Final Major Project 2: May 2011

Over the past few months I have not shown evidence of many action plans on my blog, which I regret, as in other modules I usually do put them up. In hindsight I know I should have posted regular to do lists to show better evidence of time management, but every day I seem to live my life through lists on paper and prefer to do daily and weekly action plans by hand to have in front of me while I work, and gradually they have built up and here's a shot of just some of my scribbly aims from over the Final Major Project. I will literally write on anything when I think of something else I need to do...there's even an envelope in there somewhere!

Tigerprint competition boards

My context book layouts

The idea behind the layout was to keep it simple and where possible create full image spreads to let the research and design speak for itself. Here are a few examples of spreads taken from the 'Top ten handcrafted type' chapter which show just that. This chapter I kept a running theme with the layout as it is a showcase of designer's work grouped together, so it is a good example of the typical style the book is taking.

Another layout

This square format and low set imagery on the spreads is an idea I want to use for a section of my context book, perhaps the 'Top 10 hand crafted typographers' section to keep a running theme throughout the chapter.

Layout ideas

As shown by these practice layouts below, I want the images found and gathered to dominate the spread, so I have explored ways that this could work and where the text could sit around the images. Obviously it depends on the scale of the images found as to where they fit best on the page, but I want to have various layouts that all fit to the same grid, but mix the spreads up a bit to allow the reader to keep interest.

Pulished book layouts

Printed formats give so much scope for variations of layouts, but I want to produce a square format book and here are some double page examples of the look I am going for, taken from New Ornamental Type - a book used for context research on my chosen topic of hand drawn lettering:

Vicki Gausden

'I'm a Freelance Illustrator & Hand Lettering Artist based in Edinburgh, UK. I produce bold, quirky and humorous images that are perfect for print and the web. I like to write and illustrate children's books and I have a passion for cupcakes, pretty patterns and handmade objects. My previous clients include Random House, BEAM Education and the National Trust. ' Taken from her website; www.vickigausden.co.uk

Rachael Taylor designs

Rachael is mainly an illustrator and specialises in surface pattern designs, but I came across her site and really liked the hand drawn type work she has done. She developed an early style in her work which was relevant to many different contexts and many different companies wanted her designs. Clientel examples include: Paperchase, Graham & Brown, WH Smith, Target, UK Greetings, American Greetings, Tigerprint (for Marks & Spencer UK) Hanes Paper, Verbaudet, Redwood and many more. Even her website design took on her style of work: