OUGD504 Studio Brief 3 | Evaluation

Evaluation 

I found studio brief 3 to be the most engaging, challenging and fun out of the four briefs set in OUGD504. In the past I have really enjoyed publication based briefs and I am also very interested in photography so I was determined to produce something I was actually proud of by the end of this module. 

One thing that helped me in this brief was the amount of research I did into existing publications. This allowed me to understand how different layouts helped convey messages and a certain aesthetic that went along with the publication’s brand. Although I did have an idea of what I wanted my publication to look like from the start, I did still do research into other looks and test them out before I was 100% sure of what kind of aesthetic I was going for myself. 

From all this research I was able to take inspiration form a  lot of different publications, but looking back I feel I may have taken too much inspiration from one. During this brief it did cross my mind that maybe my design was too similar to an existing magazine so I asked classmates and they said it wasn’t too noticeable. To make sure it was ok I then asked for John’s opinion and he said not to worry about it as I have just take inspiration form something I admire. Although I do agree with this, I still think I could have steered away from a certain ‘look’ a tiny bit. 

Studio brief 3 has definitely helped me understand the process of designing and making a publication much more deeply compared to Level 4. The problems I ran into while printing and manufacturing this product will help me in future briefs.

OUGD504 Studio Brief 3 | Final Product

OUGD504 Studio Brief 3 | Final Publication (Digital)

http://issuu.com/danhartdavies/docs/book_high_res/1

OUGD504 | Studio Brief 3 | Finished Pages

OUGD504 Studio Brief 3 | Final Production

I encountered a couple of problems in this brief when it came to production, one of them being funding. As my publication contains 55 pages, I had to buy 15(?) pieces of A1 paper at £3.10 each. I couldn’t afford that before Christmas so I had to wait until my loan came in in order to buy it which meant putting the manufacturing of my publication on hold. Outisde of university in the industry this wouldn’t be a problem as the company would have worked out a budget that could be spent on the product, rather than having buying food to live it would be spent on stock, printing and binding materials. 

The other problem was the issue of printing on my own stock. The printer in the print room at college can only print on a maximum A3 on stock from elsewhere. This was an issue because the paper from Fred Aldous came in sheets of A1. This meant I had to cut down the A1 pieces to A3, print the pages individually, then cut them out of each sheet of paper and bind it together. 

As the print room got ridiculously busy and fully booked up for the week, I had ended up printing on paper from the college in a drop in session where it was only just possible to get it printed. Ideally I would have printed on the stock I bought from Fred Aldous but due to money and time restrictions I wasn't able to. 

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Once it was printed the next task was to bind it. I started by just cutting the left hand side with a ruler and scalpel to ensure I got an accurate, clean cut. By just cutting the left side it means I was able to bind it and then cut down the top, right and bottom sides all in one go on the guillotine once it was glued. This makes sure that they are all straight and the pages don't fan out when it's closed.

  

OUGD504 Studio Brief 3 | Stock

From my first hand research into publications I was able to see a lot of different stocks used. I originally thought about using gloss or even high gloss, but after going down to the digital print room I decided against it as it didn't fit the kind of magazine style I was aiming to achieve. Then I thought maybe a smooth matt would work well as I have used that a lot in previous projects; it binds well, colour prints well on it and it is relatively cheap. For a while I was decided on using matt until I went back and looked at the publications I owned again and decided I wanted something a bit more sturdy and something that felt better in your hands.

I found when holding and looking through some magazines the ones with a more textured stock were more memorable to me and felt like they meant more. This is why I then went to Fred Alders in town to see what stock they had. I decided to go with 270gsm 'White Frost'. This was the best choice as it was pretty thick yet not too thick that it would be uncomfortable or had to bind but still felt like quality paper. 

OUGD504 Studio Brief 3 | Type Choice

For the titles and headings in the publication Times Regular has been used, this typeface works well as it is a serif font which makes it quite bold and stand out for the reader to see. Times is a very traditional typeface which links to the traditional side of practicing photography and documenting life. For the body copy Din is the chosen font which contrasts and compliments Times nicely as Din is a sans-serif with a modern feel to it. It is very eligible and this font works well with the very minimal layout of the publication and against all the white space it is almost like vinyl lettering in a gallery space.

The titles in the publication are all capital letters which again, make them immediately noticeable against the body copy and the sub-headings. This is also a way of making a very traditional looking font look slightly more modern. When done in this matter it definitely makes the type a lot stronger on the page but it definitely isn't too much and fits very well.

OUGD504 Studio Brief 3 | Grid & Layout | Research and Development

I had an idea from the start as to what I wanted my publication to look like. After looking at different publications and how they are set out and how they communicate their message, I knew I wanted to have a very simplistic and minimal design such as the likes of Cereal and Street Dreams.

I have done a lot of research in the past on grids and layouts for previous briefs so I knew a few standard ones and which I liked to use but this time I wanted to experiment a bit more. One system that intrigued me was the Van de Graaf Canon. I read about it on http://retinart.net/graphic-design/secret-law-of-page-harmony/

In InDesign I drew out the canon and then made a grid that fits - 9x9. I played around with this grid to see how the image and text would look and where it would go. It was slightly off so I adjusted it to how I wanted it to look.

Below is the space in which content would be placed and can be seen in practice in the screenshot below that.

I then decided to see how it would look if extended the box down to the second diagonal line. This resulted in a more even and balanced look rather than it being 'top-heavy' - as said by a classmate.

After asking around my classmates and the feedback I got was that the second, altered version worked better. The reasoning behind this was the majority of people thought the first version looked very unbalanced and 'strange', where as the second looked consistent and linear which fits the minimal layout and white space.