Beautiful layouts

As I am most likely going to have to send off to get my DC publication printed I have had to rethink the layout and structure of my book. Initially it was going to be handcrafted and hand bound, however now it will have to take the form of A5 on specific gloss/satin paper. Therefore I need to change the way I design the spreads so they match the printing process but still communicate.

Quato

Ooor... should I use quarto for the aura book as it is believed to be the first book size printed by Guenberg or would this be well suited to my Design Context... possibly design context.

Quarto (abbreviated 4to or 4°) is a book or pamphlet produced from full 'blanksheets', each of which is printed with eight pages of text, four to a side, then folded two times to produce four leaves (that is, eight book pages). Each printed page now presents as one-fourth size of the full blanksheet.

The earliest known European printed book is a quarto, the Sibyllenbuch, believed to have been printed by Gutenberg in 1452–53, before theGutenberg Bible, surviving only as a fragment. Quarto is also used as a general description of size of books that are about 12 inches tall, and as such does not necessarily indicate the actual printing format of the books, which may even be unknown as is the case for many modern books. These terms are discussed in greater detail in Book sizes.

Past DC publications

Progress surgery with Lorenzo last week pointed out that I need to be more focussed wit my DC publication and I really need to state the questions to ask professionals asap in order to get responses in time. I have some professionals who are happy to help, so I need to get ontop of it! Past students show here are; Vicky Simpson, Edd Webb, others to add.

Publication format inspiration

For brief #6 and my design context publication, I would really like to have alternative sized spreads inside the oublication to show case studies. I think this demonstrates a change in content and would work well if I had one publication with different sections instead of a range of individual publications. I also really love hand binding, and so would love to use this. French folding the covers is a great idea to use the same stock but give it more stance and thickness as a cover.

For brief #3 and the mædate swing tags including small leaflet, a thin stock which folds into a thicker exterior container would be most practical. No binding would be involved as we would need to produce around 100 of these and so the quickest production method would be more suitable.

Ubuntu font project

Note to self

Print techniques - Digital Arts

GIVE WEIGHT TO PAPER
George Adams, senior designer, NB Studio


We recently worked with the University of Oxford to update their fundraising campaign report (right). It was to be sent to over 170,000 alumni worldwide, so it needed to be printed on a lightweight stock to keep postage costs down. We settled on a bible-type paper stock.

THE IMPORTANCE OF BLIND TESTING
Michael Smith, Cog Design

The quality and weight of the paper you print on can make or break your piece of communication. As an experiment, take three very different, blank sheets of A5 paper and put them in an envelope. Blindfold a client or colleague and ask them to open the envelope and explain what each ‘leaflet’ might be advertising. You’ll be amazed at how much people will read into feedback from their sense of touch.

GET TO KNOW THE PRINTING PROCESS
Michael C Place, creative director, Build

A little knowledge of printing can go a long way to making a good project a great one and can help you stretch a small budget. Learn the process, meet the printers, go on site. Think about using overprinting; two colours can make three colours, three make seven. Be clever and the results can amaze.

USE MATERIALS TO TRIGGER EMOTIONAL REACTIONS
Jamie Ellul, director, Magpie Studio

Choosing the right materials is as integral to the execution of an idea as the choice of typeface, words [and] imagery. Paper and print can be used in a way that adds to the recipient’s emotional reaction. If you want it to look and feel not-for-profit, use a recycled board and print in one colour. If you want a brochure to signify that a company is the best in the business and their price tag is justified, then throw the kitchen sink at it.

SOMETIMES IT’S GOOD TO BE FRUGAL
Adam Giles, creative director, Interabang

Lavish brochures are increasingly a thing of the past, and you can turn today’s constraints into a virtue. When faced with a limited production budget for a recent annual review, we kept the document loose-bound. This reduced costs, and by borrowing the feel of a newspaper it put across the idea that the review addressed current issues of importance.

Evolution Press

Based in Seattle, stunning perfection when it comes to letterpress! All info taken from their website.

We print all our letterpress from photopolymer plates – it’s economical, it’s more environmentally friendly and it produces stunning results from digital files.

Impression + fiber = dramatic results. Embossing offers several ways to perfectly impress your particular image. Maybe your work requires a single-level emboss, or maybe it takes a sculptural emboss to really make your image look its best. If your image is the same color as your paper, we can do a blind emboss on a blank sheet. Register emboss involves printing your image and then embossing it on the next pass.

There’s nothing like traditional letterpress to give your work a tactile, hand-crafted edge. Going to press is like – well, imagine the sharp smell of ink. The sound of the press striking paper. This is the print ink experience your art has been waiting for. By combining impression with vivid color, even a simple design yields stunning results.

Thoughts:
Find somewhere in the UK to letterpress like this! Maybe business cards. Yummy!

GFSmith papers