HEAR MAKE HEARD
Self-Publishing has long been a popular way for designers and illustrators to promote their work, their views or their ideas. The format of a bound volume, regardless of size, creates a self-contained space where the designer can tell a story, explain an idea, juxtapose images and present information. This project explores the self-publishing and distribution of limited edition publications.
This project asks me to delve into the British Library sound archive. It asks me to extract from the archive something that excites or fascinates me enough to translate it into the visual and tactile form of a publication. Over the course of this project, I designed and manufacture a publication and explored innovative strategies to distribute and share your publication with a public audience.
Chosen Sound
For this project I have chosen to work with Chris Watson's Audio diary in the Galapagos Islands where he traveled around the islands to explore the sound potential and recorded them all along with his narration of the scenery in front him.
Touch Radio 005: Chris Watson - The Galápagos Islands - an audio diary
I decided to design and create a 3D photo booklet that takes the audience through Chris Watson's narrations and the different sounds within his recording chronologically. Within the book is a 3D glasses for the audience to view the anaglyph images. I chose images that I believe will best represent the sound recording that I hear and also decided to print my own interpretation of the sound under the images as well.
RESEARCH
Simple Saddle Stitch
I think that saddle stitching would be the best and most simple way for me to bind my publication. Since I am designing an A5 sized publication from Chris Watson's audio recording with only a fill pages, it will be difficult for me to do perfect binding. Also I believe that saddle stitching is the best way to connect my images because although they are not full bleed images, they extend across the two page spread which is why saddle stitching would be the best method for me to perfectly connect the images. This would be most economical and it will also look very nice as well.
I am very interested in this 8-Page folded book from 1 sheet of paper because it is different and would attract the attention of the visitors because of its small size. It engages the audience from just the act of unravelling it and opening it up to reveal one single sheet of paper. This will be very economical and won't also be time consuming. However, I might have to keep in mind that my publication will have a lot more number pages than 8 so this might not be the most suitable method for my book but it is still very interesting for me.
I really like the idea of using extra sleeves or covers and extension for my publication. This is because to view the anaglyphs 3D element in the book, I will also need to provide the audience with a red/cyan 3D glasses which means that I will need to find a way to incorporate that in the sales. The slipcase might be a better way because it can protect a delicate book and even add visual interest and value to the book. I can also fit the free 3D glasses within it.
Perfect Binding
If I have more than 100 pages, the thickness of the book would be perfect for perfect binding and hard covers. This will be a lot more time consuming and expensive but the results if done nicely can look very professional. I like that I do not have to focus on printing and book in a saddle stitch format and instead I can just print them out double sided and each piece of paper can be clamped together and glued when adding a spine.
This is the best photoshop tutorial I found on Youtube for creating an Anaglyph image because in other tutorials. In this tutorial they show how to play with the perspective and the distance of each element within the image. I can make the foreground come out of the page by moving the red layer more to the left and cyan to the right while I can do the opposite to create the background that dents in to the image. Also it taught me how to level the foregrounds so that I can create a continuous effect down to the mid point of the image. This will be very useful for when I try to create my own anaglyph using images of the Galapagos.
Below are some examples of anaglyphs that I found on the internet. I notice that even though they are 3D images, the separation of the red and cyan are equal no matter where on the image which means that both backgrounds and foregrounds will still be in the same plane. This is not what I want for my anaglyphs so I think it would be very interesting to introduce depth and dimension in my anaglyphs by bringing foregrounds up and backgrounds in to the page so that it will be more enjoyable for the reader. I understand that sometimes wearing and reading through a book or watching a movie through the red/cyan glasses might hurt the eyes but it is something that everybody has to put on in order to get the full 3D experience out of the publication.
Most if not all of the photography books and other photo archives that I found will generally have very similar layout. I believe that this is the best way to present my anaglyphs because these layouts are clean and simple. Having the white space around the photographs will help get the 3D effect across much better because the page will be on the regular plane while the effect on the anaglyph will either go in to the page or come out of the page. The reader can make a quick comparison to the edges of the book to see if the 3D effect is working on them. I planned not to have full bleed images because they have to be trimmed down and also the size of some of the photographs that I have chosen are not ideal to be full bleed. Therefore, centred and minimalistic layout with small text on the size will really focus our attention on the images.
In this example the text is separated from the images on opposing page so that the images can be full bleed. This will allow us to also focus on the writing that is position on the centre of the page. I think that it looks quite sophisticated when text are separated on its own and given the white space that they need. Personally I think the full images are great but I also want space of it to breathe. It will be more more difficult to produce.
In this layout the images all have the same size and presented very neatly in the middle of individual pages. I like that they give the images space to breathe because for me it is much nicer, more comfortable to look at than full bleed images without space between them. It is a little like having a white clean picture frame that helps enhance the image.
"Brewster is created by sourcing historical stereographs* and words from long ago, and bringing them back to life. There’s beauty gathering dust in our libraries, archives and attics, and Brewster is dedicated to uncovering some of it to send back out in to the world. Released every four months, each issue is set in a different country and landscape."
Size: A5 (148mm x 210mm)
Pages: 36
Paper: 186gsm Matte Uncoated (Cover)
120gsm Matte Uncoated (Inside)
This magazine contains something that is different from any other magazines because it features anaglyphs that transport us through Japan at the beginning of the 20th century. The images chosen were all taken in the early 1900s which makes it doubly special. The 3D element is clearly the selling point of the magazine as well as the old recovered photographs of different locations around the world. Some of the images were hand-tinted in the photographers' studios, allowing them to include colour images for the first time. What more special about the book is that the images are paired with translated poetry from as early as 675AD, Japanese folklore, and excerpts from the travel journals of sailors and scientists, such as Dr Marie Stopes. The photographs are very beautiful and they also give a 3D glasses for free with the magazine. The layout is very simple with full bleed anaglyphs on some spreads and well defined text in column form.
