 

I also found the below infographic. I think an infographic outcome could be quite interesting to work with, however generally it needs some illustrations to make it look interesting, and I don't really want to create any illustrations as I feel it would be more effective as a book created with just interesting type.

OUGD404 Second Attempt at Digital Printing (Studio Brief Two)

Today I managed to get another slot at digital print, and actually managed to successfully print my open spine book in the correct order. I then folded all of the pages to make sure that they all fit together with the right double page spread, and they thankfully did. I am going to go to a book binding workshop on Friday and hopefully learn how to do an open spine book.

This is what my pages look like (pre-stitching).

OUGD404 Book Binding Process (Studio Brief Two)

Seen as the open spine book didn't work out, I decided I would go to book binding and create a pamphlet book using my back up print outs. I had made one before, however I had completely forgot how to do it. I followed the instructions below.

This is what the book looked like before I cropped down all of the pages and before I stitched it together.

 I decided I would crop down the rest of the pages after I had bound it as I thought it would make it a lot neater. Unfortunately, however, keeping the book in a V shape when drilling the holes for the stitching didn't work successfully for me, as the drill came out slightly to the left of the spine, which was very unfortunate. However, I decided I would stitch it anyway and see what it looked like. I then cropped the book down to its actual size using the crop marks and front cover as a guide.

I think, although the binding isn't too successful, it's a really nice book and looks very professional.

OUGD404 Digital Printing Process (Studio Brief Two)

Before printing, I am going to paginate all of the double page spreads so that I can print them out in the right order to be bound with an open spine, as the pages all have to be ordered differently. I'm sure there is probably a way of doing this on InDesign, however I don't know how and I think it'll be good for me to learn how the pages should be laid out. To do this, I looked into how the pages are supposed to be laid out online and then created a small rough mock up of how the pages will fit together. This can be seen in the image below. I then went through and numbered each page, which I thought would help me as the double page spreads are all numbered so it will be a lot easier. 

Then I started ordering the pages on InDesign. This is what it looked like on screen. Not many of the pages match up, however if I have ordered them correctly, they should print out and fold together in the correct order.

Whilst at digital printing, I started to doubt myself and decided that I should print out the original file as well, just incase I ordered the pages wrong, in which case I would have to create a pamphlet stitched book. I did this just incase I couldn't get another digital print slot.

Luckily, I didn't ordered the pages wrong. Unluckily, I didn't tell James that I didn't want it to be printed out like a book - I didn't think. So all of the pages printed out in the wrong order anyway. So I decided I would try to get another print slot, however also create a pamphlet stitched book in the mean time.

Below are some images of the attempt of the open stitch book. Which I only realised had printed out wrong once I was at book binding.  For example, the below image should've printed out like the image below that. 

And the same with the images below.