1ST VISUAL PROPOSAL
Conceptualizing my ideas from having read both stories, surrounded the themes of hierarchy and class. Based upon my indexing on the previously mentioned themes whilst reading the stories, I decided to highlight these words/phrases relating to the themes and make these evident.
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Additionally, I decided to evidently identify which space was being discussed at a certain point of time within the book. Making the specific design choice of having different coloured paper throughout the book would allow me to communicate this effectively. Dedicating white to the First Space, light grey to the Second Space and the dark grey to the Third Space.
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The three layouts are distinct in terms of their design, since this was only the first visual proposal and I wished to showcase a variety of possibilities of communicating my initial ideas.
The following visual proposals seen on the left, are more of a reflection to the analysis I made when reading through the texts a second time round.
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Incorporating the links of the planets to specific moments within each of the three spaces in Folding Beijing, resulted in interesting layouts in spreads. These just being sketches, they choice of colours were merely made distinct in order to showcase potential intentions of how I wanted to execute my design.
In these sketches, it is perhaps not the best way to distinguish each story to the reader. A more effective way, could be through a distinct text layout which creates a new reading experience for both texts, still displaying a sense of Hierarchy and Class.
Printing my first prototype for my print publication, helped highlight details and aspects within this first draft which needed to be improved.
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A successful outcome of such test, was my vision for the use of different coloured paper types to distinguish each of the three spaces. Since this division was clear and also gave rise to the fact that it is evident to see how much time is dedicated to each space in the story.
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Improvements were picked out included; the highlighting of the words or phrases relating to each theme, were best off done through a different typeface rather than with colour. Additionally, it would be interesting to test how different typeface sizes could add to the depiction of my themes for further emphasis.
Working with the one source work-flow, was useful when beginning the design of my book, in terms of importing the text all in one go. Nevertheless, it became difficult to work with when I needed to move certain bits of text into new text-boxes, which lead me to break the link.
Taking a look at my third prototype, I can most definitely say that there is an evident improvement from my first prototype. This is mostly due to the fact that I completely changed the size and layout composition of my entire book, as shown in the image above.
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Reasons for this change, was done in order to further emphasize a sense of hierarchy and class within the printed version. This newly designed publication showcases a clear distinction between the three spaces through the different sized books and not just with the paper colour.
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Additionally, the physical feeling of the book emphasizes my concept even further once you feel the weight given to every section.
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The reason for choosing a Japanese binding method for my book, revolves around its history. Briefly researching its history, it became clear that due to the fact that paper-making was first developed in China and thus this form of binding arose due to this. Printing and binding a book back then was considered to be quite a craftsmanship process, done by members of the lower-class and mostly women. I believed that this small research linked nicely with my themes and represented another form of society's constructs in an
Oriental community. Thus, also giving reason for the publication to potentially be placed in museum, as it is a piece which provides knowledge and history of a distinct society.
Above are a few examples of some potential covers I designed for my printed publication. Due to the colour dynamics within my book, my initial idea was to maintain the cover as minimalistic as possible so as to not give away much of the content of the book.
Taking into consideration that my book could be available in a museum of some sort, I believed the cover needed to not only be eye-catching but also perhaps give a hint on what the book regards. As well as being able to match the coherence of my hybrid publication, so that the audience is able to identify it as a unified project that its components relate to one another rather than being separate pieces on their own.
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The final decision for my cover was based on the ideas and involves elements from my sketches as shown above.
1ST PRINT PROTOTYPE
3RD PRINT PROTOTYPE
COVER
2ND VISUAL PROPOSAL
2ND PRINT PROTOTYPE
Having made the improvements from my first printed prototype, I can most definitely say that it has made for a better version of my printed publication.
A sense of hierarchy and class was more evident through the act of increasing the type size for the different spaces belonging to Folding Beijing. As well as, the highlighting of specific words/phrases relating to my chosen themes through a distinct typeface rather than using a colour . Since it takes away the childish feel that a colour highlight could infer, thus becoming a more sophisticated output and would then suit the public environment of where it could be published, such as a museum.
However, since this was not the final version of my print publication there were further improvements to be made. Perhaps the illustration of hierarchy and class could be displayed in a more radical manner, so as to guide the reader through such themes and thus my concept.
