Publishing 2: Mass Communication - Project 1

Week 1 – Week 5

David Ho Ming Aun (0328394)

Publishing 2: Mass Communication

Lectures and Project 1 

Lecture 1: Format

The first lecture for the module opens up with an introduction to formats. The lecturer explained how format is not just limited to the size of the pages of the book but also encompasses binding, paper stock among other things. The lecturer then took us through a brief but informative history of the format and how it changed through the years.

Outcomes from the lecture:

• A better understanding of what makes up the format of a publication
• Deeper appreciation for the format of the book

Lecture 2: History of Print

The lecturer brought us through the history of print, with some parts overlapping from the previous lecture. From China to Korea to Germany and beyond, the lecture gave us insight on how the development of print happened and how history may have warped certain origins of print, such as the movable type which is commonly attributed to Gutenberg. Some fun facts were also presented, such as how playing cards contributed to the development of print, and the largest book in the world.

Outcomes from the lecture:

• Korea having implemented movable type better than China
• Gutenberg's metallurgical prowess in creating a suitable alloy
• The pains people went to make books and disperse information

Lecture 3: Grids

The lecture began with a question: "In your view, can we design without using grids?" Various answers were provided by the class, and it was made to imply that our view our grids do reflect on our personality as well. A quote by Brockmann was provided, saying how the grid is the 'expression of a certain mental attitude' of a designer and even a culture. The lecturer provided a different perspective that everyone uses grids despite their works looking almost random — the grids they utilise are just of a different convention and exist in their mind. Deliberate placement would lead towards a formation of a grid. We went through the purpose of the grid, which is not to create monotony throughout the pages, but to allow for some form of visual consistency to exist through the pages. It was emphasised that the grid must not be like a prison, and designers are allowed to be flexible with it. Ultimately, the grid serves to assist the people who are going to experience, use and interact with our finished product by making the user experience as seamless as possible, where they will be naturally compelled to flow from one page to another.

Outcomes from the lecture:

• The philosophical aspect of grids
• The purpose of the grid
• The 'burden' of readability and legibility
• A hidden grid structure is akin to the architecture of the old, in contrast to the modern angular buildings of today, where their structure can be clearly discerned.
• The visual journey we bring readers on

Lecture 4: Typography Redux

A more in-depth look into typographic sensibilities, the lecture brings us through the commonly overlooked aspects of typography, such as small caps, ligatures, underlining, text scaling, typographic colour, special punctuations, and typical mistakes.

Outcomes from the lecture:

• The holy trinity — type size, line length and leading — are paramount for ‘harmonious reading’.
• Things to avoid "like the plague": Central alignment in name cards (discouraged), false small caps, widows and orphans.
• Proper use of indents and paragraph breaks, en- and em-dash conventions
• Leading should be at least 2 points larger (my lecturer likes it 3 points larger)
• A column of type should be around 50 to 65 characters

PROJECT 1 (20%)

The Brief 

The Book. (Part 1: Content Generating) 

Duration of Assignment 

4 Weeks (Briefing on Week 1) 

DEADLINE 

Week 5 (3rd Apr 2017- part 1, 24 Apr 2017, - part 2) 

Description 

In this project you will be asked to create and design a book of 32 pages that is smaller than A4 but bigger than A5. Your task will be to: 

1. Write 3000 words (English/Malay) on any subject that you are familiar with, for example: yourself, your family, someone who inspires you, your hometown, or an experience or an idea/belief that you feel strongly about, etc. The text content must be divided into 3 chapters minimum, it must also have 3/4/5 subtexts (sidebars) and one caption per chapter. You have 1 week for this. 

2. Identify 16 areas in your written text for visualization, you may use any medium that is suitable for your topic/direction, for example: illustration, photography or mix-media. You have 3 weeks for this (after completing your 3000 words). As you proceed through the stages of the project you will be given exercises that will help prepare you for the following or the current stages of the project. Project 01 must be finished within 4 weeks. Requirements The student must document the above progression in their eportfolio and A4 hardcopy portfolio. The results of the two phases must be collated and presented in the sample format shown in class. The 3000 words is to be formatted and submitted on A4 paper, at 9pt Helvetica, 11pt leading, consisting of all textual information of the book from front cover to back cover. A thumbnail printout of all 16 visuals as shown in the sample produced in class. 

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. 

3. Typed content of 3000 words, formatted on A4 paper. (Left Aligned, 9pt Helvetica, 11pt leading, consisting of all textual information from front to back cover). 

4. All 16 visuals placed in InDesign, using the predetermined page size and printed out in colour in a thumbnail printout. 

Objectives 

1. To develop students ability to generate own content. 

2. To develop intimacy with content generated. 

3. To develop students ability to communicate visually

Project 1:

Text:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gc3ojnFUnzzV4vZuCO7dNIzGrZ1xe5RLJ8pd74ykyNw/pub

Note: Highlighted text are prompts for the visuals.

