As one of the aims for the Design Process focuses on the approaches to the gathering, organising and responding to primary and secondary research we were separated into groups and given a vague topic to research into.
From out topic, printed text and reading we as a group brain stormed possible areas relating to it such as;
- Books
- Newspapers
- Magazines
- Packaging
- Text as image - IBM logo
- Legibility and readability
- Amount of text
- Printing processes - How it is printed
- Book Covers - What makes you want to read it?
- Leaflets, Information, Travel Guides
- Installations
Books
PRIMARY RESEARCH
'What Makes you Buy a Book?'
To collect the Primary research on my subject, books I asked 'Based on the cover of a book, what makes you want to read it?'
- A colourful cover
- Imagery on the cover which relates to personal hobbies and/or interests E.g. Lauren Weisberger's Everyone worth Knowing which has an image of a stiletto on it for someone who's interested in fashion.
- Interesting / unusual title
- Well-known or renowned author
- Eye-catching cover - Minimalistic cover
'Judging a Book By Its Cover'
I also asked them to make some judgements on the subject of the book based on the cover alone.
- Bowler hat: Old fashioned?
- No Face: Scary?
- Primary Colours: Childish?
- Eyes: A cat?
- Explosion?
- Going round in circles?
- Fairground: Fun, Joy?
-Primary Design Board
SECONDARY RESEARCH
Experimental Design
-From Alice in Wonderland: Through the Visual Arts
-From Alice in Wonderland: Through the Visual Arts
For the original manuscript for his book Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll designed all the page layouts himself. I particularly like how Carroll has used the type in this design convey a mouse tail which is the subject of the poem. I believe this is an effective technique to use in a book as it is more interesting and eye-catching than a page of type.
As with Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, Tolkien has also designed the page layouts for his novel, Mr Bliss. I like how Tolkien has made his book more inter-active by having half the book in a portrait orientation and half in a landscape orientation.
Books as Art
Famous Book Covers
This cover for the first edition for The Great Gatsby was designed by Francis Cugart. Cugart was a little known artist at the times and was commissioned to illustrate the book whilst Fitzgerald was in the midst of writing it, his cover was completed before the novel and as Fitzgerald liked it so much he wrote the cover into the novel.
This first edition cover for George Orwell's 1984 was designed by Michael Kennard. I was also available in red in the United Kingdom.
This cover was designed by E.Michael Mitchell for the first edition of J.D.Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye. Salinger was highly opinionated about the design for his book and stated he "did not want any art on it at all"he also had a photograph taken off the book jacket as he was notoriously uncomfortable with fame
This cover for Anthony Burgess's A Clockwork orange was designed by David Pelham as part of Penguin Books 70th anniversary celebrations in 2005.
This cover for Mario Puzo's The Godfather was designed by American Graphic Designer S.Neil Fujita the design which features a large gothic 'G' which emphasises the word 'The' and the puppetry image which is 'holding' the word 'father' was so iconic that it was also used as the branding for the film series of the same name.
Again, the de-constucted type on this cover designed by Tony Palladino for Robert Bloch's Psycho was also used as the branding for the film series based on the novel.
-Secondary Design Board
DIRECTION FOR RESEARCH
-Direction for Research Design Board
'Power Crit'
At the end of the research brief we were required to attend a 'Power Crit' were we discussed in our original groups the primary and secondary research we had each produced and the direction we would like to take it in, we also agreed that each member had sufficiently produced in depth research into their personal topic.
In the crit we were also given the topic 'How To Get People To Read More' which would provide the basis of the next brief. Although we were given the option to work individually, we chose to work as a group to solve the brief as collectively we had produced a varied amount of research which would be a useful resource.
