Brief
To design the Fine Art End of Year book which is names Departures as the concept is airports.
Considerations
- The £1700 budget
- There will be 1 image per artist along with 50-100 words
- Consider how the airport theme can be incorporated within the publication
- How the designs can also work as advertisements
Mandatories
- Booklet size; B5 (270mm x 140mm) The piece must be printed with Evolution Printers
- It must feature the colleges logo on the cover (front/back)
- Must heave contents pages, tutor welcome page, head of year letter, page for exhibition dates, thank you page
Decisions
- The concept and show name is Departures (specifically airports)
- Must use the college's typefaces
- Colour palette is black, grey, white and one bold colour (yellow)
Research
We were provided with some previous end of year show booklets from different courses and exhibitions. From this, it is much easier to see what would be appropriate when displaying peoples work in addition to giving us inspiration for layout, stock and other extra design techniques (spot gloss, embossing etc).
Free Range
This years Fine Artists will be attending and exhibiting at Free range as well as within the university.
The variation in colour and shape reflects the work within the exhibition, that all of the work will differ. The cover design is minimal and yet interesting. Although the white stock makes the book appear larger, it tends to get marked very easily.
Fine Art
The simple, minimal design along with the bold green creates a bold, continuous aesthetic throughout the book. Yet, the white stock has again become rather marked. This is because it is matte coated. This problem could be solved by removing the coated layer.
Another negative is that this a rather small exhibition book meaning that it does not stand out as much as others, the imagery and information within is also more limited.
Name Unknown
The square shape of this particular catalogue creates a more symmetrical appearance whilst allowing more space for double page spread per artist. Even though the image runs over the double page, there is still a large amount of negative white space on the left hand page. If the images were too small to enlarge in this way, it could look too empty.
Fine Art 2010
Using images on the cover provides a dark background allowing the text to be white, the use of foiling could have also looked rather interesting here too. The size and shape of the book mean that the imagery within has to be rather small, this does not do the artists work justice as the details of the photographs are difficult to see. This could be solved by having one image/one double page per artist.
The blue type within adds colour and creates contrast to the black and white photographs and creates continuity with the insides of the cover itself.
Fine Art
This catalogue also uses imagery for the cover. The bold colours stand out against the others because of this.
On the inside, the images and type are rather small and difficult to see in detail. As each artist has a double page, enlarging these photographs should not have been a problem.
Fine Art
The cover is simple and uses typography in an interesting way. By cropping the text, it creates two messages, the one that is seen right away and one that it realised after reading all of the words. This creates an intriguing tone for the rest of the catalogue.
The images within are cropped and positioned rather strangely across the double page spread. This is not aesthetically pleasing or a professional way to use the space provided.
Fine Art
This square format again provides a symmetrical aesthetic which stands out against the usual portrait catalogue. The cover is rather overcrowded and distracting from the work within. The layout of the work inside of the book looks untidy and is difficult follow. It creates a hierarchy, which may not work in favour of some of the artists pieces.
Fine Art 2014
This is the only book which features an additional printing technique so far. The spot varnish creates a professional, interesting and the appearance of a higher quality catalogue. The downside to this is that it is expensive, difficult to read straight away and the white cover will become marked and damaged rather easily.
Meeting 1 (14.04.16)
- There are 63 students (double page spread per artist)
- Minimal, simple line/graphics like that seen within airports
- Postcards are also needed- as invitations to send to studios/designers
Consider;
- How the airport theme can be used throughout
- LCA logo has to be on the cover somewhere front/back
- Two pages at the beginning for Tutors (Sheila and Sarah)
- Acknowledgements at the very back
Overall, the fine art students and Richard, their tutor were rather specific with how they wanted the design of the brochure.
Development for Next Meeting
LCA Brand Guidelines
As to ensure that the designs comply with the college's guidelines, research and identification of typefaces and colours was conducted.
Colour Palette
The team originally said that they wanted greys, white, black and one bright, bold colour (yellow had been mentioned). By looking at the guidelines, there is in fact a yellow logo. This colour is also seen within airports and so is more than appropriate to use. This bright yellow will stand out against other brochures and brighten up the designs within.
The grey tones were selected from the CMYK palette ensuring that they are all safe for print.
Typeface/s
It was decided previously that the brochure had to use LCA's typefaces. After looking at the brand guidelines for the college, the typefaces were identified as Bureau Grotesque - Three Five which will be used as a header font because of its boldness and impact. As for the body copy, A2 Grot10, regular and bold will be used to create a hierarchy.
Research For Visuals
Most influential Research Images
The most interesting, minimal, abstract image which relates to what the fine artists wanted it the AMS design (above; bottom left and middle). It is in fact the blueprints for parts of an airport.
Developments & Experiments
LCA Blueprints
The fine are departments are highlighted using the circles.
Blueprint Experiments
Using the identified Fine Art studios, marked on the original Blueprint images with a circle, experiments were conducted. These images are simple lines, yet are rather detailed when used in combination with each other as a whole image.
The Walking Route through LCA to the Fine Art Studios
Jess's illustrations using the blueprints as inspiration
Meeting 2
It was a very positive meeting overall, the team agreed that our design direction is what they had imagined for their Year Book.
- This design was the most preferred by the Fine Art team.
- Develop this further introducing shape and colour
- These are very abstract and minimal, yet try to develop these more
- Make it more clear what they are
- Could they be used as a map?
Evolution Print
The original plan for the design of the book will have to be changed as there is not enough budget for each artist to have a double page spread.
