100 Book Evaluation

I wanted to put a few things straight and talk about the end result in an evaluative way.

Basically my Idea for this book (eventually) was to produce a hardy - industrial, instructional style handbook for aerosol artists - or people interested in the actual method of painting, not actually the end result. My final crit feedback was that it was a missed oppertunity because it wasnt covered in paint etc etc. I  thought that would have been a bit of a design cliche.  

I based the design for the front cover on a cardboard box that graffiti spray paint comes in, with the catalogue info style type. I got the ideas for the vector traces from the hayes manual and also a mailing envelope with instrucional vector traces.

Heres some pictures of the book in its natural surroundings.

I had the problem of not being able to duplex because the digial print workshop has'nt been staffed for the last week and a bit so I had to print single sided so i basically developed a method of doing things so i didnt have to duplex. I decided to ring bind it so that a wrtier could just easily flick to a page without having to bend the spine around. The ring bind also gave the book a hardyer quality and was relevant to the design itsself.

I messed up on the hole punching a little so i had to use hole reinforcers, this tidyed up the pages nicely. The layout, Im quite happy with except for a few stretched images which doesnt do anything for the design itsself. If i could spend more time on doing the book, Id have probably incorporated more sections, e.g like a section for stencils or tags.

Overall Im happy with it i just feel its a shame the final idea didnt come to me sooner.

End of Module Evaluation

What practical skills have you developed through this module and how effectively do you think you have applied them?

I have developed my book binding skills alot on this module and now understand how other binding methods work such as ring binding as well as perfect binding. I also got CS4 student edition a few weeks back and this have helped me to push on my illustrator, indesign and photoshop skills alot, I think I applied these skills quite well when it came to the book binding

and the actual design of my book and its content. Having the CS4 at home has really helped my knowledge of digital design production and how to apply it.

What approaches to / methods of problem solving have you developed and how have they informedyour design development process?

I came across a few problems when it came to duplex printing, due to paper stocks and printers. I overcame this by designing  in a way that didnt need duplex printing done to it at all.

E.g I ring bound my book with pages only printed on one side and stuck a thumbnail on the opposte, blank spread.

I also didnt have much time towards the end of the project so I had to use it really effectively in order to get things done - I've realised I work best in a sketchbook as opposed to loose worksheets, because it feels more structured and helps me begin to developthings and see a clear progress in my work.

What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/ will you capitalise on these?

I'm starting to understand layout more and I think its slowly becoming more of a strength for me, along with my digital design production. I also think my blogging has gotten stronger because I just enjoy it now and the plus is, the more you do, the more informed your design will be!

What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you adress these more fully?

I think a definate weakness for me this time was my idea generation, and the influency my ideas came to me. I kept on having an idea, begginning it ad then just disregarding them, and this progress didnt leave me much time to just get on with my idea that I used in the end. Next time I need to do more research at the start before I begin developing ideas in order to give me a more solid idea.

Identify five things we could have done differently that would have benefitted your progress

• Not as many crits and talks, more in studio time to just get on with it
• I cant think of anymore!

Hayes Manual

Hayes manual is full of technical vector drawings similar to the ones I have produced in my book.

What If brief

Our problem was man made vs natural. We refined that down to man made and natural christmas trees, and the fact that people could not decide from the two which to buy for christmas.

I really didnt enjoy doing this brief as the "teamwork" part of it didnt really happen, when more dominant members of the team inevitably took charge the less dominant members receeded and the work didnt really get done to the best of its ability.

We lacked research and analysis and only had limited secondary research such as internet printouts and the book of 1000 greetings.

The primary research consisted of a questionaire, illustrations, photography and work done on illustrator.

Shops were pretty weird about us using our cameras to take pictures of christmas trees, I think Antony had to go round 6 odd shops before he got anywhere. I think we should have done more layout development and research into botanical illustration and different styles of illustration paper stocks etc.

For next time I need to:

Use a wider range of research methods and utilize more sources.

Ask for more feedback to push the design forward.

use the research to inform the design.

Make sure everyone understands what the word "team " means.

Make sure I always have what I need to work effectively.

I learned:

working in a team is harder than working on your own.

research fuels design.

The more research the better.

If things go in a strange direction, go with it.

Above is the work in situe in a shop Antony managed to take some pictures in.

Binding Methods

First of all, the anatomy of a book, this is only a quick post, just to go with my mock ups.

Different methods of book binding I'm Considering: 1, Ring bind, 

2, Japanese bind.
3. The most common type of binding method, Perfect binding. This is the method I will probably go with because It just seems the post relevant and conveniant for the perferation, and layout of my book.
4. Concertina bind, in with other experimental methods of book binding.

More Book research - What is a book? Layouts

These designs are by Bigactive again, I just like the layouts for both of them,  The first is called "The Firm" And is about thugs as far as I'm aware, It's very cult, and it would be nice for my images to become similar to this for my book, I also like the full bleed, desaturated and high contrast Images on the double page spread... tasty stuff.

The second is a hard back, perfect bound book called "Hide that can", and is about old drunks, who all come together for shelter in a "gentleman's manor" the embossed cover looks great, I also like the use of text in this book, and how it seems to fit seemlessly with the Images. Again, full bleed, Nice.

Book Research

My new idea for my book is a much more interactive one, so (credits where they're due) This popped up, Its an album by Beck, Title- The Information.

                                                                          

Same Basic idea as my book/ poster, except the reader has to carry on turning the pages in order to get different colour fills for their poster. As for the Beck album, the reader gets a blank album and a set of 1 of 4 stickers to go with it, they can then create their own artwork, and is a form of controlled interaction, similar to the book I've began making. So yes indeedy, this is a sweet referance.

All seems to be lost...

But, on this arduous journey, our hero has found hope in the form of a new inspiration.

yeah, basically ALL graffiti artists are woefully unreliable. full stop. In other words, my idea with the interviewing of artists and their cans will not work, simply because I cant get enough srpay cans, so I set out on taking 10 flicks of 10 different cans, in catagory, e.g

their labels, colour, what the paint is like, the tin itsself, the barcode, Different compositions, birds eye view, the back of the tins, horizontal, vertical, being held, being sprayed etc.

So I took about 370 flicks today in the Burning cold weather, I now have frost bite. Ok, scratch the last bit - but I have loads of Images, and all the Images for research I took still apply, and the title etc.

I also started producing a mock up cover for this book of 10 of 10 (being 100 and being acceptable.) Basically i cut out some letters from a page in order to put a belton tin cover behind it to colour the letters

WHEN IT HIT ME.

Since my book is called Applicate, (Now Applicator, making it up to 10 letters.) I thought I could have these cut out letters, I could make the front cover more of a poster, and have the contents of the book, components that you have to "apply" to the poster.

So maybe have 4 long(ish) Images on a page, composed of the 10 of 10 i have taken, perferated, and you have to remove them from the book in order to customise the "Applicator" Poster. In doing this the reader would be Physically interacting with the book, and participating in the books title and meaning. - I liked this idea alot because it seems to be very interactive and interesting. On monday Im going to do some mock ups of what I mean, but I had to note this idea down so I remembered it in its initial form-

It's not too far off from what I wanted to do in the first place, its just this way, I'm not waiting on lazy arse holes, and Its self motivated. Sorry to be rude, but its annoyed me how much time I've been wasting just waiting for replies and trying to arrange meeting people to hardly any avail. Now I know exactly what I'm doing, and how Im going to do it. I'll post some of the new pictures up tomorrow at uni.

APPLICATE : page layout concepts, Font?

I loosely based the page colour and composition on the back of a Monster Colours tin, bare in mind these are early concepts, just using the same theme as the back of a specific spray can, (the author's Preferred aerosol projectile unit) it might be worth experimenting with other spray can themes such as montana, and belton. I also want to establish some sort of font for the cover title and also page subtitles, something similar to the monster colours tin/ Belton tin. I think a graffiti style title would be too cliche for this type of book, and the target audience related to it would probably see it as a "bite" or a copy of the montana tin. These are the fonts used on spray cans that Im becoming more interested in...

