Getting Unstuck - Looking at own books to push on with practical & highway code books

Blue highlight = essay research influence

Feeling stuck with the practical, disconnected from the way the book will be used and I think this is because I haven't been interacting with publications so am losing the understanding of how my book will be used. 

Found 2 books of mine that don't need to be read in a linear fashion:

1. The Healing Power of Plants - Fran Bailey

• Each page was about a different plant, with a large image making it easy to flick through and find what you need.
• Contents breaks down the chapters, has an index to be able to find specific information easily. 
• Chapter pages on different colour stock.
• Titles separated by large amount of white space.
• Icons used for the individual pieces of information such as light, humidity, watering and care. It makes it easier to access the information you need as you recognise these symbols. 

2. Can Graphic Design Save Your Life? - Sarah Schrauwen, Lucienne Roberts, and Rebecca Wright

• Contents provides a thorough breakdown of the book, there are 6 sections each with their own subsections which are included with the page numbers you can find it easily.
• There is then a second contents page that displays the introduction and the sections in a clear, colour coded format - showing a simple break down for easy navigation. 
• Chapter pages have coloured background corresponding to the section, then text in that section is in the same colour - makes it easy to flick through pages and know when a section has changed. 

Feel my publication could benefit from more navigational tools, been focusing so much on pages that forgotten about the book as a whole.

Need to consider:

Contents page

Index

Navigational tools to assist when flicking through. 

Design elements included so far to aid navigation: 

A - Subheading for the different sections within the chapter, they include the number of rules in this section and then is spaced out with a line to create separation and hierarchy.

B - Numbers highlighted to make it easier for the reader to find the specific piece of information they're looking for, taking away the word 'rule' to streamline the process as numbers are universally more recognisable. 

C - Page numbers with chapter title so the audience can see more information when using number to navigate. 

"The ease with which you can find out the beginning, end and everything inbetween and the constant connection to your path, your progress in the text, might be some way of making it less taxing cognitively, so you have more free capacity for comprehension,' (Jabr, 2013) - Need to keep this idea in mind, design choices like the one above help reduce cognitive load as they allow the audience to easily find what they need within the publication.

TO DO NEXT:

> Include navigation dots on the sides using colour.

> Work on contents page

> Add in imagery to crossing, see the effect. 
- think about research: When text and illustration do not match the illustrations can interfere with comprehension and reduce learning Hibbing, A., and Rankin-Erickson, J. (2003) The Reading Teacher Vol. 56(8) pp. 758-770

Having imagery involved within the text:

- Distracting, doesn't fit within the grid layout with text.

- The imagery itself isn't nice and needs to be redesigned in some way to make it more appealing but also visually accurate.

- Think about the inclusion of imagery in the book that doesn't involve it being within the text, could there be a secondary layout for where imagery is involved. Both book examples above didn't have imagery and text on the same page, feel this is because it makes for easier reading and less distraction. 

- Imagery provides ‘concreteness’ to enhance mental representations by adding a visual to text, allowing the information to be stored both visually and verbally (Guo et al, 2019)

Images on the side:

- Thinking of isolating the images and having them be numbered to correspond to a specific rule, allow the information to be there but not invading the visual layout.

- Doesn't feel very effective, it may make it difficult for the audience to find the specific sections of information they're looking for. 

Images on half of page horizontally:

- Again creates an issue of the reader having to have an extra navigational element. 

- Could maybe rethink the layout for pages with imagery, how would it work, does there need to be more separation across the pages? 

Using larger and fewer images:

- Could maybe do with being selective about which images are used, some of the content is easily understood without the use of imagery. Could isolate the images and text and ask peers if they understand what it says and then provide image see if it helps? 

NEED TO LOOK AT HIGHWAY CODE BOOKS THAT ALREADY EXIST

HIGHWAY CODE BOOK IMAGES:

Book 1:

Critique:

• Circle numbering works well, this is different to the online version of which has only text, easier to navigate.
  - Like what I've done in my publication design so far, but they're much larger and more striking, think the outline version with less space is working well on my own design. It has the same impact without distracting. 
  
• Images within the text work well, the side numbering of images is an interesting choice feels like it creates a separation between the image and the other body text.
  - Feel the type is harder to read because it's on a mid-tone background colour would need to be more contrast (thinking back to research).
• On page 14 the images on the bottom there is a section linking to another section of the book.
  - Presents more information to the reader when it's relevant. 
• Layout in one column means very little information is on each page, the format of the books makes for only one column being appropriate. 
• Red tab across the top displaying the titles, they stay there across all pages and the title text gets much smaller. 
  - Again would need more contrast to have a better impact.
  - Works like previous tests with title of chapter beside page number at the bottom of the page.
  
• Text is sans serif 

Book 2:

Critiques:

• Subheadings within the text works better as they're in a single column, in tests I've made this doesn't work as there are multiple columns. 
• Has an index organised into alphabetical sections.
  - Makes it much easier to find any specific rules on what you're looking for.
  - Need to develop this for own. 
• Text is sans serif
  - Due to small size? 
• Small imagery on one of the pages, seems slightly odd as it doesn't add any information to the content. 
  - Does it create a "landmark" (Shi et al, 2020) for the reader to look back through? 
• Red text for 'MUST' or 'MUST NOT', brings attention to these sections as they're super important. 
  - Does this have a positive or negative impact?
  - What ways could be better at achieving this? 
• Rules aren't numbered, really wouldn't help the navigation at all.