Part 1 – Daniel's OCA Blog: Book Design 1

Exercise 7: Visualising, editing and critiquing

Based on your work from the previous exercises, think about how your designs work within the context of the book. For example, visually explore how your artwork sits within the format of your A5 pamphlet – how the page might frame the artwork, how different pages sit together or how you might begin to develop… Continue reading Exercise 7: Visualising, editing and critiquing

Exercise 6: Folding and mocking up your book

Creating a small mock up Creating a full scale mock up Although this was a simple exercise it was useful to be able to visualise page numbers and understand the layout of pages.

Exercise 5: Research & development

Firstly, review your visual ideas based on from the previous exercise through a process of critical evaluation. Which ideas are you drawn to? Which ideas have ‘legs’ – possible interesting outcomes which are worth pursuing? Often the ideas which are strongest are those which have depth, or many layers of association. Perhaps you are intuitively drawn… Continue reading Exercise 5: Research & development

Exercise 4: Generating ideas

Use one or more of the following book related sayings as a starting point to generate visual ideas and responses: Bookworms A closed/open book The oldest trick in the book You can’t judge a book by its cover In someone’s good/bad books By the book During this early formative stage, aim to be as wide-ranging and… Continue reading Exercise 4: Generating ideas

Exercise 3: Alternative publications

Using your research into artists’ books and fanzines as a starting point, think about their physical or design qualities, and creatively apply some of these approaches to your own designs. For example, there’s a distinctive visual quality to many fanzines which comes from a ‘cut and paste’ approach to designing and through the use of… Continue reading Exercise 3: Alternative publications

Research task: Artists’ books and fanzines

Browse the American based Smithsonian Libraries’ Artist Book archive to identify books that you find interesting or questions the notion of the book in some way. This book jumped out at me straight away. It subverts the idea of a book unequivocally with its unusual form and layout. The book could just as easily be… Continue reading Research task: Artists’ books and fanzines

Exercise 2/Research task: The Future of the Book

Given the current development of the book from printed to digital technologies, what do you see as the future of the book, for readers, and book designers? Where do you see the book heading? Show and tell. Try and summarise your thinking into a series of short statements, quotations, images (collage) or ideas. Be creative in how you… Continue reading Exercise 2/Research task: The Future of the Book

Exercise 1: Influential books

Consider the importance of books to you both personally and within a broader global sense. First of all, think back to the earliest books you came across as a child, through your teenage years and early adulthood to where you are now. There may be half a dozen books which stick in your memory or… Continue reading Exercise 1: Influential books