Initial Brainstorms

Thinking about cards I began by doing a brief mind map of what occasions card are used for and what common themes can be. After looking at the possible outcomes I decided I wanted to create blank cards that could be used for any occasion from a birthday, to sending a quick message. I also looked at some things that are used to make cards stand out such as foiling, embossing and stick out areas. I can experiment with these techniques.

 

I want to create a range that many people will identify with so I brainstormed some areas that lots of people are interested in.

 The two ares that stood out to me the most were pets and music as it is the most relatable
Next I will follow through with some ideas, initial sketches and research.

Why I am choosing UK Greetings

On seeing this brief on the YCN website I was immediately drawn to it due to the amount of creativity it gives. I also worked in a card shop for a year and a half thinking to myself that in the future I could design a card which could be sold. I also immediately had many ideas in my head and knew this would be a substantial l brief I would really enjoy to do !

Some Tutor Feedback

I talked to a tutor about my theme and ask for some feedback on my design choices. This was his feedback.

• The theme comes across well and is thought through
• Maybe try taking photographs rather than scans for the paper cutting. This will make the effect look even more handmade than if you were to create it on indesign.
• The Title and the author font and size are the same, they need separating in some way to make it more apparent they are different parts of information.

Overall I am happy with the feedback and understood what he meant. I will work on developing my designs.

Layouts and design

 After Scanning my paper cuts I began to organise them onto the layout of the book cover. I liked the look of layering the images and the texture the paper gives. I created many layouts moving the images around I will need to get some feedback on my layouts for what is most effective. I also Need to work on making the text fit well with the theme of handmade. Maybe I could Write and scan it in. I will get feedback and carry on developing my idea.

Design Development

Starting my ideas digitally I began by drawing Toms hands in cuffs. I like the idea but not the style and decided to do mock ups for my paper cutting idea. I created some of the silhouettes of objects and had a go at putting them in different places on the page. I think it had a better outcome. I also like that the text is layout like classic penguin books. The competition only lets you put forward a front page, however I am going to design the whole cover incase I progress in the competition and so I can design as a whole.

Developing initial ideas and paper cutting

 Following my initial ideas I created some silhouette images that I paper cut out onto black card. Once I had cut out the images I wanted I scanned them along with brown paper I will use for the background. Now I will need to experiment with layout.

Interface Group Crit Discussion

Talking through my brief with a group of other students was helpful with gaining ideas. I talked about the reason I am creating the app due to the scanning element and they agreed that it is an important feature. I also talked about possible layouts I could do to make the app easy to navigate without looking to busy.
I stated the idea of the navigation bar used a lot by social sites such as Instagram and Facebook. However I also talked about ideas of hidden informations and menus.
They also gave me ideas on things that people would benefit from such as having rewards, points and challenges that could encourage people to read. When creating a social app there is lots of information needed such as settings, notifications etc, however I want to hide this info so it is not cluttered but still make it accessible. They loved my idea of having personalised bookshelf on your profile and also like the idea of them actually looking like a shelf which is a lot more visually appealing than the Goodreads app. All of this discussion will come in useful when designing my app and adding things new that is different to other platforms.

Initial Interface Ideas

I am beginning to create initial ideas for the layout and design of my app. My app will include 5 main sections; Profile page, Feed, Reviews/Recommendations, Friends and scanner. My aim is that winning the app it should take you 5 steps or less to get to what you want. I also have the idea to instead of having a traditional navigation bar to have a hidden menu. I want to have a symbol in the top corner and no matter where you are in the app when you click it you can find you way to not of the main areas. I also want to include symbols so that there is less text and looks more visually appealing, this will also be more interesting to an younger audience. Thinking about colours I want to keep them pale and calming. Reading is a calming experience and I want my app to reflect that.

Website and app Analysis

I decided to analyse the Goodreads Website and app to really pinpoint the positives and negatives.

Website Positives
Looking at the website there is some good aspects such as

• The ability to put in the page number you are in the book and it tells you your %
• Browse by tag
• They have book awards every year
• You can set yourself a reading challenge
• you can create and do quizzes

Website Negatives 

• The layout is cluttered and busy which takes away from the information you want to read.
• The groups aren't very visually appealing or well organised which makes them less successful
• The Profile page is basic and includes no personality
• It is hard to make friends and interact
• There is only a limited amount of bookshelves, you can't add new
• If you are looking at reviews they don't hide spoilers so you may accidentally read them

App Positives

• Navigation bar can help you find things slightly faster
• Less cluttered (due to no adverts and better organisation)
• Scan barcodes of books.

App Negatives

• Not enough sub genres
• boring profile page
• Hard to interact with others.

Creating a Survey

When creating my user experience I need to cater to what my target audience wants and make sure it has everything they are inspecting. I decided to collect data by creating a survey on
surveymonkey.com. I got feedback from book lovers with different age and genders.

