Studio Brief 4 - Speaking From Experience - Final Design

I am a little disappointed with my finished product as I didn't manage to print it in digital print due to time constraints so I had to print it on the laser printer which meant I couldn't print it on the paper I had wanted to as I had initially wanted to print it on a thin satin finish stock, it also meant the colours looked a little different to what they had on screen, but I didn't mind this so much as I felt the colours still worked. I intended to staple bind my planner, however this proved difficult due to the amount of pages so I saddle stitched it instead. I think if I were to do this brief again I definitely would have tried to manage my time better so I could have printed it in the digital print room as intended, I would have also allowed myself more time incase anything went wrong, I think this way I would have got a much better finished product than I ended up with. 

I have uploaded my planner to issuu to see how it looks digitally.

http://issuu.com/beccifarmer/docs/planner/1

Studio Brief 4 - Speaking From Experience - Development

I decided to go with the idea of the planner/diary as I felt this would be the most useful and was my strongest idea. I could also incorporate some tips and advice for the first years within the diary.

I started out by creating the layout of the diary in Indesign. I wanted the planner to be very minimal with enough space to write notes or reminders each day. I started out by making a simple table with a square for each day and space for to do list at the end.

I feel that there is not enough space to write in these boxes so I tried having 7 days on each page with the dates starting from 1st September. 

There is much more space to write in this design although it will require printing more pages. I started off using Bebas Neue as my typeface, however it is only in uppercase and is quite bold and tall and I don’t feel it looks very friendly as a typeface. I tried Pier sans as this is rounder and also has lowercase letters, I feel this looks a lot friendlier. 

When thinking about how my planner should look I thought it would be a good idea to incorporate the Leeds College of Art logo in there somehow. So I thought about using the logo or the mosaic aesthetic somehow. I started off with the shape of the logo but instead of having it pink I changed it to green as I felt pink was a bit too feminine and I wanted it to appeal to everyone. I wanted to keep it simple as I didn’t want printing costs to be too much however I feel this first design is too simple and there is too much white space on the cover. 

Still wanting to keep it simple I copied the shape of the logo and overlapped the two I also added some lines to the second shape to make it look more intersting. Although I think this is an improvement on the previous design, I still feel it is a bit simple and there is a lot of white space. 

I added some lines to the left hand side and a dotted pattern to the second shape I think this is a big improvement on the previous design as it doesn’t feel as though there is too much white space. 

I then tried enlarging the shap and repeating and rotating it and changing the colours to a tint of the original colour. I like this design better as it is a lot more colourful.

I then tried enlarging the shape more and overlapping another shape with a dotted pattern over the top. I don’t like this design as I think it looks too messy and I much prefer the previous design.  

I experimented further with elements of my previous designs, I also created a pattern from smaller shapes. I don’t like this design and think it is too busy.

As I really liked the graphic patterns on the planners I found within my research I decided to try and create some similar patterns in Ilustrator with different shapes. I much prefer this design to any of my previous designs, I like the fresh colours used and it looks clean and simple. 

I preferred to have ‘Planner’ written on the front than ‘Plan  your time’ so I tried it with planner and put a white box underneath, I prefer this design as I think it looks cleaner and slicker than the previous design.

I then thought I could have the text inside the shape of the college logo, and I like how this has turned out. I changed the typeface of ‘2015-2016’ to a lighter one to give it some contrast and I think this looks much more appealing. 

I wanted to include some little tips and advice within the planner that would help the first years. I decided I would put the tips inside the shape of the college logo as i did on my cover and decided to have a two colour background for these pages as this still fits in with the look and feel of the cover. I also added some pages for notes as I felt this would be a useful thing to have within the planner to be able to jot down ideas and reminders.

Studio Brief 4 - Speaking From Experience - Initial Ideas & Research

When thinking about my first year and things that I have struggled with and ways that I could possibly help next years first years one thing I thought about is managing time. This is something I have struggled with a lot with having various different briefs at once and COP that is an ongoing thing, I have often left things until the last minute which has meant that I haven’t always produced the best work. I thought that by making some sort of planner or diary may be a good way to help the first years. 

I also thought about making some postcards or posters with positive and encouraging messages on that could be pinned to notice boards in their rooms or put up around the studio. At times during the course I have really struggled and sometimes have needed some encouragement to help me think more positively. 

