~ book production - type in context ~

In terms of stock most art and photography books use matte due to the texture appeal to the audience, matte stock allows you to handle and appreciate a publication without leaving marks/fingerprints.

But traditionally photographs are printed on gloss stock to create full clarity and colour contrast, it makes the photos look more high quality and sharp.

A way my publication could combine both matte stock and gloss images is through the use of UV spot varnish. This technique would be used to create this effect if the book was being produced commercially. But due to my publication being a one off prototype rather than mass produced I can recreate this effect using gloss screen printing on top of a matte stock. This is the technique I will use for my large format section of the publication.

For my insert I want the stock to contrast the minimal white stock I want to use for the main body. Using coloured stock will be effective as all the content within the insert is type and monochrome photography. The image above shows a book of gradients this inspired the possible of using multiple shades of a coloured stock throughout the book. The colour most appropriate to this publication is blue due to the city of Hull being known for its docks and coastline, but this colour choice could differ in each publication for different cities.

G.F.Smiths colour plan range provides a large selection of variations of blue all available in different stock finishes and gsm. I plan to select a few different shades to experiment with depending on availability. This range of paper is widely available in commercial printers also so if the book was being produced commercially this stock could be used.

I've observed that a lot of art and photography books take on a magazine like aesthetic when it comes to binding and choose to use perfect binding methods. This looks tidy and clean but isn't the most appropriate to my publication due to the photographs spanning the spreads perfect binding would warp the images and parts would become less visible.

Another possible binding technique is saddle stitching using either staples or string. This method affects the pagination of the book but is relatively easy to achieve due to automatic pagination tools on InDesign. This method of binding allows you to open a publication to lay much flatter than perfect bound books perfect for images that span across spreads.

I'm proposing that for my publication I use string saddle stitching as my binding method. The use of string rather than staples is more appealing to a creative target audience, it suggests a more hand crafted element appreciated more by the audience. This binding method is available also in commercial printers using binding and stitching machines.

Summary

To summarise I will be using both a white and experiment with multiple shades of blue stock. I will then screen print a gloss finish onto the images within the publication. To finish the book I will saddle stitch the book together using string.