development

The first initial developments were based around the layout what kind of layout it would be and try to figure out what would work best for the target audience, which is a city person wanting to escape to the countryside for at least a little bit. I combined the illustrations from my collaborator in an overlayed design ideas and cutout ones, neither of which worked that well according to my critique feedback.  I used the illustrations alongside photos from another collaborator, trying to lay them up and see how that would work at the end looks like. Of it through my critiques, we figured out that it might not be a way to go forward as it’s a bit cluttered and not quite the look that I personally want, as it can be a bit confusing in terms of whether it’s an information book or if it’s a story type book.

I started implementing a big grid initially. I moved onto it, making it hard to go out afterwards and focus on putting the text box. At this point, it was only to fill a text as my photographer, Which is also my copywriter, had yet to write the text. I implemented overlays and cut-outs of the photos as they are really high quality and Campbell implemented them. Still, I feel like it takes away from parts of the photos with cutting into it I also referenced illustrations and put them alongside to see how they would look, but at the end of the day, I don’t think I like the look that much, so that was the problem solved there. 

I got sent a page of the anatomy of mushrooms. As I already had many illustrations from one illustrator, I decided to let her be and do them myself. As it is some technical simple illustrations, and I'm tracing them. 

I said I got an illustrator to do the work as she is really interested in mushrooms and wanted to do this with me. My photographer sent over some graphs and illustrations of how the Anatomy of the mushroom is I decided instead of finding someone else, I would do this myself, so I traced over and tweaked parts of it to make it more susceptible to the type of layout, but I wanted I was aiming to have this across the page line situation as it would create interest across pages but also challenged me in terms of binding it. 

I spent some time figuring out the layout of the two illustration pages as they are quite different from the others, but at the same time with such a long, but it will be quite beneficial to have some break pages showcasing the anatomy of the mushrooms as it wouldn’t be too bland. 

The idea to try and experiment with changing the photos, so I did some inverted cut out referencing the overlaid that I did initially in the development phase. I brought this to Chris, and no one really liked it because I compared it to the normal one. We all agreed that didn’t make sense, even though it shows some detail that you can’t see otherwise. It’s a bit offputting. It doesn’t really reflect the topic and all that. Still, I did also do an overlay of a photo in the photo without changing anything else, and that looks kind of cool as it references the different set of mushroom. Still, I don’t think it would work at the end of the day because it’s so minute it might just look like it’s a printing error.

I decided to go with a really strict great on this as it would allow for structure whilst it forces you to be creative within its rules with a grid. It’s usually quite a lot easier for me to work as it is restrictive. I quite like that it allows for placing the text most places, and with the line of grade I did on purpose, I made it so that it would fit in with the rules of not having too long at the Langley or two short lengths so there’s nothing that would be on the five words per width.

I also decided that I wouldn’t be overlapping imagery either with illustrations or anything else as I’d rather have it be spaced out and well thought out, allowing for white space and breathing room like your nature, giving this feeling of being outside whilst reading a book.

The size of the book was from the start is meant to be small as a reference the size of mushrooms and having it be a small coffee table book instead of being a massive book that you drive along this week can be brought around with you without any issues: once it’s been worn a bit in terms of text layout there is no rule of them it’s the same typeface, and it needs to fit within the grid I have played around with different types of layouts, for example, this one which goes across the spread but also is a left-aligned justified, and Wright aligned as it would follow your eyesight as I always go from left to right left to right least in the western culture which is the book is in Norwegian, so it would make sense. 

In a critique, it was brought up that it might be cool to have some sort of login system for the book and mushrooms to find out more about the mushrooms without the text being on there, as initially, I had to text alongside images. I’ve been collated all the names of the mushrooms and make a register system based on five numbers relating to the species, and the number of mushrooms around that time quite intense. To be honest, I don’t mind an aesthetically pleasing, I would say login system in the back as this would allow for people to figure it out finding the number and then finding that both the Latin and then I added this measurement tool that would let you know how big the mushrooms out because most the photos have this measuring tool. It’s based on centimetres in millimetres, and If you wanna know how big they are if you just have to relate it back to this page, and you’ll find out how big the mushrooms are, so you get a bit more of a size reference.

In terms of binding, there was really only one way I thought I could do it, and that is kettle stitch, as it allows for the book to lay flat. As most of the pages have images across cross pages as well as text across pages. It allows the reader to lay the book down without losing its page, which is quite handy. The cover is made of linen. I played around with different types of colours, including paper book ram and having it not have a cover, but I end up in linnen as it’s a natural fabric that would decompose. It also references the mushroom logs that you can get and so your own mushrooms in them. It’s not something I did, but that was something I would’ve liked to do in a real book so you can plant your book essentially or have a book grow mushrooms.

Layout

I combined the illustrations from my collaborator in an overlayed design ideas and cutout ones, neither of which worked that well according to my critique feedback. It might not be a way to go forward as it’s a bit cluttered, and it can be a bit confusing in terms of whether it’s an information book or a story type book.

Grid

I started implementing a big grid initially. I moved onto it, making it hard to go out afterwards and focus on putting the text box. I implemented overlays and cut-outs of the photos as they are really high quality. It takes away from parts of the photos by cutting into them. 

illustration

Got sent a page of the anatomy of mushrooms. As I already had many illustrations from one illustrator, I decided to let her be and do them myself. As it is some technical simple illustrations, and I’m tracing them. 

I spent some time figuring out the layout of the two illustration pages as they are quite different from the others, but at the same time with such a long, but it will be quite beneficial to have some break pages showcasing the anatomy of the mushrooms as it would be quite interesting. 

Decided to try and experiment with the photos and inverting and moving them about. I brought them to my critique, and we all decided that they dint need that despite the previous feedback session. 

I did also do an overlay of a photo on top of the same one. It references the different set of mushroom. Still, I don’t think it would work at the end of the day because it’s so subtle it might just look like it’s a printing error.

I decided to go with a rigorous grid on this as it would allow for structure whilst it forced you to have fun otherwise. I quite like that it allows for placing the text in most places, and with the line of grade I did on purpose, I made it so that it would fit in with the rules of not having too long line lengths so that your eye drifts. The key element is to allow the page to have white space to emulate the sense of fresh air.

The size of the book was from the start is meant to be small as a reference to the size of mushrooms. This way, if you want to bring it anywhere you can, this is also why the hardcover is less likely to break with the stitching chosen.  In terms of text layout, there is no rule of them. It’s the same typeface, and it needs to fit within the grid. I have played around with different types of layouts. For example, this one goes across the spread and is left-aligned, justified and right-aligned, following the concept of western eye movements from left to right. 

In a critique, it was brought up that it might be cool to have some sort of logging system for the book. I did this, and it looks great and functional in the placements on the images going against your eye movements. There is also a measuring tool to know the size of mushrooms with the bar on the image. 

In terms of binding, there was really only one way I thought I could do it, and that is kettle stitch, as it allows for the book to lay flat. As most of the pages have images across cross pages as well as text across pages. It allows the reader to lay the book down without losing its page, which is quite handy. The cover is made of linen. I played around with different types of colours, including paper bookram and having it not have a cover, but I end up in linnen as it’s a natural fabric that would decompose. It also references the mushroom logs that you can get and so your own mushrooms in them. It’s not something I did, but that was something I would’ve liked to do in a real book so you can plant your book essentially or have a book grow mushrooms.