OUGD 404 Chip Kidd - Offset 2009

OUGD 404 Chip Kidd - Offset 2009

Here were a few key points from Chip Kids talk at the offset festival that I could apply to my own book covers for this project.

• Extract ideas from the author
• Dissect visual elements from the tabloid and represent it
• Don't be too literal
• Use found objects for photography
• The customer is always right
• Use just type

Book Binding

Book Binding

Today I learnt how to bind my publications from the previous project. I bound my colour theory magazine giving it the final touches and an overall professional look and standard. This process was fairly easy to do it just took some time and patience but I will definitely do it again. It's much better then the previous clips I had attached to the publication. That made it easier to fall apart and also the clips didn't even match. Now it looks like it could fit perfectly in someones bookshelf. I also added a bit of light blue card around the bound area giving it a final touch. This covered up the PVA glue marks making it look cleaner.

 

Chosen Books

Chosen Books

South of the Borders, West of the Sun, Haruki Murakami

This is a novel about to best friends set in a post war Japan and how they opened a Jazz bar due to their love for music. They become separated when they move to different schools however they are reunited at the age of 36. The title comes from a song by Nat King Cole, 'South of the Border'. The second half of the title comes from an Inuit syndrome called Piblokto or Arctic hysteria. In the book it states the title as a question, asking what is west of the sun? "Try to imagine this, you’re a farmer, living all alone on the Siberian tundra. Day after day you plow your fields. As far as the eye can see, nothing. To the north, the horizon, to the east, the horizon, to the south, to the west, more of the same. Every morning, when the sun rises in the east, you go out to work in your fields. When it’s directly overhead, you take a break for lunch. When it sinks in the west, you go home to sleep. In the winter they stay home and do indoor work. When spring comes, they head out to the fields again. Anyway, that cycle continues, year after year, and then one day, something inside you dies. Maybe nothing or maybe something in the west of the sun. At any rate, it’s different from south of the border.” Some of the musicians mentioned in the novel are Nat King Cole, Bill Crosby, Sam Cooke, Duke Ellington and many more. 

The Bear Comes Home, Rafi Zabor

This is a story about a dancing bear who one day becomes fed up with this vocation and sneaks into a jazz club and discovers a new passion there. The bear ends up becoming an alto saxophone player in the jazz subculture in pursuit of love and truth. Yet readers almost didn't get this gem. Parts of the novel first appeared in Musician magazine as far back as 1979, but author Rafi Zabor took along hibernation, and the The Bear Comes Home didn't get completed and appear in book form until 1997.  Perhaps the writer, like his hero, had his own existential issues to address. As a result, the novel that could have been an exciting debut of an up-and-coming young talent didn't show up on the shelves until Zabor was in his fifties. 

Here Me Talkin' To Ya, Nat Hentoff

This is a book about the history of jazz music told by the people who created it in a series of interviews, featuring artists such as Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington and many more. It talks about the beginning of the twentieth century in the red-light district in New Orleans and also downtown Chicago. These documented interviews come in many forms such as newspapers, articles, tape recordings, telephone calls, magazine, and this book of course. This book is a collection of all of these personal interviews combined into one form with all you need to know about the history of jazz music and its culture.

OUGD 404 Grid Publication Feedback

OUGD 404 Grid Publication Feedback

Today I received feedback from my peers for the grid system publication. I once again received a lot of positive feedback based upon the layout of my publication, just like the previous one. I guess this must be a strong suit of mine and a skill that I can transfer into other projects. Unfortunately the same cannot be said for the information I included in my book. Many people picked up on my lack of information stating if I had wrote about the 3 chosen grid designs. This is something which I can easily improve upon and add it in straight away. Another negative was that I could have included some more research documents and also that people couldn't figure out which work was mine or not. Apart from all that though, there were many comments on the "minimal" and "clean" layout, stating that it was easy to read and consume. 

To improve this I am going to write up a bunch of research into some of the chosen grids used within the publication and include them in the pages. This will mean re printing it so maybe I can even improve the layout or add some more research documentation. 

Layouts I liked

Layouts I liked

This first idea really appealed to me due to the colours used here. I really like how only one colour has been used as it kind of makes the text and the image seem incorporated into one form. I also really like the typeface used here and how well it fits within its surroundings. A really strong part of this idea is how they have emphasised the use of the grid here as you can tell it has been used as a main feature in the design. I think i'd like to try using the same colour throughout my designs to see how they may turn out.

This idea really stood out compared to the rest as it doesn't really seem to follow any particular grid system, however deep down I reckon it has. I really like the negative spaced used here although it could maybe be a different colour. That would make it even better. I also like the hand drawn aspect to it. It makes it seem quite punk like and also sort of like a music magazine without any music related imagery in its form. The hand drawn type also brings the whole thing together giving it . a consistent style throughout. 

This one is similar to the first idea as it used a single colour throughout the whole design. This is always a winner with me it seems. The difference with this one thought, is that the grid system used to create this one is a lot different. It's a much more simple layout which works so well with this typeface and the placement seems effortless yet perfect. Red and white is the one.

                                        

This idea really stood out to me as it baldy states a contrast between the type used and the image. You would never expect these two forms to work together however in my eyes it looks great. They rally compliment each other and the grey and orange look very retro which I guess relates to the image. This is possibly why it works so well. Maybe if the text was direct onto the image it would look even better. 

This final one also reminds me of a punk album or something music related. Underground record labels and such. I also really enjoy the hand rendered aspect of it and the mysteriousness of the image. In my head if you cant read the type then it's good therefore this one is great. This could also be a music magazine cover or maybe even a fashion one just by the style of design used here. I don't know if it was intentional or not but the white border around it works great too. It really supports the grid system here. 

OUGD 404 Book Feedback

OUGD 404 Book Feedback

My feedback was generally quite positive. A lot of people mentioned the imagery and the consistency throughout. They also mentioned how well lay out it was. All of those things were my main targets in this project. I wanted to really express the importance of the layout in this one.

In the feedback most people addressed the image quality and how well the experimentation's were taken place. They also mentioned really good photography which is quite ironic given the little effort it took my to do plus it was on my phone. One of the negatives though was tat too of my theories maybe seemed too similar in this as they both used rather similar practises. This can easily be adjusted into later projects for more variation in the work produced. People also picked up on the experimentation that I included which I was sceptical of at first however it paid off as variation in this field seemed to work. 

Something I could have really improved on is possibly the writing. Some people stated how some of the writing did not make sense and maybe there should have been more explanation with with my practical work. They did take note that I had a good understanding of the theories however. They did state that my last theory did not relate back to the practical work too much but that was only one comment. I think it is too soon to decided weather this was a major issue or not. They did however suggest I that my final practical work related more to contrast of hue and not light-dark contrast which was very useful. 

I reckon I agree with most of these comments except from maybe the one about the link between the light-dark contrast and my practical. I did enjoy the comment advising me to another artists work as I could see the similarities within the my work and theirs. If I was to do this again I would possibly follow most of the same rules as I did with this one. Use a really simple layout and use lots of white space. I may also have to show where I got these ideas from in that case which is something I did not do this time. I will definitely carry this feedback and the things I have learnt here into future projects.