Designing a book is usually regarded as creating visual
imagery for the books cover, however, that is not the case. There are many
other elements of a book that can be designed, including but not limited to
layout, size and the type of paper or card used within the text. Within this
workshop we were challenged to create a concept for a book design and its
purpose within a short period of time.
Before starting we were all shown a variety of different carefully designed books and how they can take many alternative forms and include various sorts of mediums to that traditionally perceived.
I started off by sharing ideas with my peers and creating a
mind map to which we all contributed, while also looking further at the different already existing book forms by conducting an internet search. We found examples such as miniature books to cut-out books which fed into our mind-map before
developing on the ideas we
liked the most. As individuals we began creating the concept and/or the actual
book itself using only the materials we had to hand. In this case I decided to create
my concept for the book design by composing a photomontage, I used images of
the materials which I required though could not acquire at that point in time
in order to create the manipulated image.
I created a simplistic design, which resembles that of
sketchbooks. I decided that an interesting idea would be to combine the rough
tactile texture of hammered card, with the less personal feel of a modern
professional looking Serif typeface. The font I choose to go with the design
was that of Athelas Regular due to its simplistic stylising combined with the
expensive, but stylised feel of the Serif’s. The sketchbook feel came from the
metal spiral bind, which I used as opposed to my original idea of having an
open bound spine. I considered how using the combination of the textured card would
work with an open bind and concluded that this may be unsuitable due to the
stiff form of the card.
Furthermore I decided to add to the professional look of the
book and to create a tactile element of contrast, that a thin, translucent powder
blue vellum sheet would work well as packaging for the book. However due to the
nature of the material being thin, the practicality of using this as packaging
to hold the book would need to be tested as to see if the vellum could
withstand the weight of the said book. Last but not least I found the design
looked too plain and average when I had put it together and although I was fond
of the idea of using good quality sketchbook style paper, it felt as though it
looked too much so of that as a sketchbook. I decided to remedy this by adding
a repeated pattern to the inside margin of the book, the intention behind such
was to add visual interest to the page rather then using black, white and red
alone. I also toned down the contrast and intensity of the pattern, as the free
to use image I acquired was too bright in relation to the overall “clean” feel
of the design.
