Publishing Design - Task 3A

22 September 2023 - 27 October  / Week 4 - Week 9
Sim Jia Min 0349784
Publishing Design / Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media / Taylor's University
Task 3A: Book

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LECTURES

Lectures are done in Task 1.

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INSTRUCTIONS (MIB)

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Task 3A: Book

Figure 1.1: Chosen book size from task 1: B5, 17.6cm x 25cm (Week 2, 8/9/23)

Figure 1.2: Book content, Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata (Week 2, 8/9/23)

Figure 1.3: Visuals PDF (Week 5, 29/9/23)

Figure 1.4: Layout references

Figure 1.5: Grid (Week 5, 29/9/23)

Chosen grid of the layout, using the chosen typesetting from type specimen exercise.

Typesetting

Heading: Helvetica Neue bold (size 30pt)

Pullquote: Garamond bold (size 11pt, leading 13pt)

Subtext: Garamond italic (size 8pt, leading 10pt)

Body text: Garamond regular (size 9pt, leading 12pt, paragraph spacing 12pt, line length around 51 characters)

Figure 1.6: Layout margins and columns (Week 5, 29/9/23)

Figure 1.7: Layout progress of chapter 1 (Week 5, 29/9/23)

Figure 1.8: Layout progress of chapter 1 (Week 5, 29/9/23)

Figure 1.9: Printed draft (Week 5, 29/9/23)

According to Mr Vinod's feedback, the position of chapter title needs to be consistently placed the same, either all right or all left.

Figure 2.1: Thumbnail (Week 6, 6/10/23)

Figure 2.2: Thumbnail (Week 6, 6/10/23)

Figure 2.3: Thumbnail (Week 6, 6/10/23)

As for the progress on week 6, I added visuals and colours in the book layout and did some refinement according to the feedback given.

Figure 2.4: Printed thumbnail (Week 6, 6/10/23)

Figure 2.5: Printed thumbnail (Week 6, 6/10/23)

Figure 2.6: Printed thumbnail (Week 6, 6/10/23)

Figure 2.7: Printed book in B&W (Week 7, 13/10/23)

Figure 2.8: Printed book in B&W (Week 7, 13/10/23)

SUBMISSION

Figure 3.1: Final book thumbnail JPG (Week 8, 20/10/23)

Figure 3.2: Final book thumbnail JPG (Week 8, 20/10/23)

Figure 3.3: Final book thumbnail JPG (Week 8, 20/10/23)

Figure 3.4: Final book thumbnail PDF(Week 8, 20/10/23)

Figure 3.5: Final book thumbnail with baseline and grids PDF (Week 8, 20/10/23)

Figure 3.6: Final book spreads PDF (Week 8, 20/10/23)

Figure 3.7: Final book cover design JPG

Figure 3.8: Half title JPG

Figure 3.9: Full title JPG

Figure 4.1: Imprints and content JPG

Figure 4.2: Chapter 1 spread 1 JPG

Figure 4.3: Chapter 1 spread 2 JPG

Figure 4.4: Chapter 1 spread 3 JPG

Figure 4.5: Chapter 1 spread 4 JPG

Figure 4.6: Chapter 2 spread 1 JPG

Figure 4.7: Chapter 2 spread 2 JPG

Figure 4.8: Chapter 2 spread 3 JPG

Figure 4.9: Chapter 2 spread 4 JPG

Figure 5.1: Chapter 2 spread 5 JPG

Figure 5.2: Chapter 2 spread 6 JPG

Figure 5.3: Chapter 3 spread 1 JPG

Figure 5.4: Chapter 3 spread 2 JPG

Figure 5.5: Chapter 3 spread 3 JPG

Figure 5.6: Chapter 3 spread 4 JPG

Figure 5.7: Chapter 3 spread 5 JPG

Figure 5.8: Chapter 3 spread 5 JPG

Figure 5.9: References spread JPG

Figure 5.9: Empty page spread JPG

BOOK PRESENTATION

Paper Material

Book cover (front and back): Matte art card 210gsm

Content pages: Maple white paper 170gsm

Binding: Stapler

Cost: RM90+

Figure 6.1: Front cover (Week 9, 27/10/23)

Figure 6.2: Back cover (Week 9, 27/10/23)

Figure 6.3: Covers (Week 9, 27/10/23)

Figure 6.4: Content pages (Week 9, 27/10/23)

Figure 6.5: Content pages (Week 9, 27/10/23)

Figure 6.6: Content pages (Week 9, 27/10/23)

Figure 6.7: Content pages (Week 9, 27/10/23)

Figure 6.8: Content pages (Week 9, 27/10/23)

Flip E-book:
https://online.fliphtml5.com/tmzob/knog/

FEEDBACK

Week 5
- redo the half title and title
- make sure the size of the page title remain the same
- the column size of the subtext should be the same

Week 6
- cover (something that stands out)
- add notes: could write something about the visuals, or any other thoughts
- task 2 visual: thumbnail and individual
- page number: helvetica light
- page 23: fill up the space
- print B&W and binding (need to choose what kind of paper texture)

Week 7
- Publisher missing on cover
- the name of author on full title can be on the same line
- paper on the type of paper that use for printing
- prologue: the... can be on the same line
- garamond regular 9pt looks delicate
- page 13 and 14 without the red column
- back cover barcode should have 5mm of space

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REFLECTION

Experience: Doing this task was a great learning experience, especially when its something that I quite enjoy about, which is making layout arrangements. The reason why I used a two-column grid layout is that there are a lot of dialogues happening in the story, and the line in the middle can make the dialogue lines face each other, like how I imagine the characters are talking face to face. The two-column grid layout is really interesting and fun to play with, there are many possibilities to explore. I am also glad that I found some good references to refer to throughout the design process. 

Observations: Figuring out the layout was like trying to organize a chaotic group project. Each page had to tell its story while contributing to the grand narrative. I also found a good integration between text and image plays an important role in enhancing the aesthetic and conveying narrative effectively. One thing I feel like I can improve is the cover design, I am not entirely satisfied with it because I feel like it should be a more subtle and symbolistic kind of illustration, like how I did for my inner page illustrations. The cover design for now is too straightforward (just a woman with convenience store worksuit), at some point it just boring and doesn't really have a visual hook.

Findings: I found the importance of white space, it is important to serve a visually pleasing and clean look of layout. I also learned that the price of printing is absolutely not a joke, but the printing result is quite worth the price, the texture of maple white paper feels nice to touch.