Publishing Design - Project 1
Publishing Design
Jason Junior Lim Yung Hsin (034 0569)
Lectures
Week 1
The lecture focused a lot on writing or specifically the format of how text is arranged on a medium. The lecture goes into the history of formats that include Egyptian hieroglyphs and older formats.
Lecture Tutorial (via YouTube)
Lecture Slides
Week 2
This lecture focused a lot on not just the history but the techniques that were used by passed printers to create printed text materials. This included letter press, transfers and so on. The lecture brought up the evolution of print and the obvious differences that we have to improve and simplify the entire process.
Lecture Tutorial
Lecture Slides
Week 3
This lecture focuses on typography but specifically typography that goes into print materials. Although the lecture starts of with the typographical elements, it moves into emphasis on legibility and how to apply specific techniques like paragraph spacing, text alignment and type size to improve and simplify the legibility for readers.
Lecture Tutorial
Lecture Slides
Week 4
This lecture focused on the grid method that goes into text arrangement when it comes to designing a page or spread. The purpose of the grid is to allow the designers to have a standard guide for each page of their book design so that it creates a sense of consistency. It is also to allow text to be arranged in a legible and understandable manor.
Lecture Tutorial
Lecture Tutorial
Lecture Slides
Instructions
Project 1 (Week 1)
Content Generation
In this 1st project, we were asked to write a 3000 word writing of any topic we choose. I choose to write about my experiences. In the writing we must make sure there is a format, including Introduction and 3 Chapters. We are advised to write about something we are very interested in as this is only the 1st step to project 1.The above attachment is the writing i did called Silence of The Dark. Currently I'm using that as the title but i might change my mind as i find that title a little unsuitable.
Week 2
Illustration Inspiration and Reference
The the second part of Project 1, we were to find an illustration style or reference of which we will use for our book designs.
For me, the writing was about death and the first thing that came to mind was the Mexican celebration of Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead.
A poster from Disney's Coco, about the day of the dead
An image of a design style and aesthetic for Dia de los Muertos.
A portrait of traditional celebration costume.
For me this was quite an interesting topic to explore in terms of illustration as it is different from what i've ever done. But based on my feedback, i was advised to look back into asian culture rather than look too far into a foreign culture.
I want to try to draw inspiration from traditional Kazadan design, a native race in Sabah where i am from and part of.
Week 3
New Idea & Reference
Week 4
Illustration 1
References
Week 5
Illustration 2
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| Illustration 2.1 Candle |
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| Illustration 2.2 Falling |
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| Illustration 2.3 Grandmother's Funeral |
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| Illustration 2.4 Traditional Pattern. |
Week 6
Illustrations
All illustrations for the book, some are subject to corrections based on feedback received.
Feedback
Week 1 : Advice from Vinod
- Take the chance to write about your strengths or something you are good in and will be able to elaborate well. Don’t forget about subtexts and quotes that are to be highlighted. (You can write about anything you want)
- Text count is anywhere from 3000 to 4000 words. (don’t make it too long)
- While writing, think about which parts you want to illustrate / create artwork for. Anything goes, illustration, photography or mix. (Keep the looks and aesthetics in mind while writing)
Week 2 :
General : Remember to do literature reviews in blog posts.
Specific : For my content generation, i was to add more references and try to fix any errors in formatting and pull quotes. As for illustration and visual reference, Mr Vinod asked me to look for things closer to home, there is untapped potential in out culture.- Take the chance to write about your strengths or something you are good in and will be able to elaborate well. Don’t forget about subtexts and quotes that are to be highlighted. (You can write about anything you want)
- Text count is anywhere from 3000 to 4000 words. (don’t make it too long)
- While writing, think about which parts you want to illustrate / create artwork for. Anything goes, illustration, photography or mix. (Keep the looks and aesthetics in mind while writing)
Week 2 :
General : Remember to do literature reviews in blog posts.
Week 3 :
Specific Feedback on Project 1 illustration : Don't hesitate to start and stop wasting time. In the 16 illustration 10 should be complicated and detailed as for the rest they can be less detailed. The front and back cover can and should be done during the process.
Week 4 :
Mr Vinod is worried about my art work as it is still quite lacking and he wants me to do more and faster to keep up. Also he suggested to me that i should use adobe draw in order to be able to take files between apps via Creative Cloud usage. Mr Vinod wants to see more of my finished art work throughout the week until the nest class.
Week 5 :
My art work style was very messy but mr vinod liked one of the style is used in an illustration and advised me to explore more on that and follow through on that design.
Week 6 :
My art work was accepted however it was still a bit lacking in terms of complexity and mr vinod advised me to explore even more style how i can expand the illustrations with color and patterns.
Reflection
Experience
Week 1 - Due to a virus outbreak, we were forced to change all physical classes to temporary online classes. I'm not the biggest fan of this plan as i find online lessons to be very distracting and difficult to focus on. I would hope that this doesn't last long as there are limitations to how much we can do and learn. The class itself was fine, but i've previously has experience with book binding so i found this to be just a practice.
Week 2 - Things have gotten easier over the weeks, classes are still a little bit annoying as internet stability is an issue. But nonetheless, lessons are going quite smoothly. I was surprised that some parts of my formatting for the writing was slightly wrong, but it's nothing that can't be fixed. I do hope that my enthusiasm for this module continues, as staying home all day turns me into a sloth.
