Publishing 2: Mass Communication - Project 3

Week 10 – Week 12

David Ho Ming Aun (0328394)

Publishing 2: Mass Communication

Project 3

Instructions:

Final Project & Portfolio 40%

The Brief

The Book. (Part 3: Digital Book)

Duration of Assignment

3 Weeks (Briefing on Week 9)

Deadline

Week 12 (12 Jun 2016)

Description

In this final project 3 you will be required to adapt the printed book you have designed for the purpose of on-screen reading. The design of the digital Book will be dependant on the device it will be read from or the type of format used; ePub/PDF/HTML. Presently most digital books are in the ePub/eBook format (How To Create a Fixed Layout Ebook with Adobe InDesign CC), which is adaptable across devices. However this format is only available in Adobe CC. We shall strive to explore and decide on an appropriate format. Your input here is vital.

One very important area to focus on is navigation between pages; this has to be well thought through, as the user interface must not be an obstacle to seamless reading.

Note: Project 3 is an attempt to work on methods that are developing as we speak, so as your lecturer I too am learning these new features, with project 03 our classroom will effectively be a laboratory. Even so we shall strive to produce work that is of good standard.

Requirements

The student will adapt the designs from the printed format without loosing the identity and style of the said in the digital book. The final work will be uploaded unto the respective eportfolios and printed out in thumbnail formats for the hardcopy portfolio. The softcopy (printed book and digital book) will also be burnt on a CD. ‘Packaged’ your InDesign files to ensure all elements of your book has been collated when burning it on the CD.

Submission

1. All gathered information (failures, successes, epiphanies, sketches, visual research, printouts, websites, images, charts, etc.) documented logically and chronologically in the A4 Clear Sheet folder. The works must be labelled and dated.
   
2. All gathered information (failures, successes, epiphanies, sketches, visual research, printouts, websites, images, charts, etc.) documented logically and chronologically in the eportfolio for the duration of the project in one post and for the duration of the course in a separate post as instructed in class.
   
3. Softcopy of the digital book uploaded unto the eportfolio for the purpose of reading. A thumbnail printout of the digital book.
   
4. All files packaged and uploaded unto Google Drive and link provided in the eportfolio. Ensure all folders are labelled or named appropriately.
   

Objectives

1. To develop students ability to adapt the various elements attractively in a digital book.
   
2. To develop students ability create seamless navigation from page to page.
   
3. To develop students ability to maintain a consistent identity with acceptable variation.
   

Project 3 Final Submissions:

Desktop Version (1366x768px)

Thumbnails:

Figure 1: Desktop eBook Thumbnails (1/2)

Figure 2: Desktop eBook Thumbnails (2/2)

Online eBook:





iPad Version (1024x768px)

Thumbnails

Figure 3: iPad eBook Thumbnails (1/2)

Figure 4: iPad eBook Thumbnails (2/2)

Online eBook:





iPhone 6 Version (750x1334px)

Thumbnails

Figure 5: iPhone 6 eBook Thumbnails (1/2)

Figure 6: iPhone 6 eBook Thumbnails (2/2)

Online eBook:

Feedback:

Week 10

Desktop e-book was satisfactory as well, just minor edits to kerning of the numbering and italics should be applied. Should begin work on the iPad and iPhone version.

Week 11

iPhone version has nice ways of dealing with the space issues, especially the hold-to-reveal subtext function. Upon further consideration, body text of iPad version could afford to be larger. iPhone version needs to be resized to the revised iPhone 6 dimensions.

Week 12
Portfolio and final submissions are in order.

Reflections:

Experience

I felt that the whole class was trying to fumble our way to figuring out how eBooks work, but fumbling is good and essential to learning, so that's okay. However, I personally found it strange to design ebooks for the laptop, as I never do any heavy reading on the laptop! But it's a changing world, and I think it's important to be open. I felt quite at home when playing with the buttons/animations panel in InDesign, trying to figure out the different possible combinations required to reach my desired outcome.

Observations

I observe that with the rapid technological advancement, students need to stay up-to-date with the latest versions in order to gain access to all the features. My software was unable to perform certain tasks, but thankfully I have very kind classmates. I observe myself referring to samples a lot, especially when choosing a suitable point size for formats I am unsure of.

Findings

I find that this assignment is good and is paced quite well! I enjoyed the challenge of translating the book into the desktop, wrestling with the drastic change of format from a tall, thin page to screen dimensions. The decrease in size posed new challenges and I found myself working faster as I progressed.
Image Sources:

Figure 1 – 6: Personal Documentation