Pre production I tested the pagination and format of the book to ensure the book would print correctly and most size effectively.
I kept the inside page simple as I planned to clear foil the title onto the cover so I thought in forcing this for ease of legibility on the inside pages would be effective. I also introduced the second format section of the book at this point to create consistency throughout the publication.
I printed on a thin matte stock then screen printed gloss onto the images so they were the only gloss element of the publication. This is effective in producing a sharp image and good texture combination but the stock choice meant the paper became wavy when wet. In reflection if I was to produce this again i'd choose a thicker stock to avoid this issue. But in commercial printing I would of used UV spot varnish rather than screen printing to apply the gloss which would avoid the wavy paper problem completely.
Throughout the book I used 4 shades of Colour plan stock in varying shades of blue. I chose the colour blue as it's relevant to Hull being a costal city that relies on the marina for trade and tourism. Colourplan stock is available in all different variations of colour which made it perfect for this one off publication but would also be easily applied in commercial printing as G.F.Smith provides stock for most printers in the UK. I chose to create a gradient order within my stock to mimic waves, further enforcing the idea of water.
These images above show the variations in stock and the wave like gradients they create throughout the book.
I decided to saddle stitch my book as it creates a hand crafted look which will appeal to a creative audience that appreciate work produced by hand more than mass produced work. This binding method is still applicable using commercial printing methods with the same hand crafted feeling to the overall publication.
The book has a lot of flaws due to the stock being too thin so when screen printed upon its become wrinkled which looks un professional. A way to avoid this would be to use thicker stock (silk so it automatically becomes glossy when printed upon) and smaller (which makes it more applicable as a city guide).
CRIT
I asked for the crit how I could create a more effective and high class looking book thats more cost effective.
The solutions I came to for making improvements are ...
- Perfect bind the book - a tighter bind will stop the book from 'flapping' around, looking cheap and becoming damaged if its carried around as a guide.
- Keep bright white stock? - as it keeps the attention on the photography. You can use silk stock that when photos are printed on appears as gloss, achieves the same result as the gloss screen print but its more cost effective and stops the wrinkling of the paper.
- On the other hand an organic stock could also work as it relates to the hand drawn, rough looking type and area the books content is focusing on.
- Cut down the information, reduce the letters to the attractive ones only? or just hand type? Also cut down the body copy, keep it a guide about the city and let people evaluate the type for themselves.
- Another way to save money is to print all the pages on one sheet of stock to reduce wastage.
- Use a thicker cover stock, protects the inside content and looks more high quality.
- Consider what image I want to portray of the area.
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