BxB Publication: Design Development

Inside cover
The inside cover design sets in motion the aims of the publication which is then backed up by the written statements. The idea is that the separated image represents the theme of two becoming one. Two photos, two cities, two experiences. The obvious disconnection in this design (seen through the rough edges), is meant to enhance the concept that these photos were never meant to stand alone, and how they don't make sense if separated. It also reflects the interactive nature that the publication hopes to achieve.

Introduction:
This page includes an photographer's statement as well as a designers. This was because we felt the story should be told from the first person perspective to add this personal touch, like the reader is hearing a story being told. It was also thought that the designer's concepts and ideas are great food for thought for the images and that this would stimulate the viewer to engage with the images, and fully appreciate their organic-ness, as they are completely as the camera and photographer made them, without any editing. 

In this digital age where everything is edited to be 'perfect', the photos here can be appreciated more for their natural feel and the authentic/ rustic style of the publication aids this communication. 

Two layout options:
The first follows the border of how the images are placed on the following pages

The second is a more compressed design. This is the one that was selected as we decided the less space the eye has to travel across the page makes it seem like less to read/ take in for the viewer, so they would be more inclined to read it through.

Planning:
ordering the images so they flow aesthetically



Placing the photos next to each other was important to see how they could flow throughout the publication. The idea was to start with what we labelled the 'collage' series, which made up 14 images, and then go onto the 'stain' series, which was the remaining 9. Breaking it up in this way meant the colours and themes of the photographs could be ordered with greater ease, as well as for the magnifying element. As the 'collage' series are harder to gage, the publication thought to include a small magnifying card that would have a pocket at the start and end of the 14 photographs. This further fuels the interactive qualities, with the viewer engaging with all that the complex images have to offer, so that they can explore and spend time with the photographs and their own will. 

The images thus transition from lighter and more spacious compositions to busier, more chaotic collating (urban spaces).   


The latter series looked at balancing the colours out, as well as following the story of the people more, as they are clearer to gage in this section.
nature - street - people - landscape 


As the images are so busy and a lot to take in at first, the design looked to how materials could be used to enhance the content. 

For the printing of the actual photographs, the design looked into fibre based papers, to aid the authentic feel. We concluded on 'Museum Heritage' paper as it was considerably thick and gave the right textures to stimulate the senses of the holder. The off white qualities made the colours of the photographs really pop when tested on a selective few that covered the colouring of them all. 

Additionally, the thickness (310gsm) was what he design was looking for, as each photograph is going to have its own page. Not using double sided pages means each photograph can have the attention it deserves, and someone could even remove one from the publication itself if they really like it. It also builds the thickness of the publication which, with a wood cover, is needed for stability. 

The paper needed for the extra sections only needed to be small, as the pages of the publication are only 18x15 cm. This meant purchasing large scale A3 paper was uneconomical and the stocks needed to vary a lot from page to page. Instead, we gathered scraps of papers with different textures and characteristics (smooth/ bumpy/ shiny/ grainy/ thin/ thick/ glossy) to use within the publication - as if to create miniature mood boards for certain pages. For instance a picture of a something smoking would have grey speckily paper, or one of the desert would have grainy sand paper. 

Laying out the paper and seeing how it reacts with the different photographs provided a sense of the moods and environments that different paper stocks can achieve.
Laying out all the paper really reminded us of the photographs themselves, which was exactly the goal. 

Cover Design:
The design decision to use wood for the front and back cover was based on the idea of choosing a material that represented both nature and the man-made - to represent both the rural and urban depicted in the photographs. 
Using the laser cutter, the title of publication was engraved onto the cover. The type was placed in the bottom right hand corner as the holes will need to be drilled on the left hand side for ring binding.
The choice to use Baskerville Old Face for the typeface was due to its transitional serif characteristics. The balanced nature of thick and thin strokes as the context of it being 'between old style and modern fonts' makes it perfectly inline with the rationale behind the material choice of wood (taking the bark of a tree and processing it into wood).  
The end result is subtle and elegant, as to not take away from the crowded content.