Week 3 - The class went well as usual, but my missing post updates or lack there of an update in my blog made my blog look a bit messy. Much corrections needed to be done in order to better illustrate and display the exercises done. But even with that said, my work was still approved, just minor adjustments needed to be done to finalise the post updates.
Week 4 - This week, the class was quite fun and we had a lot more discussions about the exercises as well as the illustrations for Project 1. The Project was moderately received as my work wasn't done. But i'm confident that my style of work will make my illustrations look attractive and highlight compliment the story well.
Week 5 - The class carried on as usual, but for the most part what my ideas were for design seem to not be on the same page as the lecturer. What I considered to have dynamic flow he felt was too messy. I tried to understand what he was saying based on his point of view.
Week 6 - Much of what I did for the image was acceptable to a certain extend, but still i wasn't playing around enough with the details and zooming in on the images.
Observation
Week 1 - I found myself getting distracted most of the time as the online classes were not as engaging as i hoped it would be (not lecturer's fault). I also noticed some classmates having the same issue after chatting with them. It was also troublesome for our lecturer as he had to try his best to teach us everything from the class via webcam.
Week 2 - The online classes were very enjoyable to an extent. It's comfortable to sit at home, somewhere that feels good to listen in on classes. I feel less pressured as there's no one else here but me. I am not sure about the other students, but it seems like many of us are taking this class very informally during sessions.
Week 3 - The class felt a bit tense as most of us had only started with our illustration project. We showed quite a lot of our references to our illustration ideas, but a lot of the work seemed very messy at the time since narrowing down ideas was in the 1st phase. But it seemed obvious that all of use were having different ideas and styles for our book illustrations which i think will make all the designs interesting and contrast each other.
Week 4 - The class was very relaxed, to a certain point we had an extended break for half and hour. Progress was going well, most students already had a good idea and clear image for the illustrations.
Week 5 - From what i could see, many students were already refining their illustration artworks. It was interesting to see the styles and design that the other put together for their specific book.
Week 6 - Although some criticism was still given. Many of the final artworks of the students were very impressive. It's interesting to see how different designers create their artwork.
Findings
Week 1 - I realised the amount of wastage that is created in the book making process. Much of the off cuts are not usable pieces, either too small or damaged and unsalvageable. I also found that limiting sizes of the book makes it more difficult to design or choose a proper size.
Week 2 - I had already known about the ways a spread from a book is printed, but i wasn't aware that there was a mathematical ratio that the text could be arranged to be better. So learning about this is quite the eye opener for me.
Week 3 - I was hesitant with with taking a chance in the designs for illustrations, my design references were not liked as much by Mr Vinod as my idea of trying something new with Mexican design was negatively received. Mr Vinod wanted me to look somewhere closer to home for inspiration because there's a lot of potential in asian culture that can be extracted as a reference to my story and might illustrate it better.
Week 4 - The illustration work really needed to carry more details, and definitely look as good as our references. My work really needed to improve to really show Mr Vinod the quality of my illustration designs.
Week 5 - I found that my illustrations were not as interesting as the others, but i felt that my illustrations translated the story in my writing well. Even with the lecturers feedback i had trouble trying to figure out how to make things more interesting.
Week 3 - I was hesitant with with taking a chance in the designs for illustrations, my design references were not liked as much by Mr Vinod as my idea of trying something new with Mexican design was negatively received. Mr Vinod wanted me to look somewhere closer to home for inspiration because there's a lot of potential in asian culture that can be extracted as a reference to my story and might illustrate it better.
Week 4 - The illustration work really needed to carry more details, and definitely look as good as our references. My work really needed to improve to really show Mr Vinod the quality of my illustration designs.
Week 5 - I found that my illustrations were not as interesting as the others, but i felt that my illustrations translated the story in my writing well. Even with the lecturers feedback i had trouble trying to figure out how to make things more interesting.
Week 6 - I showed all my illustrations but I still want to make it more and different with levels of value and maybe colour accents. But it's getting more difficult as more assignments add up.
Further Reading
Forms Folds Sizes (2nd Edition) - Poppy Evans & Aaris Sherin
Review
The book focuses on book and publishing design details. It elaborates on the little things that people don't notice in the design of a book and how to apply those design methods into publishing use. They go into typographical methods like type arrangement that guides a designer in to the arrangement of their text on a page or spread. They guide readers through the process of designing a book then uses different and creative ways to show the uses of type arrangement.
Choosing Font Sizes for Books: Get Your Typesetting Size Right
Review
The article title first sounded simple, but as I begin to read through it shortly, I realize that choosing a font size is not as easy as it sounded. The author first described why it is important to select the right font size, which is to deliver typography that is more legible, easy-on-the-eye and even be suitable for the genre and context of the book. Once the importance was stated, the author sets an interesting question, "is your book long or short?" which is a very practical factor to consider when first starting off with any book design. A short book can be set longer with smaller margins or bigger point size, while a long book shouldn't be overwhelming to the readers, and hence the book's margin and point size can be considered to help make the content easier to digest. It's a small advice, but even myself forgets it sometimes.
The next advice from the author is extremely crucial, that is the understanding of the readership, or simply the target audience and genre. The author suggests that more intellectual fiction requires a smaller font size, which results in a more concentration and lesser eye straining to read it. Slightly smaller font size communicates intelligence and seriousness, and is well suited for modern literary fiction and classic novels equally.
I also found the following guideline helpful, as they set according to the standards.
