OUGD405 Studio Brief 3 - Development

OUGD405 Studio Brief 3 - Development

I was really inspired to create something similar to Elle's January 2014 Travel Guide. I found the use of images with white space was aesthetically pleasing and looked quite professional. Therefore I wanted to produce something similar using different shapes to contrast the images and white space. I drew up thumbnails of how I want the spreads to look and decided that I wanted to print these on A5 as I guides, brochures and leaflets are typically A5 or A6 so I wanted to keep a professional consistency. 

I thought about the idea of having one word on each page for the title such as 'See…,' 'Fulfil…' etc as I think they are simple, but effective titles as different people relate to each one individually so when you are drawn to one, it'll make you more interested in creating a bucket list yourself. 

One thing that I knew I wanted to do for the double page spreads was have a full bleed, as from research and to my own knowledge, I believe they look really sharp and attractive, as well as it often being used in the editorial industry. After discussing with the digital print resource, I found that the only way I could have a full bleed is either printing it but having a 3mm margin, or if I were to print it out on a bigger size paper, cut it down and then bind it myself and have it full bleed. After conformation that we were allowed to do this, I decided that would be best and how I would produce it as preferably I didn't want to have any margins. I then made a mock which was really useful and it allowed me to see my thumbnails in context, so I was able to figure out what will go on which page and which order I should do. From this I found that I needed 8 double spreads, so 16 pages altogether. 

I began designing my book using InDesign, trying to make the pages consistent with the use of images, text and white space. However I found that I couldn't find consistency amongst which pages I liked, and which I didn't. The 'Top 20 Most Listed Goals' and 'See…' I didn't particularly like as I found they just looked flat and uninteresting. The 'Travel' page I did like the layout of but at the same time I found there was something asymmetrical about it which wasn't quite pleasing to the eye. I then tried out having the pictures to fill background and placing the text over the top, which I much preferred as it made the double page spreads a lot more striking, in addition from my research I found that plenty of other travel guides and such use this technique as well to really sell to the viewers. I then changed some of my pages to have this effect while some still using the use of white space, much like Elle's Travel Guide; but with this I found there was no consistency with the guide as a whole, so I decided to abandon the white space and have all the double page spreads using full bleeds of the pictures as backgrounds. 

Once I changed this, the guide in my opinion looked 10x better than it did before and each double page spread complemented one another. It took a while for me to find the right images I wanted to use. I was unable to use my own images as the photographs I needed were not accessible to me. But I believe I've found really spectacular images that really suit with the whole vibe of the guide. I think you need to have really spectacular images in a travel guides anyway as all of my research conforms to this as it sells to the viewer. For my front and back cover, I had an image in my head of what I wanted them to look like conjured up from all my research, so I went straight into designing it. I wanted the colour scheme to mainly be blue but colourful as well, as I found that the sky and the sea are prominent parts of the images that relate to bucket lists. I also used a hexagon shape to frame my images as I think it is a lot more compelling than the standard square block images that the majority of guides have. Furthermore I think it has a more engaging effect with younger audiences as well. Overall I think I achieved these affects and the designs turned out better than what I was imagining in my head. 

I used white boxes quite a lot in my designs as it allowed the text to be clear to read with this overlaid behind it, I did however change the opacity on all of them so it wasn't so harsh and the main image was still able to be seen. Choosing typefaces proved to be quite a task, and although I settled on Verdana for the body text, my title typefaces was a difficult challenge. I came between Helvetica Light as I really like the crisp, clear look although I also liked Georgia saw as well, as I felt it similar to the look you would find in magazines and I quite liked having a serif typeface, therefore I think I may just have different title typefaces and vary it between these two, with with ever suits the page more. Although I think this does effect the consistency, I think it is better for the double page spreads to look well individually as well as a set. 

After we had the InDesign workshop, I found a major problem that some of my image resolutions were very low and it wouldn't print out very well. Although we were taught valuable knowledge of how to change an image size while keeping a good resolution, as my images were quite bad it still wouldn't print clear despite using this effect. Therefore I printed out a black and white mock up of my book to see how the images printed. I happened to also print my booklet out wrong using long edge binding rather than short edge which made it upside down double sided, which I'll know for next time not to do. I found that some of my images I could get away with leaving them as they were as I think they printed off to a decent standard, but some I knew I had to change as they just weren't good enough quality. In the future I think I will restrict myself in taking images off the internet as you can't trust the quality, however I am pleased with the layout of the booklet and don't think I need to make any alterations apart from the images.