"Our early conversations with Jonathan Safran Foer about Tree of Codes began with Jonathan saying he was curious to explore and experiment with the die-cut technique. With that as our mutual starting point, we spent many months of emails and phone calls, exploring the idea of the pages’ physical relationship to one another and how this could somehow be developed to work with a meaningful narrative. This led to Jonathan deciding to use an existing piece of text and cut a new story out of it. Having considered working with various texts, Jonathan decided to cut into and out of what he calls his “favourite book”: The Street of Crocodiles by Bruno Schulz."
What makes this book so unique and interesting to me is that the book has a different die-cut on every page. The author has completely changed the original "The Street Of Crocodiles" by taking out lines and cutting a lot of information out of the old book to create a new and exciting narrative from the remaining text. Although it is an intriguing concept, I believe I might have a hard time reading it just because of the confusing cuts on every single page and it would serve to me like an art piece, an artefact and an actual readable publication. Aesthetically, the book has a unique sculptural quality that's very beautiful on the inside. The concept of this book is different and new and I think that it can be a good selling point that will help attract visitors to come view the publication. I don't think that we are given enough time to create something as intricate and fragile as this one.
"Guy Laramée‘s new series Onde Elles Moran (Where They Live) captures the mystique of the native birds of the Brazilian region Serra do Corvo Branco (Range of the White Raven) through both portrait and carved landscape. The series contains nine sculptures sourced from secondhand bookstores within the country—tomes of the Classicos Jackson which is a series of literature classics published in the ‘50s in Brazil. The rich linen covers inspired the palettes of many of the portraits, the original colors working their way into Laramée’s artistic remodeling."
This series is not actually a publication but they are more like an art piece however, the results are so delicate and beautiful that it would be cool if I can produce something 3 dimensional that contains complex features and realistic textures that the audience can view and feel. The series is dedicated to these birds and their habitat, each book containing a portrait of one on the cover against a faded background and an environmental carving into the pages of the book on the opposite side.
"Laramée hopes that this series exudes the stark differences between Man and bird, recognizing that we do not live within the same world. Man’s world has been transformed into an object from which we now feel alienated he explains—we live within our heads and books, not the canyons or earth. “Maybe where they live is where we should live,” says Laramée. “In the solitude of virgin landscapes, we might rediscover our intimate relationships to the world.”"
"A zine is most commonly a small circulation self-published work of original or appropriated texts and images usually reproduced via photocopier. A popular definition includes that circulation must be 1,000 or fewer, although in practice the majority are produced in editions of fewer than 100, and profit is not the primary intent of publication."
I just like the idea of creating a zine as the outcome for my publication. All of the zines I have seen through the year were very unique and intriguing. I specially appreciate how compact and concise it is as well as being so cheap in production. They come in a variety of formats, from desktop published text to comics to handwritten text and I think that printing them out physically still is the most popular way to distribute the publication. Artists and illustrators have used this format of publication to publish their works and illustrations like the example I found above. It is a very nice and economical way to publish work. The works are displayed beautifully across the books without or with very little text. The images are centred focused with in the space of a page making it seem quite special. The layout is usually very simple, clean and modern making it very easy to flip through and appreciate as well as being quite relatable in some topics.
Clean, modern and simple design ideal for any purposes. Very easy to adapt and customize.
DETAILS
· 32 custom pages
· Free fonts used
· Print ready (300 dpi, CMYK)
· Separated layers (graphics, images, shapes and text)
· Various photo display options
· Compatible with InDesign CS4 and newer
· Illustrator editable logo included
· Help file included
DIMENSIONS
· A4 (297×210 mm)
· Letter (8.5×11 inches)
FONTS USED
Bebas Neue
Open Sans
"In the Garden, Published by Hato Press, 2014. 16 page wordless picture book with pages of different sizes, risograph printed in three colours."
I chose to look at this wordless picture book because the style and format of it caught my eyes. All the pages are die-cut into the shapes of each tree so that the book is not perfectly squared and hidden between these beautiful illustrated pages are stories about a feather waiting to be discovered. This unique book in itself is like the thickness of the forest. I especially like the way the tree is die-cut with white space around it in order to distinguish the tree on each page with the others. It makes the book looks very comical and illustrative which I believe is effective for me. This makes it so much cleaner and more comfortable too look at.
"Artist and designer Kelli Anderson just released her latest book This Book is a Camera, a pop-up book that turns into a fully functional pinhole camera. The book acts as a simple educational tool to help explain how photography worked before we all had camera phones in our pockets. Anderson points out that making a simple camera obscura really isn’t too difficult and provides instructions on how you can make one yourself."
This is a very creative publication because the book itself is actually a fully functional pinhole camera. It also comes complete with starter pack of film photo paper and instructions on how to use the camera to take photos. This example again challenges the idea of a formal publication. The book is very nicely designed and produced. Although this might be impossible to create in the two weeks, it is an inspiration for me to design a publication that is also functional as something else. I like the colour scheme and the simplicity of the design however, for me the cover is a little weird and could be improved.
This publication is quite playful and humorous and he tries to compress the history of Earth into a single tiny book. I would think that this is very impossible but it challenges the idea of what a publication can be. Due to the size of the book, he is also limited to a small number of page. I love that the book also has tiny illustrations and he successfully turned this concept into this extremely tiny hand-bound book. You can see more of his miniature books over on his Tumblr.