OUGD504 - Studio Brief 1 - Gathering Similar Inspirational Publications

I have recently gathered some research material from the library to assist me with identifying how designers format photography showcase style publications. All of the sources gathered aim at displaying similar fields of work to my project such as pop video, magazine and poster designs. Identifying how these are displayed will form a crucial part of how my double page spread layouts will be designed. I have noticed that they all use similar minimalist techniques in order to keep the subject matter the focal point on the page. This could be a useful technique in my own publication to celebrate the 80's-90's rave typography without any distractions to the audience. In all of the publications the content is highlighted using a white background and small concise and consistent blocks of text. This indicates that it might also be helpful for my project if a grid system is designed.

Other considerations taken into account by the publications designers are the size of the book; stock choice; binding methods and amount of pages. I can only assume that this has a direct relation to the amount of content in the publication and the cost of production methods. In particular, the book 'Pop Video, The Art of the Pop Video' the smallest possible composition has been produced with little negative space being left on the page content, this is to make the publication as cost effective as possible. Looking closer at the front cover design and binding, I have noticed that the outside of the publication is printed on thin paper stock and has a waterproof cover encasing the design. This could be due to the target audience of the book, it seems as through the author has directed the publication towards students to create a cheap and durable book for studying. Other factors the designer must have taken into consideration when designing for this particular target audience are:

• Strong and sturdy binding methods to keep the book stable and enduring
• Small font point size to include as much text as possible on each page keeping the design cost effective
• Small image size, also keeping the book as practical and efficient as possible
• Waterproof cover to keep the book durable with students scruffy lifestyle
• Thin stock and light weight could make the book easier to carry around for students
• The cover only uses black, white and a pink stock colour

I have also identified that the colours on the front cover design allow only two inks to be used instead of the four inks used with CMYK. This is another cost effective technique which has utilised stock colours in order to use the least amount of printing plates as possible.

Further analysing and testing has identified that the book has not used A4 layout, this could be to keep the book more cost effective when trimming and composing the book in the final printing and cropping stages. The size used could have been considered due to the large paper sizes that have to be used during the printing stage, using this shape and size could have been more resourceful in terms of paper used.

My initial concept for my publication was to create a post modern layout design in order to resinate with the content however, after analysing these publications, I feel keeping the design minimalist will be the most proficient way of displaying my content whilst keeping the layout looking professional.

The Pop Video book below has been particularly inspiring in the way which it separates its content into sections. Its use of blue full colour pages breaks the book up into more organisable groups similar to that of chapters in a book. This has given me the idea of possibly organising my typography in year order and having the book cataloged as a timeline. This way the viewer should see a distinct transition from the postmodern designs of the illegal raves to the more mainstream commercial designs in the 21st century.

The second book displays the cover art from various different editions of the magazine I-D. This publication adopts a consistent way of showcasing their content, this is mainly due to the fact that all of their content is the exact same size. This allows the designer to keep a strict grid system for the lock text along with the image content. One other visual aesthetic to make note of is how the logo on the cover is printed on an acetate material and then wrapped around the edges of the book. This could be for protection and durability as well as aesthetic visual appeal. Studying the binding method has shown that the perfect bound seam is rounded to allow for easier readability for the viewer, this will be an interesting technique to look at however, this could increase production cost. Further examination into this topic will be needed if perfect binding is my final choice for the binding method. These two books below are large hardback coffee table books which look increasingly expensive and therefore directed towards a completely different creative target audience. The amount of negative space on each page has increased which adds production cost to the amount of stock needing to be used.

The last publication has managed to keep the same minimalist display style as the others however, it adopts an unorthodox almost post modern way of displaying elements such as the contents pages.

All of the chaotic line designs below actually form a contents page which is unreadable at the start however, as the publication advances they are broken into their different categories using colour coordination making the rest of the pages more legible as the reader advances through the book. This is a hard concept to explain however, I feel that the way the book has managed to add postmodern aspects into its minimalist design could be an exciting prospect to think about when designing my own publication. This way the content of my book will still be vastly informing the production methods.