Week Four Class Reflection

In today's class, we again had a critique of each other's work. I had been working on this quite a bit over the last week, although the downside to my work was that I didn't realise that every spread had to have a similarly structured layout, so every building had a different layout, just a similar aesthetic.

When comparing the feedback I received with my initial concepting checklist, I realised that I wasn't at all conveying what I had set out to do. I was wanting quite a spacious, sophisticated book, although I wasn't conveying that at all yet.

Along with that, Fay gave me a lot of pointers on what to change and how to go about it. I'm going away to Australia for the holidays, although I'll make sure that once I get back I get a lot of development on my design, so that for week five's class it is really well refined, and then it will only be crafting left to do.

Week Three Class Reflection

Over the course of the past week, I've been working on coming up with initial concepts for 'The Rock' spread, the introduction spread, and also the awards spreads at the back end of the book. I have come up with multiple concepts in order to be as broad as possible, and then find aspects that work better than others, then begin to focus on one conceptual approach for the whole book. These can be seen in my physical workbook.

This class was mainly spent with everyone printing their homework, and then having it critiqued in front of the class so that we could go away and develop it for the remainder of the studio. I quite like having whole class critiques, as you also learn from hearing other peoples' work being critiqued, and find other aspects that work or don't work.

I had some very effective feedback from Fay and Jo, and I have more of an idea where I will head in terms of a consistent layout throughout. I spent the final hour of studio time working on and developing this as well.

Next week, we are having a class critique/interim presentation, where we have been given a list of things to have completed. We need to refine the chapters we have been working on, as well as come up with a lot more spreads. It's good that we are being instructed to do a lot of work before the class critique, as the earlier you get concepts whipped up and critiqued, the more time you have to develop and refine them before hand-in.

Week Two Class Reflection

At the beginning of class today, we had Tessa, an in-house designer from Studio Pacific Architecture, come in and have a bit of a Q&A session with our class.

The session was super helpful, as we were able to asks some questions and gain valuable insight into what the architecture company are like, and their underlying beliefs and ways of working. There were key aspects of their company, such as focusing on environmental sustainability and being creative, innovative, and collaborative with external sources as well. I took down heaps of notes during her slideshow presentation as well, which I've saved on Microsoft Word, so that I've got some key notes to reference when filling out my concept checklist, and coming up with a conceptual style.

Following the Q&A, we had a small presentation from Fay about using grids and setting them up on InDesign, using master pages, paragraph styles and so on, all the sorts of things that would make this project that much easier to manage. We then set up our own, and printed out some grid layouts at thumbnail size, so that we could beginning working on some layouts.

By next week, we are required to bring a few printed layouts that we have come up with, and we are meant to have chosen a font family to use as well, one that we feel fits and exemplifies Studio Pacific Architecture's ethos. The layouts we need to make are for 'The Rock' spreads, the 'Awards' spread, and also the 'Intro' spread. It's good that we are getting into the digital prototyping nice and early so that we have a lot of time to develop and refine these before the final hand-in.

Before I begin to whip these up on InDesign, I'm going to sketch out more layouts on my thumbnails grids, as it's a good way to roughly put heaps of layout ideas on a page, and see what works and what doesn't. Once I have some layouts that I think will work, I'll begin to create them in InDesign.

Analysis' of Existing Editorial Design

I've been doing a bit of research online looking at some existing editorial design, in order to see how they've used grid systems, font choices, imagery, and other FADP's such as scale, balance, and composition. Attached to this blog are a couple of images found online, and there are some good things I like about some of them, then other aspects which I don't admire as much. 

First up, is the above spread. A lot of architectural books tend to go for this style of one page covered with a photo, and then text on the left hand side. The reason for this, is to catch people's attention. As a user flicks through a book, the first thing they see is the picture on the right hand side, and if they like the look of it, or find it interesting, then they are more likely to go onto reading the article. Although the type is simple and placed within two large columns (on what appears to be a four column grid system), I really think it suits the feel of the page, and gives it a nice, crisp look. This feel is greatly enhanced by the main header type, which is a nice, thin sans-serif font. The dark blue of the font also matches to one of the blue shades in the image, creating a clever link between the two.The page feels very clean, crisp, and modern, and would definitely draw me in to read the text or at least skim through a few lines of the content. 

