miafreeman702

[miafreeman702]

Final Photography

To properly photograph my design, I set up a space at my flat and asked one of my flatmates to help me photograph it. I was pretty happy with the results, although it would have been better if I was able to get ahold of better lighting.

The photography setup.

Having two copies meant that I was able to photograph the ripping out of the notebook and pamphlet and show off how the book functions.

[miafreeman702]

Final Publication Flip-through

[miafreeman702]

Final Publication

Publication

The glueing of the spine for the final copy worked really well. There wasn't really any marks from the glue and it didn't rip up the photograph on one spread (although, it's not perfectly aligned).

The dust jacket is working well and interacts nicely with the book. I'm really happy with the final print and I was able to line up the fold outs a lot cleaner on this copy. The foldouts also dont stick out too much on the sides and, overall, it looks really clean. There is one indent from the electric guillotine so I am going to press the book overnight to fix this.

I'm very proud of all the work that I put into this and how it has turned out. If there is one thing I'd like to improve it would be how tight the binding is. Because of all the inserts and the notebook, the binding got even tighter and caused the back cover

Notebook & Pamphlet

I'm really happy with how the notebook and pamphlet function. They interact nicely with each-other and the publication. I think it's nice how the sit inside the book and I'm glad that I made the change to sew them into the back and perforate them off.

[miafreeman702]

Dust Jacket

For the dust jacket, to make it long enough to wrap around the book, Tatiana suggested taping two prints together. I was thinking of doing this but I was worried that having two prints stuck together and the imagery repeating would be a problem, but Tatiana said that having it like this would be fine. It would help it act more like a pattern.

Laying out the prints like this made it easy to see that it wasn't too repetitive. I printed on slight off-white paper to match the colour inside the publication and ran the print through the riso.

I really like the collage wrap style of this. I think it looks really nice against the cover and on the book. I'm super happy with how this turned out.

[miafreeman702]

(Final) Test Copy Flip-Through

[miafreeman702]

(Final) Test Copy

Minus the little mistakes I made in this copy (foldouts not aligning, riso misprint, and cutting a fold out in half), I'm really happy with the finished product.

The inserts work really well within the spreads, the print job from the print guys looks really clean (apart from the fact that the registration on the double sided spreads isn't perfect) and the riso is looking really nice over the photographs and graphics. I'm feeling pretty proud of how everything has turned out.

The notebook also looks really cool inside the back cover and I'm super happy with this outcome.

[miafreeman702]

Fold outs

When setting up my file for print I made sure that my pop-out pages were smaller by a couple mm so that they would fit in better but I don't think I accounted for enough room or the book (with all the inserts) was bound too tight. I talked with Fleur and we worked out to chop the edges by a couple mm and keep the book pressed for a bit so the fold outs dont stick out on the side.

Foldout glueing process. It was hard to get the graphics on both sides to match up perfectly due to the print guys not aligning the double sided pages perfectly.

While cutting, I accidentally cut one of my foldouts down the middle rather than trimming the edges. Luckily I have two copies so this wasn't a massive issue but I wanted to have both copies complete. Fleur helped me tape it together with invisible tape.

Foldout I accidentally cut held together with the tape on the test copy.

It's not really invisible. On the black graphics the tape is really noticeable but it's not to bad on the white. This copy of the book is becoming more of a test copy (I used it to test glueing the spine as well) so i'm not too fussed about the tape being visible.

Full fold out spread

On this copy I also had more of an issue with lining the fold outs up where the edges meet. This means that on a couple of the fold out spreads there is a bigger gap. I didn't have much of a problem with this on the final copy so i'm not too worried about this test copy not lining up perfectly.

Fold outs don’t meet perfectly on some spots on the test copy and the other images peek through slightly.

[miafreeman702]

Chain Stitch Binding

To make sure my binding wasn't as tight, Fleur said that I should bind with pages in-between the signatures and where the fold outs and would sit.

Binding Process

I tried to keep everything as loose as possible but once all the inserts were bound in the binding felt a lot tighter. It wasn't as tight as it was for my prototypes, but once bound in the notebook it became a lot tighter.

I bound the pamphlet into the notebook and then bound it into the back of my publication. I really like how it looks sitting in here and I think this creates a nice connection between all the assets.

Notebook & pamphlet bound into the publication

Sarah suggested that I glue the spine as it would hold everything together now and stop the signatures from having gaps when the book is open. I have two bound copies of my book so I used one as a tester before deciding whether I should glue my final copy for submission.

Glueing the spine on the test copy.

Glue marks on photograph and a clean glued spread which I really like.

The glue left some marks and ripped some of the ink on one photograph on one of the spreads which I don't want, but on the other pages everything looked really clean and I liked how this looked. Sarah said that if I put more pressure and pressed the spine more whilst glueing I shouldn't have the same problem of the glue seeping through and marking the photos.

Glued spine & Front Cover. The glued spine helps the book lie flat easier.

I decided to glue my final copy and I'm going to leave it pressed overnight and pick it up from the bindery tomorrow.

[miafreeman702]

Perforated Pamphlet Test

I tested out the pamphlet layout and perforated it. I think that this looks really nice and I like the way that it interacted with the notebook.

The feedback I got on this was really positive. Tatiana suggested continuing the graphic on the back sided so that when the pamphlet is folded up, the graphic looks continuous. I think that this is a good idea and I'm going to try it.

