Publication Content

Studio Brief 02 - What is a Book? //

For the next studio brief within the design principles module is to produce a book of 10 double page layouts on a topic that interests us.

As well as communicating the chosen interest, the publication must also demonstrate an understanding into the fundamentals of grid, layout, type and format.

Things to consider include...

My chosen topic of content is Skiing. 

Skiing is one of my biggest passions in life and has been from a very young age. I fulfilled a life long dream during my gap year of becoming a seasonaire in the Swiss Alps. This was the most amazing experience of my life and I will no doubt be going back out once I've graduated. 

One idea I have had on the content is to produce a book of piste maps. I came up with the idea when I was brainstorming about skiing in general and was thinking of publications that already exist in the environment.

Piste maps are the maps that skiers use to navigate around the mountains. It includes details such as runs, restaurants and chair lifts.

These maps are notoriously difficult to use as they are often very complicated and hard to read. The text can be very small and the intersecting lines of different colours and weights can become confusing.

Above are a couple of examples of piste maps. They are extremely complicated and detailed. The text is extremely difficult to read and with so many intersecting lines, it's hard to know what goes where.

Once you are used to using one, they become a lot easier to use and after a couple of days, they do give you a strong understanding of your surroundings. With so much details to fit on a hand-held map, it's not surprising that they are often very complicated at first.

One problem that I aim to fix is to design piste maps in a way that is easier to use and understand. I will be exploring format, colour and a number off other aspects to achieve this.

A few ideas I have had include designing each map using only two colours. This will simplify that map, however it will take away some of the practicality.

A second idea is to split the map's info and spread it onto a number of different maps. By this I mean, there could be 3 maps for one resort... A Beginner, A Medium and Confident map. Each of them will include different slopes and ski lifts depending on the difficulty.

The map above is a lot easier to understand than the previous. This will be down to a few design decisions. The detail of the mountains themselves has been softened and simplified, this results in the details of the map being clearer and more legible.

In order for piste maps to me portable, they are most often designed to fold up and fit in your jacket pocket. This is all well and good for when it's blue skies and fresh snow, however when the wind picks up and there's rain or snow falling, they become very impractical. The folds and corners become weak with moisture and ware and the large A3 spread acts as a sail in the wind.

A design decision for my book of maps will be that it has to be portable and practical in all weather conditions. 

As there is a huge number of ski resorts all around the world, I must specify what area or mountain range my publication will include. As I more regularly go skiing in the French Alps, I have decided to concentrate my content on these. 

Above is a map of 11 resorts in France. These are:

- La Rosière

- Les Arcs

- Peisey Vallandry

- La Plagne

- Tignes

- Val-d'Isere

- Corchevel

- Méribel & Mottaret

- St Martin de Belleville

- Les Menuires

- Val Thorens

The 3 Valleys //

(Le Tois Vallées)

Publication including only the piste maps in the 3 valleys.

For each resort, I will produce 3 different maps: Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced

Each map will include different info, relevant to the level of skiing... for example, the beginner map will only include nursery, green and blue runs...

All info will be written in both English and French ( like the vingelli cannon )

Resorts in the 3 valleys...

- Corchevel

- La Tania

- Meribel

- Brides-Les-Bain

- Les Menuires

- St Martin de Belleville

- Val Thorens

- Orelle

My three chosen Valleys are..

Les Menuires

Meribel

Val Thorens

Illustrations

The main purpose of my publication is to simplify what are currently very complicated and hard to read piste maps. To do this, I have to trace the information I need from the maps and leave behind any unnecessary info.

As I am keeping a the colour range limited, I looked into how to achieve this when creating my maps. Influences are shown below...

Using softened hues and tones allows for use of more colour whilst avoiding messiness or being over detailed.

Designing the map upon a grid such as the one below makes it easier to read and understand for the viewer.

This one uses nothing but red on a white background.

I first traced the ski runs and lifts by hand onto layout paper...

Trace onto Illustrator

Using the pen tool, I have traced over the shape of the mountain as well as adding in all the ski slopes and lifts.

For each resort, I have produced two different illustrations. One includes the beginner ski slopes whilst the other has the advanced slopes. 

I did this to simplify each map even further. The user can refer to a difficulty of skiing as well as the resort itself.

The result is a series of very simplified piste maps using only a limited range of colours.

Les Menuires

Meribel

Val Thorens

Book Design - Grids

                 

Grids -

A visual guide to the usage and function of grid systems in graphic design.

for my first smaller publication I decided to produce a visual aid for the rules and usage of grids. 

