Quick evaluation of Project/ book

Overall I am very pleased with my final book layout, I think the layout/ styles I have used work well within the context of the series being book studies of indentations. I look to continue the project further as I have only included 5 book studies within my book, I could also expand the series onto different genres of books as previously mentioned and compare indentation types. I could also do a separate project on family member’s books. 

Final book layout...

Over the last couple of days I have been working towards my final book layout. From a previous post I have started again as I needed to go back to my print outs of all edited photographs to be included and see which ones work well with each other. I have stuck with a similar front cover but altered text slightly. Below are print screens of my book so far, it only really needs a couple of tweaks. 

This is my chosen front cover. The image I have chosen creates an introduction to the photographs inside the book. The sense of direction with the book pages draws the viewer in. There is a hint of an indent in the pink book mark at the back of the image. The text I have used is still Adobe Casion Pro as it simple and I think it goes well with the context of my book, it being a study of indents within a book. I have decided not to use underling as I want it to be as readable as possible to viewers. 

I wanted a simple title page to again introduce the title of the book. Again I used the same text used on the front cover to create fluidity. 

Foreword- 

"Books are important in advancing the readers understanding and knowledge of the world around us. 

When reading books we often leave indentations behind, whether that be abandoned book marks, folded corners on pages or quick notations along the side of the text. 

In the indentations documented photographically the titles of the books studied are often related  to what the reader/ owner has left behind."


I have used a larger letter at the beginning of each image as I have seen this in many books of this kind. It clearly defines each paragraph. I have used right alignment as this was what was recommended in the earlier lecture on typology, being easier for the reader to read and create a flow between each line.
I have used page numbers in a grey colour, I didn't want it to be black because it would draw viewers away from the image if it connects with the black from each photograph background. I have used a footer on each page in the book, a slightly lighter grey than the page numbers. The footer reads "Psychology of Readers". 

"Book Study 1:

Media Coverage of Terrorism 

by Alali Eke"

Before each change of book study I have used a title page, with the number of the book study, the title of the book so viewers can see the relation between the indents and the title as this is important in a majority. I have used the capitalised Adobe text on the line of book study number, then normal adobe text for the title and back to capitalised again for the author but much smaller than the other text on the page. 

I have decided to put these two images together on a double page spread due to them working because they aren't too similar in appearance so the viewer can clutch onto the image better. The images are 28cm from each edge so balanced. 

On the left hand page I have stretched the image across the whole page to pull more significance to that particular image. The right photo acts as a image that shows why the right state of the book is. I have made the right image smaller as it has significance but not as much as the left photo. 

"Book Study2:

Television Technology and Cultural Form"

by Raymond Williams"

Same layout/ text as book study 1 title page.

2 landscape images side by side 28cm from each book edge. For double spreads I didn't want two images that were similar in style because it would be repetitive for the reader. So by using one image of the top of the book and one focusing on text it defines the two photographs. 

On this double page spread I have included two images with different views of the same red marker. The white framing around the right image works well due to the stretched image on the left. 

I have moved the footers reading "Psychology of Reading" to the centre of the opposite page to the full stretched image to remind the reader of the images focus. 

"Book Study 3:

Violence and Media 

by Carter and Weaver"

"Book Study 4:

The Hollywood

Feature Film in Post war Britain

by Paul Swann"

As the last full page image was on the left hand side I chose to put this on the right to create a sense of balance. 

"Book Study 5

Work Placements a Survival

Guide for Students

By Christine Fanthorne"

"Book Study 6:

Oxford School

Thesaurus"

As this was the only image I took for the thesaurus I put it on the right side stretched right across for significance. The interesting thing about this image was the bulging look this book has, I think having right across the right page exaggerates this. 

I have used a black background to go with the black background of my front cover photograph, this creates a bold striking look to the exterior. 

Mon 14th May- Book Feedback

In this session I got a lot of feedback on text and ordering of images which really helped me consolidate my book layout/ format.

TEXT-

• Front cover text will need adjusting to be little smaller because when printed it will look a lot bigger
• Contemplate using text that goes diagonally along the book edge in image
• Text a little further from edge
• Move the word "of" onto line with "reading"
• Underlining?

Book Layout So Far...

This week I have started putting my book together, what I have done may change over the final week of the module depending on feedback I get, as I want to play around with layouts. I have decided to go for a standard landscape book. I haven't yet decided on what paper to use or what cover to have. I have decided to go for a standard landscape so I can fit landscape and portrait images in their. 

This is the cover I have decided on out of the ones I tried in an earlier post. I have chosen this particular image because it is quite general in the way that no indent takes over and it gives the reader the insight into me doing a photographic study of books. I think the lines within the book I have photographed guides the reader to the title of my book "Psychology of Reading". There is a slight indent at the back of the book, a pink book mark, it is suggestive not detailed because of the focus used, but I think this works to suggest I am looking at indents but not giving it all away on the cover. Because of the black background I have used I have written the title in white and cap locks for it to stand out. I have also used underlining for the same reason. The font I have used is Adobe Caslon Pro as I wanted a font that would be easy to read and rather basic. I also altered the tracking (the spaces between each letter) as this is often used in photo books to create easy readable text, especially in titles. 

