POS : Urban Outfitters

In Newcastle Urban Outfitters, I found similar marketed books relating to my context. There were also other books that belonged as part of the series. This confirms the point of sale and market for my own publication can be larger than just a bookshop, as similar books can be seen and successfully sold in a large chain retail store. The books were also perfect bound and printed on a matt finished stock so cost of production is not too high.

Village : Ben Holmes

villagebooks.co

"is an independent bookshop and gallery based in Leeds, UK. We offer a curated selection of contemporary art, design, fashion and photography books and magazines. We also source self-published and small press zines from artists around the world."

- Started Village 6 years ago just after finishing Uni
- Make independent publishing accessible 
- Wanted to offer an engaging inspirational business 
- Contribute giving a space for artist's and designer's to gain experience, recognition and inspiration.
- Provides space for artist or designer exposure
- Works collaboratively with an artist idea 
- Versatile space open to anyone with an idea
- Contribute and help young creatives get their work out there 
- Also do work externally, such as for the Picture House

Why Self Publish?
A good book is a combination of all of these. 

- The Book as Promotion
In this age it's so easy to put your work online, but no control over how work is seen. A book captures attention that seeing work on a screen doesn't do. Works as active participation. A book adds value by getting people to see and appreciate only your work at the time. 

- The Book as an Artefact 
A physical manifestation of your work. A way of showcasing your work in a different way that makes your work as a designer stand out such as, Nourished journal. Creating an object to showcase a style and aesthetic. Offers an opportunity to build relationships.

- The Book as Art 
Working with the form of a book to tell an idea or story.

- The Book as Collaboration
The opportunity of enhancing a publication. A designer designs how a book can be perceived. A collaborative process through sharing ideas and feedback.

- The Book as Product 
 A way of making money. Producing something that people buy and share with other people. This adds true value to a book whilst also being a form of promotion.  

What Village look for in a book?
The concept of the idea behind it. This forms the foundation of the book, it should be clear and book should communicate this. The right idea and concept creates a publication truly unique.

Thinking about the physical elements such as type and stock. Considering how you as designer think work should and is perceived. Think about a focus on an idea, such as reading backwards, image or type getting larger on each page. Ideas should come together to convey context. Physicality enhances and conveys the concept of the book. How something is printed can alter perception. Consider the nature of the work to format a cohesive artefact. 

How to sell your book?
Consider large or smaller print run i.e. print just 5 copies or will multiple copies be printed. Price drives print run, shops and distributors will take a cut of the costs. There are print, production and often distribution costs. Think about how to enhance value of the book without adding to the cost. Working with a good distributor can really add value and understanding to self-publishing. Production costs roughly equal to a third of the book. Promotion is also an important part of selling a book this can be done in many ways from online, book launches or exhibitions. Nothing sells a book better than interacting with the person who made it. Aim to promote yourself and engage collaboratively with other designers. 

Advice 
Edit - be self critical does every element of the book contribute to the idea 
Start small - do something simple well, does it say what it needs to say 
Make mistakes - experiment with print 
Support others - best way to get inspiration and develop a style is to learn from other people. Also get involved talk to people, consider opportunities for collaboration.

Experimentation : Colour

After receiving feedback from peers I experimented with different ways I could incorporate colour into the publication. The first method I tried was using a tip on of different stock. the stock being coloured acetate gave a nice aesthetic to the publication in contrast to the dark matt paper. This stock also worked well to reflect the context and the element of a screen. This publication also experiments with perfect binding, which worked well and as I thought is the most appropriate binding for the publication. 

The second experiment is based on creating a coloured version of the publication. I based the concept of this publication closely to the context of a smartphone. The colour scheme was selected from an iPhones nightshift mode. This gave the publication aesthetic an interesting gradient effect through colour. This also worked well to reflect night and day that can relate to the morning after. 

Experiment 1

What worked well:

- The choice and contrast of stock

- The altered grid so all type content is contained within the screen

- Perfect binding as the bound method 

What didn't work well:

-The cover should be higher gsm such as black card 

- The glue binding could be done to a higher standard 

Experiment 2

What worked well:

- The use of colour in the form of a gradient 

- Colour relates well to the concept of a smartphone

- Could the text go from large to small on each page 

- Could stock go from glossy to matt?

What didn't work well:

- Choice of stock - justified as only a mock up

G.F Smith Talk

-       Imported and distributed stock worldwide – Italy, Japan etc

-       All stock mainly uncoated

-       Split into collections

-       One collection manufactured from recycled coffee cups

-       Certain stock works better for different processes i.e. foiling, embossing.