[miafreeman702]

Final Riso Printing

I sent my publication to the print guys to be printed but the print guys wont print on coloured paper. I had to apply a yellow tint to all my pages to achieve an off-white paper look and I cant print my covers on pink paper through them. I really want the covers to be pink so I printed these at uni along with the inserts.

Printed inserts

Print Guys print on A3 SAR compared to my covers on A3 paper

The print guys printed my spreads on A3 SAR paper, so it's slightly bigger than A3. I tried to put this through the riso but it didn't go through very smoothly because it was too big and the print was really offset. None of the printing marks lined up and it wasn't in the right space at all.

Offset of riso print on the A3 SAR paper

I talked to Fluer and she helped me figure out how to trim the pages so the printed spread would stay centred. After doing this, the printing went a lot smoother and was more successful. I didn't have any other prints that printed really offset and everything was able to line up pretty well. With the riso it's hard to get it completely aligned, so I'm really happy with how this printed turned out.

Riso printing of all my spreads.

[miafreeman702]

Updated Resource Pamphlet & Notebook

Phoebe suggested I work on the hierarchy of the pamphlet because it's hard to tell which information goes with what. I went through and changed the pamphlet and notebook so that they would match the new type settings in the publication and fixed the layout so I can perforate them. I think that the type formats make it all look a lot cleaner and organised.

New sizing/layout for resource pamphlet. I made it longer to account for the space to fold it and sew it into the notebook to be ripped out. I followed Phoebe's advice and adjusted the format for the titles and websites and matched it to the rest of the type formats.

I did the same with the notebook, editing the type settings and extending the cover to account for the space to sew it into the publication and perforate it.

[miafreeman702]

Foldout Tests

Based on Fleur's advice, I made the fold out pages a mil smaller so that they could fit nicer within the book and wouldn't stick out on the side.

I tested printed these and the fold outs or working a lot better. They barely stick out on the side and don't make the book extra clunky. There is a little bit sticking out, but Fleur said it would be pretty much impossible to get a perfect, clean side, so I'm happy with the way this test is working.

The line up of pictures in the spreads was also pretty good and I didn't have any huge problems with things cutting out.

This was also a good way to test the new type formats and I think these are working a lot better. I fixed the formats so everything was cohesive and it feels well connected.

[miafreeman702]

Typefaces

After the prototype session I tested out some different mono typefaces and different sizes for the body copy. It was really hard to find different monos that worked really well with the body copy and display type.

I looked at these and didn't really like any of them. Tatiana also agreed and thought the test I did with just a bold version of the body copy worked the best. She added that scaling this up a bit to give more hierarchy which I am going to do.

For the body copy I am going to change it from 8pt to 9pt. 10pt feels too large and would take away from a lot of the white space on the pages. Tatiana agreed and thought that 9pt would be a good size. She also suggested regular instead of light for the type weight. The light gets a bit washed out.

[miafreeman702]

Prototype Session & Feedback

The prototype session was really good. It was super cool to see everyones projects and just get a chance to look through everyone else's work.

Feedback

The feedback session with people from the other class was also really helpful and it was nice to get feedback from other people who don't know my project as well. My feedback from these was overall really positive and most of the advice was refining small things.

Main Takeaways from Group session

The cover pages need to be printed on thicker paper

The body copy is too small

Work on the binding, it's too tight

Work on the construction of the box

Sizing of the resource pamphlet could be bigger

Glue the pink inserts together

Feedback from George & Tatiana

Being able to talk to both George and Tatiana was really useful. They both suggested that I scrap the book and having just a sleeve/dust jacket would work better. I think that this is a good idea since I only made the box to keep things together, but both of them thought that it was unnecessary to have one.

Both suggested that the notebook and pamphlet should be connected in some way to the main publication. George suggested pockets on the inside covers, the resource pamphlet at the front and notebook at the back, whilst Tatiana suggested perforating them and being able to rip them out at the end. I think that this is a really cool idea and I wanted to test this out. We discussed being able to rip both of them out the back and it wouldn't be a difficult way to connect these to the main publication.

Smaller Takeaways

Body copy needs to be bigger

Maybe explore making the book bigger to accomodate for bigger body copy.

Keep a consistent format of the text

Think about hierarchy and reading flow

Add speaker names to long quotes

Explore other mono typefaces

Keep the long quotes on the same page, easier to follow

Don't be afraid of white space

Make the chapter headings more obvious, maybe a pink highlight?

[miafreeman702]

Prototype - Week 11

Putting all the collateral together was really cool. It made everything feel more finished and it was really nice to see all my work printed. It gave me a lot more confidence in my work and I'm really happy with the direction everything is going and how it looks so far.

[miafreeman702]

Book Box

To keep everything together I made a bigger version of the box. I kept the same design, die-line and colour.

I pasted a riso print that I had on the inside flap and cut out the hand print shapes. I like this idea of having a print like these peak through the holes.

I need to work on the construction a bit more because the sides wont stay up properly and the measurements weren't super correct so some panels wont close properly.

[miafreeman702]

Binding & Foldouts

I talked to Fleur about how to make the foldouts work better and get some advice on binding. I bound my book too tight and so the covers and signatures curve inwards, so I need to bind a lot looser. Fleur also said that having binding with spacer pages would help keep the binding looser. This would also give the inserts and foldouts more room so they don't make the binding even tighter.

When sticking the foldouts in I had the same problem of it sticking out and not lining up properly. Fleur suggested making the pages about a mil smaller so that they fit in nicer. I'd also have to account for the fact that the foldout it wrapping over another page so the page cant slip right into the crease.

I need to make sure that text doesn't go across the spreads because it's hard to line this up.