~ Design production - studio brief 3 - type in context - design boards & evaluation ~

For me grids are something thats never seemed an appealing area of research but creating a bespoke grid for this publication was a really interesting part of the brief. The target audience in this brief was very specific as the publication had to be classified as an art and photography book; this informed many of the editorial and production decisions made throughout. 

I made the decision to embrace the fact that my initial photographs were collected in Hull during its transition to city of culture 2017. I felt the book could act as an art and photography book, a guide to the art based cultural places around the city and a record of this transitional period; giving it a unique selling point. This addition of information allowed me to combine two stock types within the publication. I find that a combination of stock it an aesthetic decision that the target audience would find appealing, giving it all the more relevance to the brief.

Research into the possibilities of print finishes within the commercial printing sector influenced the production of the book massively. Rather than restricting myself to in house (university) tools I allowed myself to explore things such as UV spot inks, embossing, binding etc. I allowed myself to think of the books final product as a prototype that could be improved upon when created in mass production with these techniques available. For my mock up for instance I used gloss screen printing as a prototype example of where the UV spot gloss would be placed when produced in industry. Other explored considerations included how duotone printing can effect cost & bleed and marks creating ease for effective printing (these are things that need to be included and considered when handing over files to commercial printers).

I made many mistakes within this brief that in the long term will be beneficial as in my next editorial book production brief I can amend these issues. Once my production ideas had come together I went straight into creating a final prototype without creating cheaper and more basic versions first. After putting together the first book it showed a lot of issues with the book as the final outcome looked cheap and unprofessional. It cost me a lot of money; next time I will be sure to do as many tests as possible to ensure each decision is successful. 

The mistakes made were the most beneficial part of this brief as it will positively effect my design process and initial considerations to book production in the future. In the end the final amended product took into consideration all the previous mistakes made making it effective in fulfilling the brief. I am happy with the piece as something to put in my portfolio, with which I will include a description of how each production value would change and be re-created on a mass production level to show clients/possible employers my awareness of these considerations.