Book Fair : Project Evaluation

The book fair project was a good laugh.  It took me 10 days to; freak out after forgetting it was coming up just a week away, think of an idea / concept, gather the content, design the posters, print the posters, design the book, buy the stock, print the books and finally bind them.  All this while managing to fit in a brief visit to Durham to see an old friend.  It felt as though I was living design and enjoying it, being proactive and creative all rolled into one, with a nice tidy profit at the end of it all.

While this may not seem like a 'substatial project,' for me it was almost as substantial as my Cancún bref.  It  helped me get my head around what I think of design and put it into design form.  Not only this, but the people at the book fair seemed to like the work which gave me great self confidence and helped set me up mentally to tackle another project.

The focus was not on conceptual development, nor format, layout or print, although all of these of course were underpining considerations.  Instead I just wanted the words on the posters and in the book to be noticed as I think all who are involved in design could take something positive way from it.  It was also a great practice in screen printing which can easily be forgotten.  However what I really enjoyed over all other aspects was simply laying out the type in my favorite guilty pleasure typefaces. Faces such as Onyx, Modern 20. and Franchise.  I like to use sexy type, not just the typographically appreciated type, but am careful when to use it.

Producing self driven work is a very imporatant part of being a designer in my opinion.  As on the one hand, you commercial work will hone your concept building and application across a rnage of formats, exploiting print process and other technical produciton aspects.  While the self directed work will keep your mind fresh, stop ideas building up and clouding your judgement.  It is also simply more fun, as the utcome is ultimatly up to you; pleaseing yourself is a responsibility you owe yourself on the odd occasion.

For this project I would say that the type selection was fairly ironic, as the underlying theme was that of design being creative and objective, not stylistic, also considered and conceptual.  To achieve this sense of control and consideration a sans serif sch as Helvetica or Azkidenz would have been perfectly sensible and predictable.  But where is the fun in that.  I like to think that typographers would recognise the slightly bizzare use of type in contrast with the message I was pushing.

Either way, I like them, and that is rare in ones own work.  I would like to continue producing posters such as this.  Not neccessarily in the same type and in black and red, but accross a whole series of simple typographic treatments that do not shout but are certainly not being shy.  Like Anthony Burrill, who has become some what of an icon due to his poster design that offer wisdom to the design culture, I hope I too may find an audience who appreciate what I have done with this project.