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.