Grids are one of the most important tools in design, especially when it comes to publication design. 

Grids allow for each spread to have consistency throughout, resulting in a publication that flows and makes for an easier read.

The most obvious examples of grids are found in newspapers. Full of columns and rows, these spreads are clearly mapped out using grid systems. The grid system often helps give the body of text more importance and severity.

Examples of Grids..

Column Grid

Hierarchal Grid

Manuscript Grid

Modular Grid

My Publication design

The reason I chose to write about grid systems, as well as it's major importance in the discipline, is because when brainstorming ideas I came up with the idea to use each grid I was talking about to lay out the information.

The publication consists of 5 double page spreads, each spread will be laid out using a different grid. The grid used on each spread will then be shown somewhere on the page.

The Golden Ratio

Another ratio I will be mentioning is the golden ratio. This is a famous spiral-shaped grid that can be translated onto a number of images including nature and portraits.

Colour Scheme

For the colour scheme, I have used a combination light blue and pink. This idea came from the colours found on Adobe InDesign.

When I first started to play around with the design, I used the grid mode on InDesign, the grid came up in a nice light blue colour. There were also other lines in the pink I have used. This gave me the idea to use these colours throughout the publication as they're a clear contrasts as well as being quite playful and interesting. 

The front and back cover is inspired by the covers of the famous Vignelli Canon. At first, the grids on the cover spilled over the edges, however when I came across the Vignelli cover, I noticed that it worked better to give it a blank border around the outside.

I have then set the text within the grid system. 

The two languages is also inspired by the Vignelli Canon as it is also written in two languages throughout.

Page Layouts

For each spread, I have used a different grid system to set the text. below are a couple examples of this...

When printed out, the spreads will not include the actual grid, but at the bottom it is written in large.

Stock

for the stock, I used a medium thickness Gloss paper at 180 GSM. I used gloss so that the content jumped off the page a bit more and so that the images and text were of a higher quality, almost photographic.

The page size is A5 landscape. I chose to design it landscape to make it a bit different from a lot of other portrait publications.

Final Resolution

I took some high quality photos of the publication to upload onto my Behance profile. 

As well as this, I uploaded it onto a website called Issuu. This allowed my publication to be viewed as intended digitally. The result is included at the top of this blog.

Road Safety Pictograms

Studio Brief 02 //

Information Design

Pictogram design

For the flip-side to my information leaflet, I have decided to include a number of pictograms that specify the main causes for road accidents amongst the 16-25 age bracket.

These include:

> Excess Speeding
> Sharp Bends
> Adverse Driving Conditions
> Attitude of Driver
> Carrying Passengers

I have first drawn up each cause in its most simple form. These pictograms will then be used on my leaflet to inform the reader of what to be aware of. I have aimed to keep all the stroke weights the same so that they work as a series. They must also be legible in a smaller size.




I have then experimented with warning signs to frame each pictogram to give them a sense of urgency.


Both Red & White and Black & Yellow are well known colour combinations to signify danger or hazards. I have played around with the shape of the sign, experimenting with the sharpness of corners. A regular warning sign has curved outer corners and sharper inner corners.

After receiving feedback on the different shapes for the triangular sign, I decided to choose a triangle with both outer and inner corners being softer. The straight edges still have a sense of urgency and the softer corners being more suitable for the friendly and slightly playful tone of voice of the leaflet.

Whilst playing around with how to layout my 5 pictograms, I came up with the idea to use a roulette wheel. The idea is to carry on with the theme of 'Life is not a game' by showing the 5 causes of accidents on a roulette wheel. The sense of chance and luck further strengthens the message of the leaflet and shows that its not always in your control.

This is how it looks so far...

I've decided to take away the warning sign shape around the pictograms and simply include them on the roulette wheel itself as if they are numbers.

To the roulette wheel, I've added text both on the wheel and around it. I've carried on the use of the 'Pricedown' typeface for consistency throughout the leaflet. I have also added a green background to mimic that of a casino table.

Information Design - Studio Brief 02

Studio Brief 02 //

Information Design

The aim is to produce a public information leaflet that successfully communicates key aspects of my chosen public info video.

I chose the video called 'Close to the edge' that focuses on adolescents crossing the road safely, not being distracted by friends and phones. The video is very much up beat as it uses a hip hop track by Grandmaster flash. The colours are very vibrant and there is a shot of the teenager wearing Nike trainers. All of these aspects make it clear that the target audience is teenagers. The video tries to be in tune with teenage culture through music and fashion.