The Monster Font is pure taste, A form of Urban version of "Bauhaus" If you like, and if you dont like... well youre silly arent you.

APPLICATE post 3 (Layout idea)

Quite a nice, informed and good looking idea for my page layout for the book has been under my nose this whole time...

APPLICATE Post 2

I sent emails requesting an interview and to take some pictures, out to about 15 local graffiti artists. I sent these emails on friday, and so far have had two replies, 1 of which is too far away to meet in person, So hopefully is sending me back answers to the survey/Online interview I sent out. This way of doing it will be fine for one or two people, but ideally I want to meet them in person, which brings me to the second reply, It will involve me going to sheffield for an interview. Arranging this should, and most likely will be dificult - but worth it according to this artist, as it will apparantly lead me to other artists! Brilliant.

Im hoping this book will turn into something quite big if I persist with getting the artists to actually have an interview. The questions I have sent out to one contact, and plan to ask the rest in person are;

• can you remember your first spray can? What was it?
• Why did you want to start using spray cans?
• What is your favourite make of Spray? Why?
• What is your favourite thing about spray cans? (eg the finish it gives,colour range etc.)
• What is your favourite colour pallette?
• What is the worst thing about spray cans?
• What cans can you recommend?

I want to refrain from doing this in survey form, because the answers would be too concise and this wouldnt really suit the docu - design style of direction my book seems to be heading in.

Another reason for me wanting to meet the artists face to face is for the imagery I want to be taking. I took some sample images/ posed in some to help give myself an idea; these images were inspired by a Montana Gold paint advert in a copy of Graphotism I bought the other day (Issue 51, Features Replete, Local urban artist, Go on lad)

                                                                   

I want to experiment with the saturation of the Images to see what saturations look best, maybe the subject more saturated that the background. I Still want to Include Images in the same style as My initial One hundred (Still only spray paint cans.) Page Layout still needs to be looked into!

APPLICATE Post 1

I wanted to make a post, just to let everyone know where Ive been with my book (as my proposal stated) and where I'm now headed with it. 

Basically my proposal said I wanted to catogorise and colect 100 Images of paint containers and present in a book as something similar to a collection or catalogue of paint containers.

When presenting my book in the  first crit (All complications aside,)  My feedback was helpful as people said the book needed more of  narrative or maybe a story to give the book itsself more of a character and more of an interest. I translated this as adding Listings to the paint images such as where i got them, what type of paint it is, how much it costs, etc. So in my produced mock up I included these in rough form.

So that was the basic layout of my Mock up for the book. I Didnt particiularly like the layout of the A5 page sizes and 32 page limit given, as it made laying out the images difficult and made te page look cumbersome and botched. I figured out for my Images to fit this spec in the book, they would have to conform to a rule, the rule was;

• 1 Image on the first page (Title page)
• 3 Images on every page up to the double page spread (D.P.S)
• 6Images per page on the D.P.S
• 3 Images up to the "Miscellanious Containers" section
• 4 Images on the first page of Misc.
• 2 Images on the back page.

That Rule fit 100 Images accross 32 A5 Pages (16 A4 Leaves). 

So, coming up to the second brief of the project I had thought the book needed a more interesting and unique layout to fit with its subject matter. I thought that basing the books bind on a swatch booklet would be fitting, so began looking into that.

Swatch Booklets are either Ring bound.(Short edge Bind) or bound via a bolt in the top corner, so the book opens out in a hand- fan motion. I'm going to post another entry looking into binding methods further sometime soon.

Anyway, crit day arrived, and after talking to the group and Jo, It became apparant that this idea of catalogging paint containers really was'nt working for me, not due to lack of anything or lazyness, just down to the pure fact that if a book does'nt interest its author, how is it going to captivate an audience. It also became clear that I didnt really have a target audience for this book to appeal to, and if there was an audience there, it was a very specialist one.

