(B9) Home: Timeline & Development with Photos

PHOTOS:

So far have defined the concept and taken pictures, I have 1 week of the project left to produce the publication. 

- Want to take what I've learned from B6 (A Book A Day) and use this to make quick decisions with the project. 
- Original timeline for the brief has been changed a bit to fit around Easter and other work. So need to be quick-thinking with design choices. 
- Research and initial ideas have been undertaken so far so pick up from where I left off. 

DEVELOPMENT:

Thinking about the personal tone that is being incorporated into the project, the essay discusses a sense of place and how this is in conflict between the structural, architectural sense of a city but then the feeling and emotional attachment we have to a city and how these are in conflict. 

The publication should present these themes through photography and design, resulting in an outcome that resonated with the audience (it is less about Sheffield as a city now but using the city as a way to explore this theme). 

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Lili Phillips - Critical Margins

'At a time when we are inherently immersed in digital mediums, I ask: Can we reactivate the culture of the book? My critical report defends the bound book in the age of digitisation; presenting the joys of reading, the art of marginalia, and my unrequited love for books.'

'This report has been designed to celebrate marginalia, with my handwritten notes dancing across its pages. To me, there is a particular delight when you pick up a book, only to find markings of those who were there before you. These poetic traces are a beautiful presentation of individual expression. What we choose to underline and fold are manifestations of our interests—this book contains mine.'
- Could look into how different people resonate with the text, ask people to read it and annotate it then send it back to me so I can collate it into a publication.
- Ask peers from Sheffield to do it and see what they respond with, could send images too and ask to identify the ones that feel like Sheffield to them. Could result in 1 book with several editions each to a different individual's perspective, or could be combined into one publication.

• You truly get the sense of being involved with the publication and as if you're reading something that belongs to someone else, it's so personal and intimate even though the text isn't about something you'd think of as being an intimate topic.
• The handling of the notation is done in such a way that it doesn't dominate over the design but becomes part of it. 
  - Would need to be wary of this if incorporating my own hand-drawn text into the work as I don't want it to become something feels forced or disingenuous to the content.

Patrick Thomas:

• I saw this on my Instagram today, Thomas tends to work a lot with Filofax as an artform and this particular divider made me think about how the publication could be made into sections or categorised. 
• Using separators as we way of dividing content, or having varying paper sizes so the book can be viewed as a collection rather than a final polished outcome.
  
• With work like this, it encourages the audience to really engage with the content as it feels less like a precious artifact that is to be held with the most delicate of hands. 
  - This is something I want to make sure I'm achieving with this publication, a personal feel that encourages the audience to engage. If the book is cold and distant it will clash with the text and content that is discussing the sense of feeling, conflict with structure, and overall relationship to a place. 

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Taking a story from when I was younger and writing it out, could use this within the publication, have pages with stories that accompany them, memories that if the audience reads might change their perception of the city they see through the book. 

Using the text on a single page, giving imagery and text some breathing room. Does this present too clean and cold an approach, the book should feel more intimate, and personal. This sense of personality is communicated through the hand-drawn type conveying a personal story.

Structure on the page looks odd, this can be decided on later.

Using the text scan as it is, starting to appear scrapbook-y, the book should feel clean and professional as well as personable. 

The structure of the book needs to be considered, could go in a few ways:
A - Essay introduction isolated from imagery
B - Essay introduction with imagery combined throughout
C - Essay introduction isolated from imagery and personal text

D - Essay introduction, imagery, and personal text combined throughout

^ Isolated essay text from rest of content
- Think if I am to be working with two different texts it would make sense to have one that is differentiating from the other, could have the essay introduction on tip-ins, or have the memory text on tip-ins. 

^ Text combined
- This shows how the hand-drawn text is visually different enough from the rest of the text to exist in the book alongside the essay. 
- Still feel as though something that alters the paper size or type would be the best way to communicate this theme. 

Currently, in these examples, everything is very contained, the images are placed centrally on the page, could experiment more with the layout and arrangement of imagery. Think about what relates to what text as well as how the images complement each other. 

Exploring more of a dynamic layout, as well as pairing imagery together into visually connected imagery. They're more interesting to

The tip-ins could be a great way to introduce an extra layer to the book, getting people to interact with the pages differently and with more ease (appears more handleable). 

- Where would these go in the book, how would they appear?

Print black and white mock up with small tests (cheap).

A1

A2

B1

C1

C2

D1

D2

Layouts A and C are the most successful with the tip in included, sits well on the page and makes for a more engaging spread. Layouts D feels much too formal, could be fine when they're on their own or when paired with an image that isn't centralised (like C).

The tip in is working well as a practical element, designs still need to be considered but the way it handles is really strong. Could be a way of displaying hand written text instead of essay introduction? 
- Feel as though it makes the essay less formal, fits with the warmer tone of the imagery. 

E1

E2

F1

F2

Experimenting with colourful tip ins, using a varied paper stock to add to the publication with colour images to see how they work together. 

Layouts E were on a neon yellow paper, but the pastel tone it looks like on the scan is much more suited to the spread.

The pink works as well, it matches the tones within the book, keeps it warm and light. 

The change of paper colour makes it feel like an addition, less formal and more inviting.

G1

G2

Here with the white tip in it seems like it should be on the page. Changing the colour allows the tipin to be more purposeful as a design choice.

Reflecting:

• The current direction is working well, using the practical features of the book to further the themes discussed in the essay text and the tone communicated from the photos.
• Should work on arranging the imagery in a way that tells a story and communicates to the audience, think about the stories there are that are connected to the specific places, if there is anything I have that relates to them and how I can pull visuals from these.
  - Want to avoid it looking too much like a scrapbook, should be intimate but not invasive. 
• Moving forward think about imagery and annotated/hand-drawn text inclusions.