OUGD504- Making, Images & Evalutation

Mock Ups

Silver stitching over black stitching. The black is not readable on the page as much as it should be, so clarity needs to be considered for the most important information. The silver thread also brings a brighter quality to the publication, proving to be much more effective than black. I initially created a mock up out of false leather. as I thought I would not have time to produce the outcome out of real leather. After considering the spine and blurb detail, it was evident I needed to get the covers re-embroidered, so thought I may as well go all out and see the effect out of the intended material. I opted for a black spine to preserve the idea of a collectable, plus the mock up taught me that the orange lining would be visible side on to give character.

The fake leather (when glued down), came out bumpy and uneven, resulting in an anaesthetically pleasing finish. This bumpy nature also tightened the sheen of the fake leather, making the over all publication look cheap and perhaps even flimsy- these are not qualities which will attract the target audience, meaning I am currently not fulfilling my intentions for the brief. To alter experiment and practice with this, I will create another mock up with less glue in the middle of the grey board to prevent this happening in the future. The result of which (black stitching), came out much better and will be a technique I carry forward to the final outcome.

Uneven page alignment caused by cutting THEN binding. Looking back on bookbinding workshops and practical research, it became clear I need to bind and THEN cut to preserve the finish. I am terrible at paper cutting, it is perhaps my most hated activity in the entire world so I will definitely try and improve this on the next publication. Furthermore, pointy corners do not have a professional finish- more care needed.

Orange insert applied to the inside of the cover. I opted for this shade of orange as it was the closest possible to Harley's HDMA Orange, by GF Smith. The use of an insert was to sleeker the finish of the outcome, yet has not been fully successful. I realised I needed to perfect the corners and find a way to cover up any additional glue. This also taught me that the outcome would only be right with extreme precision, and perhaps a stronger glue. 

I am not as skilled in technical areas as some others on the course, so practice is needed to make perfect (or else it will be very difficult to perfect). There was also issues with the leather curving in unnatural ways, especially around the edges and spine, causing an uneven finish. To resolve this, a bone folder edge could be taken to smooth down the finish.

When producing the content and creating the mock up, I completely let slip the acknowledgements page from the back of the book, as well as additional white pages to encase the content. This needs to be something I need to do for the final outcome. 

When the book is laying fully flat, or when the user is flicking through, the effect of the subtle exposed binding gives an additional mechanical twist, heightening the quality of the outside and inside alike. The flashes of silver bring a life to the print, whilst being a bit more unique than glue or stitch binding. 

As this publication is intended to be a collectable coffee table book, I thought it was important to make sure the pages lie flat to maximise ease of use. In the mock ups this was achieved well in parts, where the weighting was even so gravity helped the pages stay open. However, in real life this was not executed as well due to the mishap when drilling the binding holes, resulting in a shift of the paper and less page being visible. This has drastically effected the overall outcome of the publication, and is definitely something I would re-do if I had the chance.

Text too large and too close to the gutter. Type size needs to be reduced from 12pt to 10pt with allowances made for Kerning. Furthermore, increase the negative space around the gutter area so this is easier to read with less hassle.

After completing the books, I sent some photographs of the finished product to people I interviewed to see what they thought. I recorded their response as follows: "a great edgy look!", "Screws look mechanical and 'engineering' ", "It fits the stereotypical Harley rider to a tee!", "it looks distressed and worn like everything I own haha!". This positive response is a good sign, as my intentions at the start of the brief was to produce a photography/art book the target would want to engage with. I have let the comments and knowledge of these individuals (and the specific target audience as a whole) influence many design decisions throughout in an attempt to maximise overall impact and effectiveness, and hopefully get some sales!. The feedback also stated the publication looked traditionally ‘classy’ biker, which was definitely my intention throughout all production.

After completing a series of mock ups, I considered experimenting with two layers of grey board to thicken the sleeve outcome, yet sadly the supplier of grey board was all out so this could not be achieved without changing materials.

The final sleeve completed with spine and blurb details

Cutting and gluing the final piece of leather. It was difficult to align the type in the centre of the publication, taking into account guttering etc. 

Final spine detail

The smoothness of the edges were not up to the standard I would have liked as a slight overhang is present, taking away from sleek intended finish. 