Feedback

• People mostly use Goodreads to look at book reviews and recommendations.
• A lot of people said that the design of the website was to cluttered and there is far to much text which makes it look dull.
• 60% of people who took my survey find the website not easy to use.
• reasons of this was because genres of book are to general and there are lots of adverts making the text harder to see.
• People like social aspects of the website the most along with reviews and colours.
• People disliked the organisation and layout the most.
• When I asked if they were more likely to use an app or the website they were slightly more likely to use an app.

Finally I asked them what they would like to see from my app I will create they said,

Simplistic with interactive qualitiesReviewers comments. Individual Reviewers top 5 book list. Book critics ratings.Easy to access, simplicitic design so everything is easy to find, unique style for colour, most importantly a place for reviews. Also recommendations that suite what you have been reading previously rather than random books that have nothing related to what has previously been read!Log of what books I've read, am reading and want to read, book reviews, quizzes, profile
Genres tab but including more specific genres Recommendations Book Log

This feedback will help me when creating my designs and thinking about the user experience my app will have.

Final brief summary

Research and Penguin Ideas

When thinking of ideas for the cover I have only been taking into consideration my options on the book and what I thought stood out therefore I decided to go onto Good Reads and look at some common themes within the book reviews for 'To Kill a Mockingbird'.

This is some comments I saw

• 'Perfect example of father role'
• 'Atticus is my new role model'
• 'Atticus is a man we could all love and look up to grounded and fair man. He sees beyond race and finds goodness in people'

A lot of the reviews were focused on Atticus who in the book is one of the main characters. He is a Lawyer and father and is seen as a key character and overall good person. I could focus my cover on representing Atticus by including the images to do with law.

I also began to look at the time era the book is set in. When you read a book you get transported into another world. In this case the time of the Great Depression. This was when the stockmarket crashed and unemployment was at an all time high. People were going through hard times by the longest lasting economic downturn. When I think of the great depression I think Dark colours like brown

I looked a little bit into past penguin layouts and they all had a theme of title author and Penguin Book. I have an idea of making my book cover look traditional but also modern with the use of texture and my links to the book and time era. I am thinking of using a more handmade technique using paper cutting.

Interface Brief

After looking into interfaces and current problems I looked more into my interests and what I would benefit from designing. I am a book lover along with many other people I used Goodreads for many things from reviews to recommendations. However I really do not like the user experience and the design of the website and app for many reasons. Therefore as a brief I am going to design a new App for book lovers that is a nicer experience.

Brief 

Design a App for book lovers which includes features such as a profile and reviews. Ensure the experience is satisfying and simple to navigate.

Writing this as a question

How can I create an app for book lovers that is both engaging and useful but that is also simple and easy to navigate?

Starting Interface Design Brief

I will be creating a screen based user experience. Within this brief I will need to think about the client, the problem, the target audience and the overarching aim of the project. (What I am trying to achieve). We started by getting into groups and talking about interface design we come across everyday, both positive experiences and negative.

Some of the interfaces we were talking about in particular was Estudio and how we are expected to use it everyday however it doesn't work well across platforms and can be frustrating to use and navigate around. We also use many appliances around the home that are hard to use such as a microwave and a boiler. When creating my website or app I am going to take into consideration aspects of other experiences and what works well.

Final Crit and evaluation November 4th

After I had finished my publication I had a crit with other students and a tutor where I talked about what I was aiming for what went well and what didn't.
Feedback

• It was good that I identitied a gap in the market.
• The colours are effective as they show organisation and make it easy to navigate around the book. However maybe I could have toned down the shade of colour to make the pictures stand out more.
• The hand written type fits well with the concept of having a personal less serious review book.
• The string method of binding although was unintended looked better than what the wire that I researched had looked.
• The map page looks a little less of a high quality than the typed text and image.
• The cover doesn't portray that the inside is full of colour, this could be a good surprise, or to much of a contrast.
• The humourus and personal aspect works well with the consistent layout and draws your eyes towards the main information. 

Evaluation

When starting this brief I decided to focus on creating a publication on signage in the area I live. When beginning to research I found a gap in the market and decided to act upon it by creating a book on food signage that also includes food reviews. I wanted the production to be using print and to have the cost of the book lower to be more open to a larger audience. In my design the use of colour was important to make it stand out and be well organised. I also took consideration in the style of the book making it easy to read and navigate. When researching binding methods I wanted to use a style that made the book look more handmade and personal. That is why I choose to have the book so if you don't like the signage you can just rip out the page and not have it in the book. I also made the book so that it can stand up and display your favourite page. There were no books out there that is based on food reviews due to its online presence so when designing I took some inspiration from websites such as trip advisor. I have had many group critiques showing my book and have gotten a number of positive and negative feedback that has helped me to develop my work and know that my final book is successful at the theme it is supposed to portray. I looked more into spacing text and creating organised and consistent layouts. When making all these design decisions I have took into consideration the purpose and audience of the book which is designers and people who enjoy food. Things I learnt from this brief is that It is important to make mockups which includes the same page and stock size so that it is more accurate when making your final outcome. Things that I found challenging about this brief was the binding method and making the final outcome look as professional as possible. Overall I am happy with the publication. Although the binding method did not go according to my initial plan, I learnt from it and the final outcome came out better than expected. If I was to produce the book for mass market I would need to lower the stock quality to get it to a lower price range that I believe is more appealing to the target audience of students. I would also get it produced in a different method rather than spending hours hand punching holes into the paper. I could see this book being apart of a series that shows food places outside of the northeast in the future.