From this, I aim to produce an information leaflet about road safety amongst the 16-25 age bracket. There are 3000 road accident fatalities in the UK each year, 27% of these falling within that age bracket. 2/3 of those are male; therefore I will aim my leaflet predominantly at male adolescence. 

I came across the idea of using the iconic video game Grand Theft Auto to put across my message. Using key aspects of this game will mean that my leaflet will be received by my desired target demographic. The game is also relevant to road safety as it involves a lot of road rage and driving around aimlessly crashing into anything and everything. The game has been criticised for teaching kids a bad lesson, especially concerning what is and isn't acceptable on the roads.

The first detail of the game that I will be using is the iconic typeface. The typeface is very easily recognisable by the target audience as well as being bold enough to stand out on a leaflet.

The next element of the game that is just as iconic is the imagery used on the loading pages. This imagery is colourful and eye catching and will help keep the viewer interested. The cover image is intended to attract male attention.

I've picked a range of imagery that will both appeal to the male demographic, as well as being relevant to road safety.

I have chosen a simple three-fold structure to my leaflet, the front side will include facts and stats about road accident fatalities in the UK in order to scare the reader. The flip-side will include strategies and tips on how to be safe and responsible on the road.

The general message I aim to out across with my leaflet is the slogan 'Life Is Not A Game'. 

One criticism received during a critique of the layout above is that some of the smaller text gets lost in the background image. One way I amended this was to give the smaller text a white outline, similar to that of the larger text. This helps the legibility of text and makes it easier to read for the viewer.

I've decided to include an advertisement for a piece of tech called 'telematics'. This technology is very suitable for my target audience as it saves drivers money on their car insurance and students especially are always having money problems and are looking to save wherever they can.

I've also used bullet points to display the advert as it is a quick and easy way of displaying info that takes away any unnecessary text. A simple helvetica regular typeface is used for body text as its clear and legible.

To go with my leaflet, I will also be producing stickers. The sticker will read 'Life is not a game' to further emphasise the message of the leaflet.

Stickers are suitable for my target audience as they attract younger people. They can be stuck on car bumpers, bedroom walls etc. I will be using the vinyl cutter to produce them.

For more information for the reader, I have included a website URL, twitter feeds and youtube channel. All three of these platforms are widely used by my target audience. I have also included a QR code that ideally would be scanned by the readers mobile device and direct them to either a website or an app that will supply further information on road safety.

Envelopes //

For distribution, I will be inserting my leaflet into an envelope of some sort. However, I do not aim to distribute it through letterboxes. My target audience typically will not read a lot of junk that comes through the door, especially if it's in a boring envelope. 

The envelope will also include a sticker and possibly a poster.

As a majority of my target audience are students, I will be handing out my leaflet in places of education such as schools, colleges and universities.

  

As well as the traditional folded envelope, there is also a huge variety of different layouts and formats that an envelope can take. As this is the first element of my design that will be seen, it needs to be engaging and attractive so that it entices the reader to open and view the leaflet itself.

One way of doing this is to create an interactive envelope of some sort. One that will require unfolding in a peculiar way. This will instantly make it seem more appealing as apposed to a boring white or brown envelope that would often signify something nobody wants to read.

I have designed a sleeve to package my leaflet. Inspired by one of the images above, the sleeve is the same length and width of a regular envelope but has a depth of 5mm. I decided on this design due to the fact that with a depth of 5mm, it allows enough room for my leaflet. As i printed my leaflet on 300 GSM stock, it is very thick and would not fit comfortably in a standard envelope. The sleeve also leaves enough room to include the sticker.

The other reason for picking this design is that it makes the overall package look more substantial and will make people more inclined to look inside as they will see that it's not just any flier they get through the letterbox. 

This is the very simple template for my sleeve design. On the front, I have added the DVLA emblem however I haven't included the lettering in the logo. This is so that people don't immediately recognise that it's from the DVLA otherwise they may either think it'll be something really dull and uninteresting or maybe even think it's something they don't want to open like a fine. I Thought that I'd mention the free bumper sticker inside on the front just to intrigue the audience even more.

This is the final design. I have used 300 GSM watercolour paper as it is sturdy yet malleable enough to shape and fold. Unfortunately, as this was a late design decision, I could not get a time slot in the print room early enough to get my design printed onto the paper.