It was important for me to push myself further in every
direction in this module. After last year’s performance and finally finding an
area I wanted to work towards, I felt driven to push my practice to the limits.
Within this module I was keen to get myself into a habit of undergoing large
amounts of research, experimenting with a broad variety of techniques in
production and push my designs to create professional work. With this in mind,
I approached the module ready to produce a good body of work. This brief
focused on design for print and so I was keen to expand my knowledge on
printing and binding as well as fine tune my editorial design skills.
I felt that my attendance was positive throughout the
project, however, my punctuality has not been the strongest and could even have
come across as unprofessional. I have taken this into account and I will push
out what is probably laziness, and push for a more positive and professional
attitude. I feel that I have kept on top of time management and planning and
reached the deadlines. At the start of the brief I set my own realistic
printing deadlines for printing so that I had something to work towards and
this was successful and kept me on top of my own time management.
The design of this practice was derived from my own personal
holiday and heavily informed by this content. I included my own film
photography within this brief as it is a personal practice that I have always
wanted to incorporate more into my own design work and it suits my practice of
manual techniques. Many of the techniques I have practiced in this brief have
created an innovative design. I printed and manually bound the publication
myself and covered it using manual techniques. The cover, made from a
blackboard vinyl, is innovative and unique and created an engaging design for
the owner of the publication and would attract buyers in when they see it on
the shelf.
All the research that was carried out in this project has
informed the design decisions that were made in the layout, size, bind and
production of the publication as well as the distribution. It was important to
create a durable tactile design that could be used on a daily basis in a café
with its owner. The majority of the research completed successfully informed
the development, experimentation and production and created a sound product
that would successfully attract the target audience. The development of the
production was positive and improved my own practice as a designer. I had
limited knowledge on editorial production and so I developed my own skill
within this brief and experimented with processes that I was new to.
The end result is a handbook for coffee shop owners and
baristas that informs them on blackboard type, this edition focusing on Belgian
type. The researched informed a practical publication, that fits into pockets.
It has been designed to be durable and a bind has been chosen that will both
allow the content to be displayed clearly as well as for daily use. The cover
is both engaging, functional (as it can be drawn on with chalk) as well as
being water resistant. These decisions were all informed by the research and
the content and makes it a successful design. It includes content from
creatives and baristas to make the owner relate more to the publication and form
a relationship with it which will make it successful when distributed.
During the production stage, the commercial print production
was taken into consideration. The final publication was printed using an
industry standard printer and the bind represents a bind closest to a
commercial stitch bind that is achieved using machines. Distribution and
promotion were also considered and research into a variety of target audience
appropriate platforms were considered. Not much consideration into pricing and
cost of the production was considered and this is an area that is lacking.
However, this is an area I can take into my next projects and improve my
practice. Although not much planning has gone into this, there is still solid
target audience considerations and promotional and distribution has been
clearly researched into and planned.
When producing the publication, I didn’t rest until a high
standard was achieved. The bind was finished to a high standard as well as the
printing and screen printed cover. There are areas to be improved before the
publication is put forward to commercial printing. For example, the margins are
a little tight and there are a few inconsistencies with the typeface. The glue
used to bind the book was a PVA glue and is not an industry standard glue. As
however the publication is a draft before being produced commercially, this
aspect as well as more precise cutting of the book using machines instead of by
hand, will be improved in commercial production.
Notes for Designers helped me focus on the role of the
publications content to inform the design. For example, a Belgian typeface was used
as it directly links to the Belgian type content. The cover is informed by blackboards
and the coffee spotted paper on the inside cover is both aesthetically pleasing
and links to coffee shops. The screen printed cover creates a chalk effect
linking directly to the chalk content.
Because I was so happy with the end result and felt it was
the most professional piece I have done so far, I felt it needed to be
photographed and presented professionally. To create this, it was photographed
in context within a café and I even had the help of a barista to model it. It
successfully sits in this environment and looks professional. Not only does
this make the presentation professional, it created a connection with an
independent coffee shop who I am still in touch with.
I enjoyed learning new binding techniques and wish to
improve on them and bring them forward to future projects. It was great to
bring my personal practice of photography skill into the project and learn how the
rules to creating photography publications. Out of all the processes, I
benefitted most from letting the content inform the design. This is a process
that I knew of however did not realise how important it was and I feel
completing this project has made me realise that it is important.
The blackboard cover is an incredibly successful design
choice as its incredibly engaging and useful for the reader as well as making
it tactile, it creates numerous successful aspects and there are many design
choices that reinforce the overall design.
I am very pleased with the end result and am impressed with
what I have achieved. I am looking forward to bringing all of these new skills
to new projects and feel a lot stronger moving forward. My design skills and
knowledge have increased throughout this project and my confidence in my own
design is starting to grow as well.
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