(B6) Book A Day - Research

One Book a Day 

BRIEF: Designing a zine/publication each day for a week. The topic of the book will be based on what’s

trending on twitter that day, quick thinking will be imperative to the success of the project.

Aiming to push the idea of what a book is and challenge self creatively.

Robin Guillemin

Robin has also developed an approach he describes as “my own vision and way of working,” he tells It’s Nice That. Usually operating within books and “all kinds of publications”, the designer burrows deep into the possibilities of this medium, which he believes are pretty much infinite. Describing this area of design as “a performative play space where the content influences the way of thinking, the medium and the graphic choices,” books have become a self-described “plastic laboratory” for the designer, “where everything is possible” - ItsNiceThat

- The idea of using publication as a space to play is interesting, using all the different possibilities of a book to create a variety of different outcomes each representing or portraying a new element. 

- "the content influences the way of thinking", I really want to pick at this when working on my own project, using the medium of publication to impact the thoughts of others but also of my own when designing. 

“I believe that each project exists in a unique context, posing unique questions and problems. I have my own ways of working and thinking but, it is important that they are adapted to the type of project. In any case, I always ask myself why I do things and I refuse to go towards preconceived solutions” - Intern

- The way of viewing each project as its own identity is something I want to incorporate into this brief, ensuring each day the content I come to use is approached with a new mind, but the practical skills I've learnt are carried forward and developed on throughout the project to enable personal growth. 

A

B

C

ANALYSIS:

• The approach to publication, layout and design is different in all 3 publications above, but they all have a similar feeling they look different but similar at the same time. Perhaps this is due to the development of a visual language used by Guillemin, a space that allows for experimentation but also structure.
  - Is this something I'm wanting to adopt in my approach to the project or should each book look independent of the others? Be a collection, series or range of independent books. I think this depends on how I want the books to be 
• I particularly like the format of the book on image B, the thin pages are a really attractive touch to add when the text is placed in a ths column. Then this juxtaposed with the full bleed intense image makes for a dramatic first impression. 
• Publication in image A has a rather jumpy layout, the columns change width and position on the page but they remain visually consistent. This make may it difficult for the audience to follow but makes more a more visually interesting read. 

The Kippenberger Challenge

An open invitation for artists and designers to equal the German artist Martin Kippenberger’s average printed output of 7.45 books each year.

“Exploring to the extent that there is perhaps no formal use for a book is an exercise you rarely get to do as a designer involved in client work,”-Joe Gilmore

- I really like this idea of using publications as a way to explore design especially as I'm still at university I have the time to be creative, push ideas and designs forward, be innovative and make mistakes as I'm not working for a client yet. 
I'm really wanting this project to be a way to explore design without the fear of 'failing' or not achieving a set brief as one of the aims is to develop an explorative mindset within the brief. 

Christopher Branson

https://christopherbranson.com/I-Was-Walking-Until-I-Took-A-Turn

I Was Walking, Until I Took a Turn

- A brief selection of primers that may inform your own wandering.
- 48 pages
- perfect bound

ANALYSIS:

• The playful nature of this publication is really unique, it encourages a high level of engagement from the user, something I'm particularly interested in.
  - How does the playful approach impact the project, is this always appropriate? When working on own project needs to be aware of content to develop an appropriate approach. 
• Feel as though the audience will develop a stronger connection with the publication due to the presentation. 
• The body text is approached from a new innovative perspective, there is a strong sense of direction and the hierarchy of the pages is unique in the way the directions are much smaller than the text but there is a level of understanding between the designer and audience of how information that they need to follow is presented.
  - Adopting this playful nature will be important to the brief, making sure I don't become stagnant with ideas for production but also layout. 

--------------------------SLOW JOURNALISM------------------

Delayed Gratification

- A beautiful quarterly publication which revisits the events of the last three months to offer in-depth, independent journalism in an increasingly frantic world. 

Instead of desperately trying to beat social media to breaking news stories, we focus on the values we all expect from quality journalism – accuracy, depth, context, analysis and expert opinion.

Modern news production is filled to the brim with reprinted press releases, kneejerk punditry, advertorial nonsense and churnalism. Slow Journalism is an antidote to this: intelligent, curated, non-partisan news coverage designed to inspire and inform.

Slow journalism doesn't rate being first over being right, journalism at the moment gives you the beginning but not the end and it isn't inspiring. 

- This is something to consider in my own project, I'm wanting to make a book a day based around trending topics. 
- Aims are to be a self-development exercise for my own practice and interest in publication but also as a commentary on how face paced social media is at accelerating news. 
- The approach I want to take is to represent this dramatic speed through publication, using methods like photocopying and scanning to develop the outcomes, but having the content be as truthful as I can to it remains informative, providing more insight to the trending topic that morning.