OUGD404 DESIGN PRINCIPLES - STUDIO BRIEF 2 - STUDY TASKS 1 AND 2

STUDY TASK 1 - WHAT IS A BOOK?

This first study task of the session we had to discuss our own different opinions about what we all thought a book was, what characteristics something has to have in order to qualify as being a book. Is a book on a Kindle a book even though it's not a physical thing, but yet you read it the same as you would a physical book. Or is a menu in a restaurant a book? It has pages which you can read, and contains information, but it's not what you'd think a book was.
What we as a group came up for as the things that made a book a book were quite varied, as a book is quite a vague and large definition. My peers thought a book was made out of pages, that it had to have a start and finish, that it must contain some sort of information, and that the information must be organised in a sequence. There were several other things, but these were the main points.


Previously to this session we were told to bring in three examples of what we thought constitutes a book. I brought in a watercolour cover of Pride and Prejudice, a bar called Baa Bar drinks menu, and a cook book called "Sprinkles!".

 We had to talk about each book in turn describing the book in as much detail as possible, talking about the stock that was used to print them with, both for the main book and the cover, the binding method used and how this is appropriate for the book itself, and anything we thought that was particularly interesting about the book.
These are some of the more interesting books that people bought in.

This is a sketchbook with a really interesting cover, that looks like it has been produced using marbling. The book is bound together simply by two holes being hole punched and then string tied through to tie them all together.

The binding method, although look very handmade and original, doesn't make it easy for the book to be opened and the pages lie flat, as you want in a sketchbook, so that your work doesn't get folded and it's easy to use.

Here you can see an interesting feature of the Pride and Prejudice book I brought in. The cover has a small flat for some text, possibly and introductory piece or a bit about the author, which adds weight to the cover. There is also an interesting inside cover to the book, one that is also done using watercolours which matches the style of the front cover. This makes you a little bit pleasantly surprised when you open the cover to find this. This book is also PUR bound, which I found out using the binding book examples. This binding method is appropriate for the book as it is commonly used for books with a large amount of pages, and those which need to lie flat, which a book you're going to read and adore and fold the pages back on themselves needs to be flexible yet strong.

This is a book all about matchbook designs, with the design of the book actually looking like a book of matches, with a sleeve that covers over the book, so when you pull it off it looks like you are opening an actual matchbook with matches inside.

This is how the sleeve fits onto the book.

This is a magazine someone brought in called Creative Review, which is one of the leading design magazines. I like the bold heading of the magazine, and the minimal black, blue and white colour scheme. The magazine has a gloss front cover and pages, making it look more luxurious.

The books binding edge was more like a PUR binding method, or another one which allows the book to lie practically flat, yet is very flexible and durable as well, as magazines like to lie flat so you can read them on the table.

This is the Baa Bar drinks manual I brought in, which is staple bound, and uses a mixture of colour stock, orange and black, to reflect the Hallowe'en theme. The stock used is the same for the cover and the rest of the menu, and is of a medium weight and matte, so that it doesn't look too high class, but yet is practical and sturdy. A glossy drinks menu may be hard to read in the dark with bright lights reflecting off it.

Someone brought a really battered Tolstoy book in that was their mum's when she was in high school. This just shows that a person can really love a book not just for it's appearance, but for memories that it holds.

The pages are yellowed with ages and curled over, and the front cover has been stuck back on again with sellotape. The pages use really lightweight, thin stock, so that the book isn't too thick, making it easier to read.

This book is a really exceptional piece of work, with a very striking fluorescent cover.

The really unique thing about this book is it's cover, which has many folded aspects to it.

The fluorescent cover that I showed previously is just a sleeve, with a little folded bit to keep it in place with some text on about the book. It then gives way to another interesting cover, a photograph of a woman with arrows pointing to her. This gives you a little more of an insider to the content of the book.

This female cover is in fact in two parts, glued together at the base so the two sheets look like one. This has been done so that the sleeve can fold over in between these two pages, and not cover any information on the next page.

The binding method is extremely unusual. A little bit like thread sewing or swiss binding, but just minus the glue so that the pages can lie completely flat with ease, and the spine doesn't get in the way.

As you can see the pages have the ability to lie completely flat. 

This is a book all about different logos, which has a very high gloss cover.

The cover has a full size flap sleeve, that folds over the main cover. This gives it extra added weight so the stock appears to be of a heavier weight than it actually is.

When the sleeve folded out, there isn't just a flap that goes over the cover, but the paper is also folded in on itself at the top and bottom as well, to give it added weight. This poses the question why the designer has done this, as it isn't an economical way of producing a cover sleeve, and would it of been cheaper just to use heavier stock in the first place? The inside cover is also monotone, which is in keeping with the sleeve cover design.

The book looks to be thread sewn bound perhaps, and the cover has been bone folded so force where the pages will fold, as you can see in this photograph.

This is another unique sketchbook someone brought in, with an interesting button string fastening. The stock used for the cover is of heavy weight and feels like it has been handmade.

