Final Post

Decisions, decisions, decisions
The idea of a heist guide took its form from the elements of a blueprint, and every visual decision made was under the guidelines of being clear and simple. The book underwent many size and format changes, and elements were streamlined and toned down in certain cases (grey blueprints to be like light watermarks). The cover is ‘under the radar’ and fingerprints are placed in the way that the reader holds the book. This elements plays on the idea that the reader is still a beginner and would therefore leave fingerprints. The dust jacket is a complete blueprint, and the chapter title pages within it include a portion of it.

Since the colour scheme is simple, an off-white paper was used to enhance the text and images, and create a warmer book (instead of taking the sterile tone of a blueprint). It took a while to get the right line variation with the images, and even then they were test printed and slightly adjusted so the differences between the lines highlighted certain areas, but were not over the top. The weight of the paper is 80T (70T was also purchased but not used because it was not opaque enough for double sided printing).

Production of the images was very time consuming, as it involved combining aspects from different photographs and translating elements into line form. The style of a blueprint called for more ‘exact’ drawings, and since they were composed only of lines (with no fill colours to separate) the placing and form of each line was of great importance.

Time was put towards the ‘unseen’ elements, such as margin space, choosing the right text face, size, and adjusting the rag without using many hyphens. The original typeface chosen was Mercury, but this was later on changed to Wilke, which has many similar letter characteristics to the titling face (Caecillia) and more character imbued in it.

The binding method chosen was a mix between a hard and soft cover. I wanted the ease of opening the book from signatures, as well as the relatively informal quality of a softer cover (which was slightly taken up a level in the way it was produced).

Reflection
The book has a modest sensibility placing it amongst visual category of a guide, but there is an undertone of playfulness in the elements that correspond to the writing style. It was a struggle to find the best way to format the book, but once this was found the rest (of that aspect) fell into place. I am overall pleased with the first edition of this book, and the style and guidelines it has developed will carry through to the remaining chapters to be produced. From the initial concept to the end product, producing this book and having all my ideas properly conveyed was very important to me. Although this version was completed to satisfy the course needs, it is still capable of standing on its own without further edition of content.

Endpapers

Originally the plan was to create endpapers that had a collage of black and white photographs of possible heist targets. This is no longer suitable for the book, because in combination with the dust jacket it was becoming too busy—and does not go with the clean style of the book. Any more illustration would be an overkill. Thus a textured grey paper  was used and ties in with the grey on the half title.

Chapter icons

The chapter icons were tricky in that they had to be easily visible in a small size, and detailed enough so it is clear what chapter the reader is in, and at the same time not be overpowering or too distracting from the rest of the spread.

Here are some of the various alterations I went through. The ones outlined in the red box work the best, because they aren’t as heavy, and fit in with the rest of the page better.

Getting Paper

Getting all the papers for my book, ended up taking the whoel day today (unfortunately). I searched for the best creamy paper possibly (meaning not overdone), and this was very hard to find. After going to coast papers twice, and test printing, the best one (without me being able to manufacture my own) was found.

It is 70T, meaning not too thick, and more like a book. It is alwso very smooth, which will complement the style of drawings throughout my book, giving it more of a crisp feel.

Two version of card stock were purchased for the black cover: one completely smooth, and one with very subtle ridges. When it comes to printing to cover, both will be experimented with to see which one works best.

When it came to finding semi-transparent paper for the dust jacket that matched the rest of the colours of my book, I had a hard time. Most of the papers like this (including marker paper, vellum, and mylar) were a brighter white, with a blue tinge, and did not match the interior paper. Eventually a very thin off white vellum was found, which works much better.

Today really hammered in the fact that its not just the design that matters, and finding all the right materials is almost as important.

More layouts

Here are some more layouts after the book has changed size. Colour sill needs to be added to the drawings, and type fixed up, but this is the general idea.

Major change

After my discussion with Reg on Wednesday, I have decided to make my book much smaller (4.5″ by 5.75″) to combat the “sterile” vibe it was giving off, and make it more intimate. It will allow for the images to take up one spread each, so there isnt as much of a contrast and battle between them. In addition, the paper that will be used will be of a creamy colour. Instead of making all the images blue, each chapter will be colour coded. The the images in chapter one will be blue, but chapter two green, etc.

This change in size will have a large infleunce on the layout and feel of the book…and its for the better

Update

Its time for an update on the current status of my book, so here it is:

More drawings have been done, and concepts for title pages and half pages thought out. The way in which the book will be put together has been figured out. Due to not being able to complete all the chapters as planned bu the end of the term, the book that will be handed in will not be as thick. Therefore the binding is going to be a perfect binding, with a stiff cover. There plan to have a blueprint wrap around as a dust jacket is still in motion.

In preparation for the final book a few things have to be tested, with one of the main things being printing. Instead of attempting to have silver ink for this version, in order to have slight fingerprints show up, I’m going to use black on black printing.

Unfortunately the paper being used for the inside sheets is going to have to rely on the stock of the printer…unless I find one who allows you to bring in your own paper. This is something I am going to look further into when doing the second version of the book. (I visited coast papers the other day, and found stock that was a thinner and more lighweight tpe of paper, which seems appropriate for the characteristics of the content)

That’s it for now, time to get to work!

Sample Layout

So I’ve been working on getting the blueprint feel and laying out the text vs image for the chapter profiling members of the team. I’m not completely happy with it, so any feedback as to what is missing or should be changed would be appreciated.

Considering a size change

My book dimension is currently 6.25″ by 8″ and as I am laying out book spreads I am unsure of whether or not I should slightly downsize it by a maximum of one inch on each dimension…

I had chosen the original size to allow for more white space and larger margins for the clean feeling of a blueprint, but am debating whether too much compensation for this was made.

The answer to this will likely come through more layouts and printing.

On a side note…I’m in love with the chosen text face, Mercury <3

Three Questions

1. For the cover of my book I want there to be silver fingerprints printed on some sort of material (fabric, or something that gives a very smooth surface). Does anyone know a way of doing this other that using a polymer plate or foil stamping?

2. I want to use a more egytienne/slap typeface for the titles and main heads in my book. Right now I am leaning towards using Caecilia, do you have any other suggestions that convey the feel of a blueprint or heist (dont necessarily have to be slab serif)?

3. My layout and diagrams are made using the elements of building blueprints as a basis…do you know of any other small symbols or design features that I should consider incorporating?

OR

Do you have any design/aesthetic suggestions in general (for any part of my book) that I should consider?