OUGD404 - Studio Brief 1 - Development Analysis

OUGD404

Studio Brief 1

Development Analysis

I have improved upon the original Pantone my Street and International Klein Blue publications. The developments will be documented in this blog focusing type, colour, format and layout.

Type 
In the first publication the type was far too small at point 5. The typeface used was Futura Medium which is a sans serif font. At this size a serif font would have been more appropriate as the serifs make individual letters more distinguishable and therefore easier to read. The type in the first Pantone my Street was coloured. The colour was a considered design decision taken from swatches of the photograph in the document. This was used as it was thought that black would be too great of a contrast with the muted colours used in the publication.
The second and final booklet uses bigger text throughout, the smallest type used was size 8 (Futura Condensed, IKB Booklet). Minion Pro was used for body text in the Pantone my Street booklet, a serif font making it easier to read at smaller sizes. Both booklets uses a greater line spacing than their predecessor, making the text easier to follow. Within the Panton booklet Subheadings are a slightly larger size and are in  bold font which creates hierarchy. 

Colour
Both original and finalised edits of the publications have a strong understanding of colour throughout. In the first Pantone booklet the swatches from the photograph were applied to Albers theory by placing them within one another and seeing the effect. The final Pantone booklet goes into greater depth with Tint and Shade, Hue, Saturation and Value and Pantone by giving visual examples. The changes made to the layout allow this freedom. Both Original and Finalised documents show interaction of colour, wether this be swatches side by side, Albers experiments or tessellated patterns.

Format
The first Pantone and IKB documents use a square of 150mm by 150mm. They are not multipage, only double sided. This meant a lot of information needed to be forced into a small space. The scale was far too small for a publication of this type, this made it look uncomfortable and very difficult to read. The stock for the first books were considered but not successful. The Pantone colour theory booklet was printed onto brown stock as I thought it would compliment the natural muted swatches taken from the photograph. In the end it distorted the colours. The IKB booklet was printed onto textured think stock. The texture meant it didn't print well and the thickness of the paper made the ink crack when it was folded. 
The finalised Pantone booklet is a square of 190.5mm x 190.5mm. The IKB booklet is a rectangle of 63.5mm x 101.6 mm. Both booklets are multipage documents that had to have pages that equaled a multiple of 4 in order to print correctly. The new designs are on a slightly larger scale. I once again decided to keep the colour theory and the International Klein Blue information separate as IKB seems independent in comparison to topics covered in the Pantone my Street book. The stock used for both books is a semi matt white stock, which works well with quality images.

Layout
The first books use a very ambitious layout that resulted in a very strict grid system that was based on how the page folded. These books didn't consider margins or guttering which makes the final product look uncentered and unbalanced. I also didn't consider using bleed on these documents.
The final production of the IKB booklet uses the same grid system all the way through - a double colluded grid with a very thick margin. The pantone booklet uses a few different grids which gives the booklet a better flow and makes it more engaging. It also places emphasis on text or imagery depending on hierarchy. I took most of my inspiration for these layout from magazines (hypebeast/Vice/Folk) The final documents place more emphasis on imagery than previous, therefore bleed is important for a sleeker finish. Margins remained the same throughout.