Fine Art Yearbook : Specifications Boards

Open publication - Free publishing - More ougd303fmp

Fine Art Yearbook : Cover Mocks

Fine Art Yearbook : Spread Development

Liam put together a few spreads that tested image overlayint, ruler strokes image scales and using a profile photo.

Fine Art Yearbook : Cover Development

Liam came up with a few cover designs with a more resereved approach.

Fine Art Yearbook : Yearbook Meeting 4

4
Fine Art Yearbook Meeting

We met up with the Fine Art reps and Sheila again today to keep them up to date with the designs and also address some issues regarding stock and budget.  We received some good feedback from them for small changes of layout and what they ideally wanted for stock and typefaces.

They really have their hearts set on a light weight paper, however we have told them that that decision is now completely out of our hands, or at least that is our understanding of the situation.  The same goes for the cover stock.

The number of pages has been an issue.  The book could either be 96 pages / 44 spreads of work, leaving just 6 pages for the introduction, content and other pages simply to make the book more exciting; or 108 pages leaving plenty of room for making the book much more of an experience and therefore a stronger resolution.  We all decided that 108 pages would be far more interesting, even though it means that potentially they may get fewer copies.

The layout of the spreads are working for both us and them, so we are agreed that they are the final article, all that we are waiting for now is the final photographs of work...

Fine Art have organised a photographer to take all of the shots on Thursday and Friday, so if all runs smoothly on their end we will have them before Easter break up.  Should any student not supply us with final photographs we have at least one back-up photograph for each student.  If they are not acceptable in terms of resolution of quality we will endeavour to get hold of one, but the general idea is that if they have not got a photograph sorted out they will simply be left out.

The introductory text to the book has been layout in 2 columns rather than one for the latest’s mock up, however they preferred it as one column.  This is a simple change, but we will have to wait to see how long the introduction statement is before we finalise this decision.  This will be provided before Easter too unless they fail to sort it out.

Instead of a directory of student contacts in alphabetical order, Sheila though that it could be substituted for an acknowledgments page for sponsors and thanks to outside sources as well us.

The personal statements on each student page have the flexibility to cross 2 columns, however the short word count of 30 will have to be edited by Fine Art before we can say whether or not 2 columns are necessary.  Again the deadline for this is this Friday.

The cover has been a problematic area our group are not entirely happy with the use of Akkurat as it does not feature anywhere else in the book.  However it does have an immediate impact and works with the text ‘what we cannot say.’  The design we showed them received good feedback, but also room for improvement.  The idea is that the text will wrap around both front and back covers, with the title of the exhibition on the front and the course name on the back.  This will design will be made final by this Friday also so that they can see it before we crack on with the content.

There will either be no finish on the cover to make allowance for budget, or a matt foil (no larger than A6), which will be used on the type or as a more conceptual feature.

Our mock printing costs are being negotiated tomorrow with Richard.  This will probably give us an allowance of £40 (£20 has been used already) to produce mock-ups and samples.  This will be taken out of the course funds.  We will know the details tomorrow.

So in preparation for Fridays short meeting we will have:

• ·      Final cover design
• ·      Photographed work
• ·      100% of edited statements
• ·      Introductory statement

Fine Art Yearbook : Studio Photography for Spreads

The Fine art reps have been providing us with quite a few shots of their studio for the full bleed spreads of the book.  Some are close up details of mess and mayhem, while other envision a rather more sedate and relaxed studio space.  This blend of both calm and erratic images will fit very well with the work in the book.  It gives off the impression of unpredictability, variation and multi discipline.

Fine Art Yearbook : New Fine Art Images

We have received new images from;

Ian Chapman, Alex Nightingale, Jonny Rawlin + Lisa Darbyshire

Fine Art Yearbook : Lorenzo Print Meeting

Lorenzo informed us that there is some extra money in the budget for us to all get what we wanted, including our 110gsm stock! Hurrah. I cant wait to see how beautifully our book open itself out, its going to be spiffing. Also the budget allows us to have the foiling on the cover which is going to be absolutely beautiful. Not much else to say other than that, we got what we wanted! Thanks Lorenzo and team.

Fine Art Yearbook : Duffield Quote

Fine Art Yearbook : Final Cover Development II

Open publication - Free publishing - More covers

Fine Art Yearbook : Final Cover Development

Open publication - Free publishing - More development

Fine Art Yearbook : Clive from Duffiled Meeting

We have asked for two separate quotes, the difference between them being the finish on the cover.

Quote 1

210x210mm

Cover - 300gsm coated

Leaves - 90gsm uncoated

100pp / 50 leaves

4 colour process CYMK

lock bound (improved version of perfect bound)

Specials - spot UV on the cover

1500-2000 units (negotiable)

Quote 2

210x210mm

Cover - 300gsm uncoated

Leaves - 90gsm uncoated

100pp / 50 leaves

4 colour process CYMK

lock bound (improved version of perfect bound)

Specials - matte black foil on cover

1500-2000 units (negotiable)

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A printed estimate should be with by Monday or Tuesday of next week.

Clive also stated that we could all visit during the week so long as we give them 24hrs notice to see how the place operates and to source paper samples.

Fine Art Yearbook : Layout and Concept Development

Off the back of Tim being away out of the country the team decided we should get on with pushing the layout onto a final design direction.  I was all for this, however my book fair brief was coming to a definite end at the end of the week and I simply could not help them out with the time frame I had for two days.  This was a tad annoying because the previous week I had been up for it but Tim was away and now I was busy and only able to dash over to give some input on their design work.