So with some deliberation with the crit group, it was clear my imaged of the aerosol cans were working well aesthetically and with a narration, but not neccessarily the one i had used. So The idea was put forward to focus on the just spray cans instead of the "off the shop floor" type images i had gathered of all paint cans.

So, as it stands, my idea is as follows, in a nice bullet pointed form;

• Book Looks into the application of spray cans
• An artist/ Person's relationship with the spray can
• Also the intial idea of listing cans into catagories, E.g colour combinations, or most commonly used makes.

To achieve this idea I intend to Interview local artists that use Spray cans, and ask them questions focused at their tools (spray cans) and their relationship with them, not their art.

This will hopefully evoke a really interesting narrative to go along with the images I will take.

I want to take new Images of My spray cans but also the others that I interview to get the idea of the used tool, instead of the brand new off the shop floor paint. The used cans have alot more character, and also tell a more interesting story. Some of  the 100 Images I have already taken are a good starting point for this.

Because of this idea of the artists tool, their relationship with it and how they use it, I think i fitting name for this project at the moment is, Application or Applicate. 

Anyway I'm going to post alot more blogs about this book to keep everyone updated!

 

100 Brief, Statement Of Intent.

- State the title & focus of your work in response to the brief:

The title of my work is "One - Hundred Paint Containers", and the focus of the work is to produce a book containing 100 paint containers, catagorised into what type of paint container it is.

- Identify specific areas of research that you intend to investigate and methods you will use:

I might begin to investigate what each type of paint is generally used for, Eg primer, for.. priming canvases, emulsion for walls etc. This could be done via internet, leaflets and handouts from DIY stores, and on some of the actual paint tins. I'm also going to look into other artist books who have looked into "Paint" as a subject to see where they took their ideas.

The information I already have consists of ; 100+ Images of paint tins and paint tin related subjects and also colour charts and swatches with 100+ colours in them, whether they're relevant, I'm not sure yet, but i would like to use them in the final book.

Information I need to collect Could be, basic stuff, just like how much the paint costs generally, how big the tin is and the make of the paint. I would like to collect the paint's barcodes, though this could prove to be tricky.

- Identify Specific practical methods and technical processes you intend to use in order to visually develop your ideas.

I have just learnt how to use InDesign, which is a little fiddly but worth using because it helps you to see the work as a collection of laid out images compiled instead of just random single images. I intend to use this programme more in the future. I also want to print onto paper stocks such as brown paper, tissue, trace and others to see which would be the best for the endpapers, wrap around (I intend to perfect bind the final book.) and maybe even the pages. If I get the time it would be nice to screen print the book cover and pages, because it would really improve the quality of the end result from a print perspective.

I will most likely be using InDesign, for layouts, either a colour printer (duplex print) or screen printing, varied paper stock . The final book will consist of Images, and hopefully some short lists and/or colour charts. It just depends on what relevance the lists/colours have in the end. The book will be perfect bound, because Im not too bad at perfect binding and it can be done at home.

- What methods will you use to evaluate the progress and success of your work?

I think That I'll do a little sketchbook to note the progress of the book, I'll start that next week. Crits and group input is inevitable and helpful. I will type up a final evaluation on here, because it is our first long project afterall!

What Is A Book?

Anything you want.

I love Artist books!

- As for the traditional book, Anything the author wants I suppose.

Books:

Tell Stories,

Inspire,

Upset,

Inform,

Teach,

Save Lives,

Ruin Lives,

Change Lives,

Bore,

Amuse,

That was'nt meant to be a strange haiku, I just thought I'd centre allign my post :)

Book Binding

Who loves Roger?

BA GRAPHIC DESIGN LOVE ROGER.

Because he taught us all how to book bind. lovely.

Book binding is ace, i really like it despite that massively sarcastic remark ^-^ Anyway,

I'm really proud of my book, Here it is, I've jazzed it up a little since before.