Another idea I had was to create a small book of tips to help in the first year not just tips for the course, but with tips that could help with moving away from home and living with flatmates as this can be a difficult experience for some people. 

Research

I found this project on Behance that was designed to help soon to be graduates with landing a job. I like the idea and think it could be quite useful, however I don’t really like the design as the colours used are very dark and look a little aggressive, and I think lighter and more uplifting colours may work better for this kind of thing. I like that the layout is not too cluttered and text heave and how they have put a quote in large text on one page and a larger block of text on the other page.

I had a look on designspiration and behance for some inspiration for one of my ideas. I thought about creating some postcards or posters with positive messages on or quotes that could be useful for next years first years. I like some of these messages like the ‘Positive vibes only’ and ‘Create something today even if it sucks’ but I find some of theme a little cheesy and think some of the first years probably would too. I think rather than going with this idea I will choose one of my other ideas.

I had a look for some examples of planners and diaries

I really like these colourful planners with graphic prints and think they would be appealing to the first years. I found some of these planners on Urban Outfitters which I think would appeal to first year graphic design students. 

Design Principles - Final Book Layout

This is the final layout of my book, I have printed it on 200gsm white paper and bound it using the saddle stitch method as I felt this was most appropriate for my book as it is quite a small booklet. I am a little disappointed with the final book as there were a few issues when it came to printing, the images in my indesign file were too large as when changing the dpi to 300 I didn't tick resample so it was taking a very long time to print so I was told to resize my images to 72 dpi, most of the images printed out fine at this resolution however the front cover images looks quite pixelated. I also was in a bit of a rush to bind it so it is a little bit messy. I think if I was to print the book again I wouldn't use a stock as thick as the one I used as I feel it actually may not have been the most appropriate stock for my content. I would also have liked to have reprinted the cover as it is pixelated but was unable to due to time constraints.

I uploaded my book to issuu to see how it looked

http://issuu.com/beccifarmer/docs/recipe_book_4

Design Principles - What is a book - Initial Ideas & Development

Initially I thought about doing a recipe book of desserts but after some thought I have decided to do a recipe book of cheesecakes. This is mainly due to time, ease and cost. I have collected a number of simple cheesecake recipes as I don't want them to be too complicated. As I am making the cheesecakes and taking the photographs myself I want to keep my book simple and clean and photography based. I think by keeping it quite simple and clean also means that the target market is a bit more open as I think this book would suit everyone and hopefully there will be something in there for everyones tastes. 

As my book layout is to be based around the photography I made my cheesecakes and photographed them and then experimented with how I wanted the layout in Indesign. 

Below is a selection of images of my cheesecakes.

Raspberry & White Chocolate Baked Cheesecake & Lemon Cheesecake

White Chocolate & Blueberry Baked Cheesecake & Bailey's Cheesecake

Nutella Cheesecake & Peanut Butter Cheesecake

Oreo Cheesecake & Strawberry & Mint Cheesecake

Initially I wanted a full page image on one side of the double page spread and then the text on the other page. After playing around with this for a while in Indesign I feel this looks a little bit too simple and boring and as though it is lacking something. 

I decided to try having the image spread over both pages of the double page spread and have put the text inside a white box and lowering the transparency so you can see the image underneath. 

I  much prefer this to the previous layout however still feel as though it is lacking something and am not sure how clear and easy to read it will be when printed out. 

I have changed the box to grey as I thought maybe this would make it a little clearer but I do not like that it cuts into the image and that you can't see the image underneath the box.
I have tried changing the opacity of the grey box to see how that looks. I much prefer this but am not completely happy and am still not sure whether it will be clear enough when printed. 

 I have decided to change the size of the image as having it full bleed over the double page spread isn't working. I have kept it full page on one of the pages then half page on the other and overlapped the grey box and text. I am really pleased with this outcome as I feel it looks a lot cleaner and clearer and I think having some white space helps to balance the layout better. I think having the image full bleed over the double page spread was too much. 

I have tried using a couple of different typefaces, I really like the handwritten style typeface however I feel that this typeface is more appealing to a younger target market and I don't particularly want to aim my book at a younger audience. I like the slab serif and feel this fits my book better however I am going to go for a sans serif typeface as this gives it a more modern and sleeker feel and fits in better with the style of my book better than the other typefaces. I have decided to use both the bold and slim version of the typefaces as I like the contrast between them and think they will suit my book.