Evaluation - Type in Context Publication

I avoided using the Harley Davidson bar and shield for copy-write purposes. Despite this only being a small brief for now, I wouldn't want to get charged with any copyright infringement. I had some ideas of incorporating this into the cover, yet this mixed with feedback lead me to the conclusion of having purely type on the cover. After concluding on a black leather cover, I combatted the issue of getting information into the cover by contacting local embroidery companies in Leeds. I initially asked the Fashion department at university but they had no links. I initially opted for a faux leather cover to save on cost, especially while I practice with the corner details. The experience of dealing with embroidery houses has given me much more confidence that people in the industry want to help you. I had the opportunity to go through the design and alter slight serifs so the finish would come out more vividly.

After thankfully being given a few days grace of the deadline, I took the opportunity to perfect the finish, as the module title states 'Design Production' with an emphasis on production. I feel through both modules I tried to push myself in seeing what I could achieve. 

The overall finish of the final book is much better than the mock ups, but still not perfect due to the slightly sloppy glue and paper finish. In addition, the drilling of the holes was not as perfect as normal, despite using a block of wood as a shield. In the future, I need to apply more pressure when using the drill. As well as this, the Chicago screws are slightly too large for the thickness of the book- which would also be altered time permitting. If the book was brought to a commercial scale, a barcode would be implemented on an additional orange insert at the back of the book.

 The final publication is created out of soft, matte real leather, embroidered with 1012 Silver thread, the closest possible to Harley’s HDMA Chrome or Pantone’s P 175-1 U. Furthermore, Colour plan GF Smith stock in Mandarin line the cover, which was the closest to HDMA Orange/ P 021 C. As the execution of the final cover did not go to plan, I improvised by covering up the scruffy inside column with some black bookbinding tape. I considered replacing the stock and expanding the area of orange to a full wrap, but it would take further time for new stock to arrive and time is of the essence.

When considering the layout, I felt that the emphasis needs to be placed on the images, so kept text to a minimum, and only where the viewer may need it/find it useful. By implementing a consistent grid system, I was able to align the text and photographic content in the same way page to page. I considered the additional guttering and extended the image/text proximity to the edge of the page accordingly to maximise the overall quality and user experience through fluidity page to page. 

When evaluating the outcome of the first cover, I realised I needed to perfect the corners and find a way to cover up any additional glue. This also taught me that the outcome would only be right with extreme precision. I am not as skilled in technical areas as some others on the course, so practice is needed to make perfect (or else it will be very difficult to perfect). There was also issues with the leather curving in unnatural ways, especially around the edges and spine, causing an uneven finish. To resolve this, a bone folder edge could be taken to smooth down the finish. This taught me I need to experiment further, perhaps incorporating a fine layer of stronger fabric glue to prevent this happening in the future. Stupidly, the day I was creating the final publication in university, I left the super-sticky fine glue at home, meaning this finish was still not achieved despite pre-planning. This is a good example of something I need to improve in the future- carelessness. 

When creating the minimal design for the cover, ambiguity needed to feature in some way. From a personal perspective, I felt by only having a front cover would be more effective and aesthetically pleasing. After creating this as a mock up, it was clear it needed something more. Re-capping on Jan Tshicholds’ rules for designing a book, he stated “[it is not even a book without text on the spine]”, so incorporated a spine and blurb detail as well. Prior to making this design decision, I should have further researched precise ways to get small text onto leather, yet the continuation of embroidery seemed like a fluid progression. In addition, by having a purely fabric & stitching cover, the leather jacket/leather seat aesthetic and emotive qualities are perpetuated further, giving quite a rugged stereotypically ‘biker’ effect with the type mirroring that of patches.  As mentioned in other blogs, the cost of embroidery is calculated off the thread count, and by adding so many individual letters, this means the overall cost per unit rises by approx. £8- however prices would fall in a bulk commercial order.

If I could do this project again, I would definitely take more care when finishing things. I did not plan my time as effectively as I should have, so did not follow the same development steps I aught to preserve the finished quality. I need to learn to be less heavy handed, measure twice and cut once. The paper finish on the edges are not as precise as they should be, and when drilling the binding holes I failed to notice a shift in the papers alignment on the page. Because of this, what is actually viewable on the page has been reduced even further, reducing the page size and reading experience drastically. Because of this, the pages are not as playable or ‘flick friendly’, as the previous mock ups which is a big negative as I wanted to heighten user pleasure when engaging with the book. In future bookmaking (or crafts in general) I need to take more care over production and always double check things.