Visuals:

Figure 1: Final 16 Visuals

Feedback

Week 1

The text is fine, but forgot to put the barcode and copyright holder details.

Week 3
Initial trials were interesting, was encouraged to keep at it. Was suggested to refer to works of El Lissitzky, Constructivism, etc.

Week 4
No issue with compositions, but was told to vary the sizes and weightages of each illustration (e.g. quarter-page, half-page, or full-page).

Week 5
Submission was in good order, but concern was expressed again over the variety of the weightage of the illustrations. Nevertheless, sizes can be changed later on as it is in vector format. To go with the 'post-modern' visuals, a slightly squarish serif typeface was recommended.

Reflection

Experience

The new semester proves itself steadily to be a more taxing one than ever, with more modules, each demanding more out of us. Nevertheless, I felt Project 1 of this Publishing module to be quite tolerable. However, I found it quite challenging at times because my client is the worst of all—myself. I'm not satisfied with my final illustrations, nor do I suspect that I ever will be, but I should just lock these down and move on to the next step.

I found this project really tricky at the beginning because whatever foundation we set now would affect the entire tone of the project. This goes with the other subjects too, and it could very well be a metaphor for life... Make a mistake and feel the repercussions ripple through the years. How daunting.

Observation

I observe myself struggling with time and task management, something that was not as apparent before. As a result, I observe a small drop in quality of my general work. I observe great difficulty in waking up for classes. 

Findings

I find that I am able to emulate some geometric 'post-modernist' style which I never thought I'd find myself doing. I find that with the new class size, things are more dynamic. I found coptic stich binding almost therapeutic.

Books of the Weeks

Week 1

Figure 2: Week 1 Book of the Week

Basics Design 02: Layout by Ambrose/Harris

I figured this book would be a good introduction to layouts and book design in general. It excels in doing such, with information packed densely but in a comfortable manner. This book lays out information in an interesting way, a good book for visual learners. There are lots of excellent examples as well. I’ve learnt new terms and concepts as well, such as imposition, baseline grids (the book illustrates this perfectly), recto/verso naming conventions, types of grids.. It’s a lot for me to take in, but it has piqued my interest in the subject.

Figure 3: An example of an interesting layout involving 2 very different sized pages.

I adore how they used different paper sizes here to let the full bleed images frame the text so elegantly.

Nice Quote: “Simplicity before understanding is simplistic; simplicity after understanding is simple.” Edward De Bono

Week 2

Figure 4: Week 2 Book of the Week

OnPrint from the screen to paper and vice versa by Lara Blasco Soplon

This book is a more detailed account of the printing processes and is quite up-to-date with their information (written in 2011). The book layout is clean and allows for generous white space to frame the heavy contents, which helps make it a little less daunting. This book covers a lot, from the production processes to typography, colour theories and printing techniques.

The book talks a lot about the preparations required before printing, such as colour calibration, colour models, formats, imposition, raster image processing (RIP) and proofs. It's strange how foreign I am to these terms since I have been printing a lot for the past semesters' assignments, but I guess this applies more for larger printing runs.

Figure 5: Note the right bar showing 3 different ways of printing black. Very informative.

I appreciate how this book took the effort to come up with 3 different blacks on the right bar to showcase the different ink combinations that can be used. One could apparently add either a 40% cyan wash to 100% black for a deeper black, or for a more intense black, mix 50% cyan, 40% magenta, 30% yellow and 100% black. Also note the coloured circular section markers on the top right corner of the page.

Week 3

Figure 6: Week 3 Book of the Week

The Newspaper Designer's Handbook (Sixth Edition) by Tim Harrower

A very charming book with very helpful tips and techniques on newspaper design. With the sixth edition written in 2007, this edition is updated with an additional chapter on web layouts, from a time where QuarkXpress was the thing.

A very casual humorous tone is used by the author to allow a friendly introduction into the jargons and standard practices of newspaper design, with a lot of examples of dos and don'ts, which helps a lot. A very practical book and guide, with many, many ways to tackle various problems involving arrangements of information in one of the most space-hungry mediums out there. Very useful for newspaper design and its principles can be applied to other publications as well.

Week 4

Figure 7: Week 4 Book of the Week

The Best of Brochure Design 9 by Jason Godfrey

Thought I'd go for something for visual and non-book related. Brochure design provides a different set of challenges for the designer and undoubtedly allows for a wider range of creativity with the small number of pages. Here's some examples I found quite inspiring.

Figure 8: I like the size of this brochure that fits very neatly into a shoebox.

Figure 9: This one is clever! The bottom two tabs allow several flipbooks to fit in one neat book.

Picture Credits:

Figure 1–6
Personal Documentation

Figure 7
Best of Brochure Design 9. (2008). [image] Available at: https://www.amazon.com/Best-Brochure-Design-Jason-Godfrey/dp/1592534376 [Accessed 2 May 2017].

Figure 8–9
Personal Documentation