OUGD504 - Studio brief 01 - Evaluation

Firstly this brief has allowed me to further my knowledge and practice in editorial design, this is something at this current stage in my practice I am extremely interested in and keen to further in my studies. In previous editorial design briefs, Ive never had to fully consider the audience and production of a book as I have in this brief, so studio brief one has allowed me to look at editorial design in a different scope. This has made me research differently and approach certain processes with more of a informed decision behind them, rather than designing something that is aesthetically pleasing with no underlying concept behind it.

When I was mildly briefed for this studio brief back in May, when as a class we were told to shoot type in context. My first interpretations of the brief were that we had to shoot the individual characters of the alphabet from A-Z, so I took the opportunity while in Amsterdam over the summer to shoot images for the brief. This was the first benefit of the brief as it allowed me to collect my own content for a book, something I didn't do much of in first year for editorial projects. I came away from Amsterdam with a string of images I was proud of, and happy they fitted the brief description of type in context within a certain location. Once I returned back to LCA in September I was fully briefed, and at first I was worried as I thought the images I collected were wrong and couldn't be made into a fully fledged concept for a book. After some initial thoughts into a concept I decided upon 'Amsterdam is misinterpreted by youth', from there the brief started for me as I was able to undertake some crucial research that would heavily inform the design and production of the book.

Research into book and publications was enjoyable for this brief, as for the first time I was looking at them from a different perspective. Looking at target audiences and why they've been produced like they have really inspired me and opened my eyes to the informed decisions behind design that is heavily influenced by the target audience. Researching into dutch design was profitable for the brief itself but also my personal practice, looking at inspirational studios and designers like Experimental Jetset and Wim Crouwel engaged me on a personal level which made the research more enjoyable.

When it came to the production of the book, I enjoyed putting the content into place in Indesign and stylising the book informed by the research. The design of the book was influenced by the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam but the outer design of the book (cover and bag) was designed in a way to catch the target audiences eye in a humorous manner. Each process was informed and I particularly enjoyed the screenprinting onto plastic bags process, as this was experimental and I wasn't entirely sure if the process would work but the final piece looked as I planned and received positive feedback. Learning how to use different equipment like the power guillotine and learning new things about commercial print in research was a valuable part of the development of this book as It allowed me realise my previous mistakes I'd made in past projects when coming to print the final piece.

In production I did come across a number of hiccups, including the cutting of the book. For the first test print I decided to use a stanley knife to cut the paper, as I rushed this process I accidentally trimmed it wrong which meant I couldn't perfect bind the book to test how it looks. This mistake seemed to repeat itself when I used the power guillotine for the first time, I forgot to place the pages in order which meant I accidentally cut page numbers off. These mistakes proved to be very expensive mistakes as I had to print the book four times to get it how I wanted it but one positive from this was I learnt from each mistake and learnt new skills along the way. I am happy with the finishes and process I went through as I know they were relevant to my concept, if I was to produce a book about the rich type of Amsterdam then it would a necessity to produce the book to a high standard in terms of finishes and binding, but on the other hand my book is about youngsters solely having the view of cannabis and the red light district when they think of Amsterdam so a cheaply produced book which attracts that audience is suitable.

Overall I am happy with the final book, I know if the book was to be commercially printed then a lot of things would be different but as it was produced with what I've got available here at LCA, I believe it is successful and desired. What I most enjoyed was the process of linking research and production continuously throughout the brief to produce a final piece that can be desired by a target audience.