This is the first double page spread which I have used as a title page so the reader isn't put off by a lot of text straight away, it gives a kind of pause to the book opening. I have used the same text/ tracking technique as the title on the front cover to create a fluency. 

This will be the spread for my foreword, which I will be writing this week. I will need to outline my purpose for the series and why I wanted to capture book indents. On the right page I have 3 small photographs from my edited series. The three images I have chosen are similar in composition in the way the whole books are in the photographic composition, they include small indents. The three photographs suggest what's to come along side the foreword I will write. 

I have started putting photographs on the following spreads but I still need to work out whether to put different photographs of the same book together leaving blank pages to distinguish a different book or whether to randomly place different books together and distinguish these by small captions underneath. So far I have put the same books together but I may change this depending on feedback. If I place the randomly the images will speak for them selves and the caption will be more significant. The titles of the books are important as some of the indents I have documented seem to resemble the title of the book, for example words underlined could refer to the title. In the spreads I have done so far the same books are together, I just wanted to play around with layout until I get someone else's opinion on the organisation of images. 

(Above) This is what I want a single page landscape images to be like, I want a white border around the image because captions will probably go under each photograph. This white border is often used when photographers are showing black and white images in book form, and as my image has a black background (so is quite dark) I want this. I think the white border also helps to focus in on the image, and make it a little border. 

I want to put some landscape images on a double page spread, this will put emphasis on the particular photograph. 

I will be having a black back cover to flow along side the black background in the front cover photograph. This will be strong as it will contrast with the white pages inside. 

Cara Barer

Cara Barer photographs the "documentation of a physical evolution", turning the common object of a book into sculpture and documenting it in photographs. Through the creativity she applies on a book it looks into the future of books. The photographs are created through both chance and experimentation. The books are changed in appearance by Barer and she looks for lots of methods to change their looks. Some of the books she changes are her own which she didn't need anymore and she restructures them to create new forms and shapes. 

The black background used to photograph her book sculptures is very similar to my photographic approach, in creating a bold image pulling focus on the details of the book. 

The pages in this structure are all folded to the right creating a direction for the viewers eye to be directed to. Fro the state of the book we get a sense of it being at one time in contact with water, she may have used this method to make the pages open to be restructured. 

Again in this image direction is created. In her images she doesn't look at details/ text within the book but the page structures/ patterns, whereas in my project of indentations I'm looking for both. 

In this photograph Barer has used a white background which works better than a black background because of the deep blue colour being quite bright and striking. It almost gives an impression that it has been dyed blue by the quality of the colour, but whether this has been done I am unsure of. The image is overall quite abstract. 

This image is my favourite as it relates to my work the most out of the ones I have looked at. The six rectangular details below the restructured book are very interesting. They show bits of underlined/ circled writing that the owner has written. I  am looking to look into these bits of details in my images I have done. The black background works well against the cream writing. The book almost looks damp as if it has weathered over decades into curved bundles. 

The symmetry in this image is very interesting along side the strong colours. It is visually very striking. 

This image is very abstract, if you didn't know other pieces of work by Barer or read her statement on her website the viewer wouldn't know this was a book. Again it gives an intrigue into how this has been created. 

Google research

Before I did the photo shoots I examined below I did a Google search in how people have previously photographed books. Here are the results...

These have made me consider innovative ways of recording pages of books. Patterns seem to be created in these books, which I don't really want to primarily create for the reader I want the indents to focused on firstly but do this in a way that s striking like these Google images. 

Photos to be Included...

In previous posts I went through all the edited photographs from the public library and family book shoots, having looked through them all I have narrowed them down to around 20 images. Most of the images are from books in the university/ public library as the indents are more interesting as even I don't know who did the photographed indents to the books. I have also included a couple of images from a family shoot as the work well with the public library images. The problem with many of the other family book images is that they have a lot more colour involved. Here are all the images I am going to use...

(click on contact sheet to view larger)

Front Cover tests

This week I have been trying out different layouts/ typing for the front cover of my book. At the moment my working title is "Psychology of Reading" as the indents I am recording look into the readers train of thoughts and reading processes. 

In Design Week 2

More techniques learnt in this weeks tutorial in In Design...

When wanting to see what text will look like but no content as yet ... Type- Fill with place holder text

Leading- line spacing, usually 4 up from text size

Curning- Spaces between letters

Space after paragraph

First letter in paragraphs made bigger than rest

Object- Text Frame Options= Inset Spacing

Making text in the middle of the box

Colour to be on CYMK setting

W= Preview mode

Swatches- stops variations of colour 

New swatch of colour- click on box with the colour you want to maintain- then on swatches tab press new swatch icon

Layout- margins and columns to change margins to particular box size then use ruler to keep measurements see able then move margins back. 

Light blue lines= ruler made by pulling down from grey ruler

To insert page numbers

Type- Insert Special Character- Markers- Current Page Number

When changing final doc to Pdf make sure Adobe Pd4 Presets- PDFX3 2002