63 Artists = 126 pages
Contents = 2 pages
Welcome note = 1 page
Thank you letter = 1 page
Acknowledgements = 1 page
Dates of shows/other information = 1 page
Map = 1 pages
Total = 132 pages
(The book needs to be in multiples of 8 or 16)
136 Pages
When quoted, it would cost over £4,000, which is not possible, they do not have the budget.
We spoke to Tom from Evolution the two options are;
- A6 booklet with 136 Pages
- B5 booklet with 72 pages but meaning that each artist would only have a single page.
- There is not enough in the budget to have additional features such as sot gloss/embossing etc
We arranged an emergency meeting to explain. The Fine Art team we have agreed that it would be best to go with B5 in size and one page per artist. Also, the designs seem like they are going to be detailed enough not to need any additional print features.
Third Meeting
Taking the suggestions from the fine art team, colour and shape were added. The circles are used to represent the studios, as seen to highlight the subject areas on the original blueprints.
These two last experiments were chosen to be variations of the design to be interchangeable within the booklet.
It was mentioned that the endpoints of the lines looked like electric currents. It was requested that this be changed.
Developments
Original Lines
Line Experiment
Final Line Design
This last line design is the final version. It is a more simple shape which links to the theme of minimalism
Final Pathway/Route Illustrations
Final Line/Shape Illustration
These two versions of the illustration allow variety within the brochure yet ensures the continuity of the aesthetic.
Welcome/Thank You Page Experiments
Using line and shape as inspiration, these page experiments were developed. The layout of the text makes the information difficult to read. This is now appropriate and so none of these designs will be used.
Content Page Designs
Jess Contents Page/Map Experiments
Using the influence of the diagonal lines shown on my own page designs, previous, Jess designed some contents page layouts
Utilising the route illustrations on the page creates continuity.
Using the inspiration of how Departure Gates are named within airports, each artist has their own reference letter/number.
EG: Mia Allonby is A01 as she is the first artist with the surname initial 'A'.
Front Cover Experiments
Front Cover Experiments
Final Front Cover Design
This uses the simplified route illustration, featuring just the shapes to create a minimal cover design. The route runs over the two pages representing the exploration of the brochure, start to end.
Meeting 4
- Show the book mocked up on ISSUU
- Design a temple for the artists pages
- Design the acknowledgements page
- Get the missing information from artists (get their administrator the email them)
- Get Welcome and Thank You letters from Tutor/Course Administrator
Final Design Recap
Cover
Welcome Page
This design was inspired by the shapes found within the map. The use of the illustration again provides further continuity.
An arrow was added to the bottom right of the page, similarly to that use on the contents page, to represent the directions seen within airports. The use of the line on this side balances out the design providing a more aesthetically pleasing spread.
Map
As mentioned in a previous meeting, the map is still minimal, yet it has more of a purpose as the Fine Art studios/exhibition rooms are marked clearly using the patterns and colours from the palette and route illustrations, using a key for reference.
Contents
Line Illustrations
Artist Page Layout Experiments
Single Page Experiments
Chosen Design Variations
Final 4 Page Variations
- The name of the artist typeface (A2 Grot10 Bold)
- Body copy typeface (A2 Grot10 Regular)
- Page number typeface (Bureau Grotesque)
- All images aligned top left of page looks the most balanced and aesthetically pleasing
- The text boxes will be the width of the portrait images, even for the landscape images to provide continuity
- Contact details will be positioned below the artist statements to be more clear and easier to identify/find
Feedback:
- Happy with design overall
- Could be a slight change to contents page
- Letter from Sarah coming tomorrow
- Design & finalise a postcard to be printed (as an invitaiton to be sent to professionals)
- Monday/Tuesday have everything completed
- Print out two black and white hard copies for proof reading
Changes After Proof Reading
- Few spelling mistakes
- Add in some artists contact details
- Change a few artist images
Thank You (Sarah) Page Design
This page was added after the Welcome page. The same layout design was used yet to provide variation, the text was enclosed with a line rather than a filled box. This is a subtle way to add the colour to the page and create continuity.
Back Page Designs
Acknowledgements Page
Exhibition/General Details
The design/orientation of these two pages were inspired by the brochure research at the beginning of this post. The Fine Art team really liked the design and requested to keep this the same.
Final Brochure
Evaluation
I thoroughly enjoyed this brief. Working to deadlines, having limitations, a brilliant partner and decisive clients.
They seem very pleased with the final outcome of their book and are awaiting the official printed copy from Evolution Print.
The combination of line and shape provides a minimal and abstract aesthetic, as asked of us. Using a limited colour palette aids this.
If the budget were larger, it would have been possible to add techniques such as a spot varnish to the lines and shapes on the cover. Another design addition that would have been pushed for would have been to have continued the yellow on the edges of the pages. This would have given the publication a bold, bright appearance from all angles, creating a continuous aesthetic.
Additional/Extended Work
Final Postcards/Invitations
The same technique as the cover was used. The illustration runs over the front and back cover as a wrap around. This continues the aesthetic which can be identified on the brochure.
Final Flyer
(Send to Richard/Fine Art tutor to be printed with a professional printer)
Final Poster
(Send to Richard/Fine Art tutor to be printed with a professional printer)
Newspaper
The FA Students are also designing a newspaper with their work in. They have requested to use out illustrations from the brochure and will allow us to also feature out contact details too.
Wall Vinyls
The same design used within the brochure for the contents page will be used for the wall vinyls to continue the aesthetic, simply increasing the scale.