Binding my final publication

Beginning to create my publication I measured and cut my mount board, then backed it with my brown paper prints and PVA glue. After everything was cut down it was time to make the hole punches. I measured the same as my test piece as that had previously worked well. However my hole punch was not very powerful and took a lot of my energy. I spent over 3 hours punching the holes in just one book. This is not practical therefore if my publication would be mass produced it would need to be hole punched in a different way.

I realised that it was going to be difficult to line up all of the holes to put the wire through therefore I decided I could use thread to help me line it up and once the wire was in place cut it out. However when I began to thread the different wires I had through the book I could not get it past the third hole as the book is to thick and the wire would get stuck. I then had to brainstorm ideas that is similar to wire and matches my homemade personal feel.

I had the ides to use wool or string to go through the holes so the book still opens easily but is better suited for the amount of pages I have. I think that content is more important than making it fit into the wire binding. The wool also looks more handmade and looks good with the brown paper cover. So I went to the market and bought some wool and string. The wool worked best as it does not flake, or break as easily. I then thread it through and tied it. Overall I was happy with the outcome even if it was not what I predicted.

Penguin Initial Ideas

I decided to start by making a mind map using the knowledge I have from what I have read in the book. I wrote key characters, events within the story and locations/time periods. Something that stands out the most in the story for me was the theme of Racism within the white community and the scenes which were in the court room. I want to try and create a cover than includes one of these themes.

Some Initial sketches I made include a courtroom and people of different race. I will begin to experiment with these ideas looking at what is appropriate to the story. Maybe I can look into creating something digitally or hand drawn. I also would like to look at making something more textured.

Researching Penguin

Before I start to design a cover for the penguin design competition I am looking into previous winners of the competition. I noticed from this that the designs are more minimal with the use of hidden meaning. The Clockwork orange winner uses the language in the book that you do not understand unless you have read the book itself. Similar with Oranges are not the only fruit where In the book it has a large theme of christianity which the main character goes against. Looking at this has made me want to create a cover that links to a part of the story rather than going with the obvious. I also need to include the penguin logo etc.

I then began to look into covers that have already been created for the book. A common theme of the covers is including a tree, scout, and a mockingbird. This is something I want to stay clear of as I want my cover to focus on a different part of the book to be different from the others. I do want to keep the cover text simple and only have the name and author similar to the other covers.

Looking into the judges I wanted to know a bit about there designs and what they might find more visually appealing. 

Suzanne Dean

Suzanne Dean has created her own cover for To Kill a Mockingbird for the 50th anniversary, It is minimal but elegant and includes the mockingbird. It is in a more traditional style with easy to read type. However looking at some of her other cover designs they are all very different. She uses a mix of illustration and some photography. Some looks hand rendered and some digitally edited. This is good as she has a broad taste in design.

Richard Ogle

Looking at some of Richard Ogles book designs he mixes photography with illustration to make fun and bright covers. Reading an interview Richard was in he stated  'as a designer, the main thing we can offer is our interpretation of a book, so I think it’s very important to read the books to be able to distill your own vision rather than simply taking briefs at face value and supplying exactly what is asked for or expected.'
This is good as I have read the book which can give me an insight into other areas of the book I could show rather than just the mockingbird.

To Kill a Mockingbird

Genre- Southern Gothic, Coming-of-age story, Bildungsroman

Published in 1960

Picking the Penguin Brief

When looking at the competition websites and Briefs the one that stood out most to me was The Penguin Competiton. I am interested in Book design therefore it is a project that I can enjoy. Looking at this years books I was happy to see 'To Kill a Mockingbird' a book that I have read and enjoyed.

In a session we began to identify what would be important to do to prepare for this project. I need to look at covers that already exist for To kill a Mockingbird and look at previous winners of the competition. Look into target audience and the judges styles. Also look at how penguin books are designed and there grid systems. etc. 

Printing my Publication

Looking at different stock I wanted the publication to be a thick Matt stock to represent a good quality notebook style. I decided on Matt 200gsm. Knowing that my binding may not go right first time I printed my publication 3 times. It cost around £28, Thinking about how much money the publication would cost in order to get profit It would have to sell for around £12.99 that is fine for a graphic design publication however I wanted it to be cheaper and more affordable. To change this when reproducing it maybe I could use a cheaper stock that could be thinner.

Initial Cover Designs

The font cover of a publication is cruital. It is what catches peoples eye and makes them want to find out more. When thinking of initial ideas for my cover I wanted to show the theme of food with slight humour. I created some initial sketches of covers that included my title 'From Chipshops to Restaurants' and though of the idea to have a brown paper background. I decided to keep my design type based as it had enough character and represented my content well. I will print this design onto brown textured paper and then put it on mount board to make it thicker.