Idea 1.
tourist reference book
a small pocket guide designed for tourists to carry with them as they explore Japan that will help them to recognise and pronounce Japanese characters in order to form a bridge between the two alien cultures. The book will allow for western tourists to find familiarities and feel more comfortable within such a contrasting world to their own.
The book cover on the left belongs to one of two or three books that I used whilst I was in Japan. It covered the whole country from tourists attractions to restaurant suggestions. It was very useful for the popular attractions and quick bites to eat and wasn't too difficult to use and refer to.
My publication idea is a lot less broad than this one, mine would focus solely on helping tourists make sense of a sub category of thousands of Japanese characters. In turn, this will help with way finding as it will make it easier for the user to recognise and become familiar with common signage and way finding, thus making it a little easier to orientate.
My theory is that if the user can pronounce a character in their head when they see it, it would make it a lot easier to recognise it when seen again.
Monocle
This is the tourist guide I used whilst i was in the capital city. I was given it by my cousin who is a fellow graphic designer and i was told to follow it if I wanted to explore the trendy and up-and-coming side of Japan.
As well as the content focusing on design, the design and layout of the book itself is also well considered. Pictured below, the layout is clear, clean and simple, three common characteristics of Japanese culture and design. Using a simple mosaic of imagery in the centre, surrounded by brief and accurate body text, the book is extremely easy and enjoyable to use. The images are very high resolution and give a good insight into what they are referring to.
The front cover includes a fun illustration of a sumo wrestler contrasting with an all black background. I think it's a very successful and attention grabbing design for the fact that the black background makes the lighter illustration stick out and be eye catching. The fun aspect of it also sets it apart from a lot of other tourist guides such as the one above. It is a hard back edition which helps when carrying it around as it isn't easily damaged and is also slightly water resistant.
Monocle have made a whole series of tourist guides including one for Brazil's capital. Similarly, the front cover consists of an illustration on black background. The illustration is already slightly more playful and fun than the other guides communicating the vibe of the city. The layout inside is also full of colour and a bit busier just like things associated with the city such as the carnival.
Presentation
I presented to a group, a selection of my images along side the translation into our on alphabet to give an idea of how the content of the book would work.
My publication idea is a lot less broad than this one, mine would focus solely on helping tourists make sense of a sub category of thousands of Japanese characters. In turn, this will help with way finding as it will make it easier for the user to recognise and become familiar with common signage and way finding, thus making it a little easier to orientate.
My theory is that if the user can pronounce a character in their head when they see it, it would make it a lot easier to recognise it when seen again.
Monocle
As well as the content focusing on design, the design and layout of the book itself is also well considered. Pictured below, the layout is clear, clean and simple, three common characteristics of Japanese culture and design. Using a simple mosaic of imagery in the centre, surrounded by brief and accurate body text, the book is extremely easy and enjoyable to use. The images are very high resolution and give a good insight into what they are referring to.
The front cover includes a fun illustration of a sumo wrestler contrasting with an all black background. I think it's a very successful and attention grabbing design for the fact that the black background makes the lighter illustration stick out and be eye catching. The fun aspect of it also sets it apart from a lot of other tourist guides such as the one above. It is a hard back edition which helps when carrying it around as it isn't easily damaged and is also slightly water resistant.
Similar to the Monocle edition of Japan, My design would communicate all the major aspects and characteristics of the country from the cleanliness to efficiency and organisation. The materials and stock used will also be typical of Japan, this could include bamboo and light weight stocks to replicate the sliding dividers of Japanese housing.
Presentation
I presented to a group, a selection of my images along side the translation into our on alphabet to give an idea of how the content of the book would work.
Using a table of katakana I found, I have managed to locate each character within my own images. I've then found how to write it in case the image included a typeface that affected legibility.
Each spread would include images of my own as well as the illustrated character along with the english pronunciation. The images give the alphabet a context and show the user where you would typically find it.
The publication would obviously have plenty of consideration for design and layout, in this case it would be primarily designed for ease of use and practicality...
- The book would be small enough to carry around with ease, maybe even pocket size.
- It would have to be durable and water resistant as it will be carried around a lot and it may be used in rainy seasons
- It would include limited info so that it's clear and easy to understand. it would only really consist of a selection of images and a translations and pronunciation of each character.
- the design itself would take strong influence from Japanese culture, clean, simple and efficient.
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