They came up with three slightly different directions to show the Fine Art team for the meeting the following day.  The differences are in the header typeface (Quicksand) and the body copy (Courier New), while the general layout was always flexible.  The statements on one of the mocks were rigid, always appearing in the same place, this would mean the images would have to work around it.  The other allowed the statement to be placed wherever on the spread to accommodate to varying image sizes.

To take to the meeting we have our main concept of ‘what we cannot say.’ On top of this we tried to think of a few new concepts, none of which were as strong. We spent days on the original concept generation and only one was worthy of following up. The other two we are going to pitch to them are;

Unite, Evolve, Express, Disband.
Who needs words when we have artistic license.

Fine Art Yearbook : Prelimenary Images

Fine art have given us some good quality images to work with for the initial layouts. It would be nice to have a few more, but there is a descent range of scales, proportions, colours and styles of work.
It is good to see that the Fine Art lot are keeping on top of their side of things, it makes out job a lot easier!

Fine Art Yearbook : Typeface Estilo

Liam found this typeface while on his train ride home. It is as close to what the fine art reps wanted for their header copy as we could have hoped for. The inspiration is taken from the Turner Prize publication that they supplied us with.
Some of the Lowercase glyphs are not so nice, they just don’t sit right, however the uppercase works really well. It costs $17 so we will need to run it by the Fine Art reps in our next meeting.

Fine Art Yearbook : Yearbook Meeting 3

3
Meeting with Fine Art


(Notes taken by Liam)


Meeting 03 with the Fine Art committee today (slightly delayed from the original date due to dissertation submissions and reading week).

As usual it was very productive and progressive. Working with the course is a very pleasant experience and Sheila has been brilliant throughout.

The main aspects we went over were as previously mentioned (typeface selection, stock weights, cover specifications, concept developments and responses to the design direction).

I will summarise in bullet-points as it will be much more effective. Overall we are very happy with the way things went...

01. 'What We Cannot Say' is a big thumbs up. Strongest out of the supplied suggestions and conveys what the students on the course want to say about their practice.

02. Floating body copy is preferred for its flexibility. It is also a nice inter-changable element that compliments the fixed headings.

03. The idea of light stock that hints transparency is also liked. Initially this was uncertain, but the more Graphic was passed around the more it was welcomed and given the green light.

04. Inside stock doesn't have to be a set colour anymore. An off-white standard paper will do the job. It must feel warm and not harsh like cheap copier paper. We agree 100%.

05. Quicksand has got the go ahead; dismiss Estilo, it sits funny. Courier New has also got the go ahead.

06. Would like to see some exploration of colour with the cover. The Creamier publication has a nice warm grey that works nicely, but perhaps we can push this a little further. The text also needs to sing and stand out whilst the course tours to London. This means no faffing about with white on white. Main elements must be bold, whilst over elements can be a clear varnish... compliment hidden surprises with the brash in-your-face information.

07. Telephone numbers are likely to be removed from the nav text at the top of the spreads. The general feeling is that email will be sufficient. I personally don't agree with this, but that's where we may have to compromise.

08. Does the publication need to be A-Z alphabetical. What would happen if the flow of the book worked on a colour basis. Colour is a very important aspect of the discipline that could be pushed through. (Just a thought from Sheila on this one. We will look into once we obtain final images).

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From here then:

What we need from the course (as we have expressed) is as follows.

01. Final contact details for every student.
02. A clarified introduction written by the course team.
03. Details on the show itself and dates of the London goings-on. (Free Range).
04. Set deadline for the final imagery and content. (In progress as we speak).
05. Decided content for filler images. (The studio for example).
06. Full details of the current course team. Names etc.

What we need to provide for the next meeting.

01. Stock samples for both the cover and leaves.
02. Print quotation from Duffields in full.
03. Comprehensive progress for the cover design.
04. Set structure for the entire piblication layout.

Next meeting: TBC Monday 14th via email.

Fine Art Yearbook : Meeting 2

2
Meeting with Fine Art


(Notes taken by Liam)


Second meeting with the Fine Art Committee today, mainly put into place to clarify a concept and an overarching idea that could potentially inform some of the design direction elements.

The theme that the team has come back to us with for now is entitled 'Tacit Knowledge'. This is a concept that ultimately aims to unify the group through the idea that they have all become successful at what they do through practice - Tacit Knowledge is knowledge that cannot simply be taught, it has to be developed through experience and engagement with the process. It was described to us as like riding a bike. You can be told how to do it, but that doesn't necessarily mean that you instantly become successful at the physical engagement.

A runner up to this that the team looked at was 'If Someone Speaks...' - A phrase taken from a Freudian theory. As they ultimately didn't want to be related back to Freud this was dropped.

The group have given us permission to take the concept and run with it a little bit, as last year's team (Tom, Ollie & Angus) did. This element of freedom is appealing and something that the group and I will begin to work on immediately.

Looking ahead to production, the course has stated that they want approx. 2,000 copies in total for D&AD and other events - or whatever the maximum is that the budget forecasts. They don't really want anymore than this number though.

For now we are going to aim to develop the concept and put some immediate design decisions down onto paper as it were.

Next meeting: 12 o'clock - Friday 18th February, 2011.