-       Coloured stock dyed the entire way through meaning when the stock is folded there is no white revealed

-       Duplex is a finishing method to make the stock thicker (effectively gluing stock together works best using the same stock and gsm)

-       Textured paper contains traces of fabric in the making process to provide the ‘texture’

11 Graphic : Graphic Ha Ha

References

Marti Guixe

Your work seems varied. What do you most enjoy working with?
My work is varied because I work with ideas, and these can take any shape, material and context. 

What's your favourite material?
Information.

What about design philosophy?
I try to be radically contemporary. 

Mick Bunnage & John Link from Modern Toss

Some people are a bit thick - myself included - but I see your work as quality one-liners 
It's funny, when we started out we got quite a lot of emails from people who thought we were a bunch of kids, and we sort of encouraged that idea. We liked the idea of a bunch of kids doing some poor drawings and coming up with really blunt sharp jokes. It's funny. 

Alex Rich studied Visual Communication at Ravensbourne

What kind of student where you?
Design education is a weird one, as often it is very subjective as to what works and what does not. I eventually became interested in non-visual communication and the parallels to the problems of visually dominant culture. It helped me define a way of working. 

Do you ever struggle to explain your design work or ideas to others, such as clients, friends or journalists?
It depends on whether they are genuinely interested in what is being discussed. It can be interesting to struggle with explaining things. The scary situation is when you are impressed with how articulate you were and to then read the interview pondering as to the convoluted result. 

Did anyone ever take any of your jokes the wrong way?
I am very bad at remembering jokes, which helps in such a scenario.

Peter Arkle: I wish I was 007

Is there such a thing as intelligent or stupid humour?

Some humour can actually be too intelligent, the type where you find yourself telling someone, "this is funny", but you aren't actually laughing. I think The Simpsons is like this. It's really clever and I'm glad for it's politics, but I rarely laugh out loud. I am too used to it. I remember once upon a time I thought "The table's my bed" was the funniest thing ever. 

Kristian Bauthus: Party Animals 

Did anyone ever take any of your jokes badly?
Yeah. I have no decency, so I tend to cross all sorts of lines to offend people. But you know what they say: you can't make an omelette without breaking eggs. 

Susanna Carvello and Kai Bernau 

Do you laugh at your own jokes? How loud?
I giggle. Yes. Not only very loud but I'm also often the only one laughing.

Andrea Dezso: Uncensored 

Do you have a sense of humour? If so, what kind?
I tend to enjoy irreverent,dark,dry humour.

Other Examples:

Thoughts after producing the book

Thinking beyond the book encouraged me to consider other elements associated with the book such as branding, advertising, can the book be made into a series, and what is the best way to present the book concept and design. 

How to brand it?
The book could be branded to a specific alcohol e.g. Smirnoff, or the branding could also consider the USP as part of the brand as it will most likely be located in the comedy section of a bookshop. The design colour may be altered for example the red from Smirnoff could be used as the colour scheme or as stock colour if the branding was focused or specific to a client.

How to advertise it?
Since the concept of the design uses the idea of texts and a smartphone, digital advertising would be more appropriate than print. Advertisements on social media sites such as, Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram would advertise to a wide audience on a platform fitting of the book. Ads could be digitally prepared for screens, from large commercial screens, to tablet and smartphone size. 

What other books could be made if it was made in a series?
The book may also be able to increase in value when belonging as part of a series. Other books in the series may include other relatable funny relatable life experiences, such as feelings about big birthdays (50th), pregnancy, family life etc. The key part of the series being that it can be funny and relatable. 

When presenting the book or a design present what they want (the brief) then the real work (the design)
It is important to clearly outline the concept or brief behind your design. Then focus on the design to reveal how you as a designer interpreted the brief or concept. Presenting this way also ensures your idea is clear and understood by the audience.

Laser cutter : Production Methods

Preparing a document for the process

To experiment with embossing as a finishing technique with the focus of the publication and element I want to emboss. I prepared the typeface Helvetica bold in both lower and upper case to be used as plates or stencils to emboss. These could have been created from cut out cereal packets but for a more effective end result I will create the letterforms using a document drawn up, using Adobe Illustrator and creating outlines within this software. This prepares the document for the design process of creating a template for a laser cutter. The laser cutter offers further exploration into an alternative production method. 

Below show images of the process:

Type the content in Adobe Illustrator 

Create an outline and remove fill

Laser cutter in progress 

After 

Preparing the letterforms for embossing and debossing