Again, much like my last write-up, the above double page spread uses one large photo taking up the write hand page, with text on the other. Accompanying the text this time are two further photos, and no heading, which would suggest this is the inside of one of the chapters or sections within the book. The composition is quite nice, and the two smaller images on the left match together nicely to meet the colour scheme set in the large image on the right, with the mixture of fresh green grass and blue skies.The text has again been placed into more of a traditional two column fixture, which helps keep the page nice and balanced, easy to read, and fits in with the intended style.

The composition of the above double page spread is somewhat different to the previous two. The images still take up the whole right hand page, while the text predominantly covers the left hand page. The book this time consists of square pages as well, rather than the typical rectangular or A4 sized paper that many are accustomed to. The squared pages allow a shift in approach to the compositon, and has allowed 9 different images to be placed on the right hand page. This one also features a pull out quote, which is the main focus of the left hand page, due to it's large scale. I quite like the layout of the images, although I'm not the biggest fan of the text page, and the font of the pull quote isn't my favourite either. I'm also unsure if this style really suits Studio Pacific Architecture either, as they seem to be a lot crisper and cleaner looking.

The above spread is another neat twist on a composition, consisting of three images, and some body copy. This one they have reversed the order of the pages, by having the images on the left hand page, with the text following it on the right hand page. I quite like the placement and scale of the images, although I feel like the type could be manipulated a lot better, with a lot more thought put into the composition and breaking up of the body copy. At the moment it just looks like one massive clump of text, with random rags. It' doesn't really seem to be designed at all.

The above spread goes back to the typical large photo on the right hand side, with predominantly text on the left. There's something quite interesting about how the large image doesn't quite fill the whole page, and instead leaves a blank white column by the centerfold. The three images stacked on top of one another has again been a popular theme throughout my research, which allows the text to be neatly compiled on one side of them. I quite like this layout, and the composition of the photographs themselves are very interesting, and would draw the viewer in while navigating through the book.

This spread, placed directly above, is actually one from a Studio Pacific Architecture book. I really like how they've gone for the large image on the right hand side, although uniquely stretched it beyond the centrefold and half way across the left hand page, until it meets the body copy. This is allows the smaller images to be tucked up alongside it in a small column, and not look out of place at all. The border around the edge of the large photo is quite nice, and definitely helps to create the crisp, clean, and modern look that Studio Pacific Architecture seem to exemplify.

After this research, I have definitely started to come up with some of my own possible layouts, and I will look to draw inspiration from some of these. On Thursday, we have a Q&A session with an employee from Studio Pacific Architecture, which will allow me to get further insight into their beliefs and ways of design. This will further help me conceptualize a style that I'd like to use for this book design.

Week One Class Reflection

Today we were introduced to our elective, Editorial Design, and our lecturers Fay and Jo introduced us to the brief, and informed us of what our first assignment will be. What we are designing is a book between 56 and 100 pages, for our client Studio Pacific Architecture. We have been given all of the information and content to go inside, both the text and the images to choose from. However, we are also allowed to source our own images, and go and take them if we choose to do so.

I'm really excited for this paper, especially since it's basically the progression from Type in first year, and the elective Information Design in second year.

Next week, we are having a Q&A session with an employee from Studio Pacific Architecture, so it will give us a better chance to really understand what the company is all about, so that we can begin coming up with conceptual styles, colour palettes, and a general aesthetic approach to our book.

By next week's class, I'm going to analyse a few existing designs that I find online as some research, so I can use these as some inspiration for my own conceptual approaches to this brief. I will also have a look through their website and do a bit of research so that I can get a better understanding of how they operate, their beliefs and overall vibe of the architectural company. I'm also looking forward to the Q&A session, as it will really help clarify what they are about by hearing from an employee first-hand.