OUGD505 - Studio Brief 1 - Publication Design

After I had my content, imagery and my stock, binding and printing plans I began designing my publication.

The japanese stab stitching would requite a hefty inside margin so I worked out the full margin would be 25mm with a 15mm stitch. This would give me the normal 10mm margin around the border on the other sides too.

After my crit I had a change in heart and decided that A4 was probably too big, however I didn't want it as small as A5 so I created my own page size.

235 x 190mm gives a shorter format than A4 which makes it kind of box-like but narrowed a slight amount so it's not too square. This will be easy to hold and read.

Font:

For my header font, I wanted something clean, structured and beautiful but I didn't want to use Helvetica as I feel that the essence and beauty of it has been slowly replaced with boredom and samey aesthetics that designers use as a "that'll work" because it always works. I wanted my publication to stand out and show those same original values but with an independent nature too.

I chose the font 'Adam', an all caps sans serif typeface inspired from Futura and designed by Shrenik Ganatra. This font consists of 227 glyphs and is free for both personal and commercial use.

For my body copy font I wanted something stripped back as much as possible. A font that was legible and readable in smaller point sizes and complements the header font with a lighter weight which achieves a simpler nature.

I read about a typeface designer called Steve Matteson who's fonts linked directly to technology, using a font designed by this man would work in an interesting contrast with my header font. I found one called 'Andale Mono' which I was certain I'd seen somewhere before but couldn't remember where. Anyhow, this typeface ticked all of the boxes above and i decided on this one as it was already in my Mac OS.

Colour:

For colour throughout my publication, to keep it consistent with my aesthetics throughout as well as the content within I needed it to evoke environmentally friendly thoughts at the same time as staying simple and clean.

The best colour to use when evoking the idea of a product to be environmentally friendly is the colour green. I have seen so many people try and pull it off but instead look radioactive because it's just far too bright. I kept this in mind when choosing my colour and decided on a darker shade of green almost forest like. Rather than going over the top with colour I will keep it to this as well as black and white/stock colour to keep legibility a top priority with no excessive decoration.

Front page:

With a minimalist layout design to bring together the idea of simpleness and efficiency, the context itself would relate directly to the design. For this reason I wanted to attempt to communicate everything the book is about on the front page. Clarity and function will be the highest priority throughout the entirety of this book.

I created a grid and laid out the letters FIXEDGEAR in a balanced format with 30mm border around it. I then experimented with this layout with high resolution photography I was provided with until I came to a decision to make the image completely monotone in the decided green above with the letters in a 60% opacity over this. I then masked off the road on which the bicycle was travelling.

I created an InDesign document in the correct size and with a grid consisting of the correct measurements. This shows the 25mm inside margin allowing 15mm for the stab stitch and 10mm as a functioning margin which goes around the whole page. Inside the margin I created a 9 x 6 grid to balance a ninth of the page above and below the image for the title and contents which I presented left aligned in 11pt. These were bordered off with a line to emphasise the margin's balance. 

Content:

For the inside of my book I wanted continuity and consistency so set up the same grid in the form of a spread.

In respect to images, I chose wisely from the selection I was given by Szymon and then edited them in photoshop into CMYK mono tonal images with the correct colour and dimensions for the publication. I also asked for the names of all of the riders to ask permission from them personally to use their photo, which all were happy to be a part of.

Ricky Crompton

Ric Bell

James Meyer

Nathan Hughs & Tom Uttley

Jacob Dean & Ric Bell

Once photos were prepared for design, I got to it following my grid rules and also keeping into consideration that the book would be Stab-stitched, this requited a slight bleed on double page spreads for when it was put together. Page numbers were presented on the outskirts of the outer margin at the top of the page underneath the content line. As well as chapters being positioned within the grid rules in and out of photos. 

After completing the design of my book, I reflected on my printing decision and attempted to make a halftone image at a suitable lpi to screen print. Because of the detail within the photos, the halftones would have to be far smaller which wouldn't be possible to screen print. 

This was quite annoying but I would much rather keep the detail within the photos for the publication. Once my stock samples arrive I will test print through both a laser printer  for colour and detail.

[PHOTOS OF PRINTOUT]

Upon testing out the stock and method of printing, I was thoroughly happy with the detail. However when I came to show my peers, none of them could read the main image as the lower cross bar of the E was not visible.

I attempted to change this to reflect from the feedback and I was told it was far more legible now with just the bike in front of the E rather than the whole road.