It opens out with two flaps to it, with a piece of what looks to be bamboo holding the pages together.

Although this bamboo and string method of binding looks very original and handmade, it makes it very hard for the pages to be folded over.

This is a Moleskin notebook someone brought in, with a vibrant leather style hardback cover, and an elasticated aspect to keep the book closed. It also has a ribbon bit to mark your place in the book.

Here you can see the binding method, and how the spine of the book isn't clued to the pages to allow the pages to lie pretty much flat, and for ease of movement as well.

This book is called the art of urban sketching, and also has a sleeve cover, which on the flap part has information about the book. This seems to be a recurring trend in a lot of books with sleeves.

What I found unusual about this book is that it is a soft cover, yet has a sleeve, which isn't made of that thick a stock either. It has a very flexible feel to it, and you can bend the book itself without doing much damage, and with ease too. 

You can see the binding method here, which could be Otabinding or Swiss binding, which both allows for strength of the book and ease of folding over the pages and lying flat.

This is the plan for a little book about uses for Mayonnaise, which is put together simply by folding the paper and cutting it down the centre as you can see here.

This is how the book looks when put together. As you can see there are a few pages made, enough to tell a small story, but not masses.

This is an adorable hand made book that someone from our group brought in. When fully opened the pages make a star, which is a lovely original feature for the book.

The front cover is in a very handmade style, with collages making up the design. For this closed position it looks like any ordinary diary book.

It is kept closed with ribbons tied together, adding a very feminine quality to it.

We also found out about 8 different binding methods using bound books printed by Diamond print services purely to show the different types of binding methods used. We had to match the binding method of the books we brought in to the binding methods shown in these books.

These are the 8 different binding methods shown in the books.

Case binding.

Case binding example.

Flexi binding.

Flexi binding example.

Otabinding.

Otabinding example.

PUR bound.

PUR bound example.

PUR bound books usually have a cover that folds out. This makes the cover appear to be printed onto thicker stock, when in fact it is not.

Swiss binding.

The Swiss binding method involves the cover not being glued to the spine of the book, so that it lies flat.

Example of Swiss binding.

Perfect binding.

Example of perfect binding.

Burst binding.

Example of burst binding.

In burst binding the cover is glued to the spine, and a bone folder is used down the cover of the book to determine where the cover will fold so that the book will open, resulting in looking like it was glued down, as you can see here.

Thread sewing binding.

Example of thread sewing binding.

Thread sewing binding often has a fold out cover, demonstrated here.

STUDY TASK 2 - FOLDS
The next study task we were given after we had done all of our research into what we thought a book was and different kinds of binding methods, was to fold a piece of paper into a book, trying to create as many pages as well could, as our task was to produce a fully folded book, where we were only allowed to fold and/or cut the paper, that was for a large amount of text.
These are some of the books I produced.

This book is pretty simple with the pages folding inwards to start with, and then folding out to create a four page spread.

This is the book at it most fully opened. This books is very simple to use and produce, however doesn't create a lot of pages.

This is the next book I produced, which I am rather proud of as it is unique in that it has 2 spines, but creates a lot of pages and you'd read it pretty much exactly the same as you would any normal book.

Here you can see the two spines.

As you can see it opens just like a normal book, and you turn the pages just like a conventional book too.

On some of the pages they have little flaps, which creates space for even more content, whilst not ruining the simplicity of the book itself.

Between the two spines there is space for a double page spread, where you could include a little extra information, maybe something a little humorous or unexpected.

This is a consatiner style book I produced, which I learnt how to make in GCSE Art, and is actually an interesting, unusual way of folding a book. It is a lot smaller than a lot of the other books, due to the way the paper has to be folded to make the book.

As you can see it opens in pretty much the same way, only at some points in the book you have to turn the book round so that the page is the right way up, but this is just the nature of the book itself.

This is the book opened out, as you can see it looks a little like a consatiner.

To make this book I folded it up so the pages were all the same size, and cut almost a spiral shape out of it so that it can be folded up.

Following this experimentation with folding paper to make books, as a table we had to choose the most effective folding method we thought for a large page book, and produce it on a larger scale.
The folding method we chose as a table was the same one as the Mayo book, which the folding method for it actually has a proper name, the "hot dog" or "accordion" fold.

Here you can see the book that we produced.

The spine is actually rather effective, as one sheet of stock covers the whole of the spine, holding all the pieces of paper in place. It also creates a neat finish as well.

This is how the book folds together, and also possibly where it gets it's name from, as you have to push the two ends together like an accordion.

We had to present our final book to the group, and why we chose it as well. There were some really interesting examples, one which was even a triangle shape. It was interesting to see what different groups produced, as they were so different from ours.
The next task we were given, which we had to complete over the next two weeks, was to choose one folding method, and produce a guide using that folding method on how to produce a book with that folding method. There were only three restrictions. It must be black and white, it must have A4 pages, and it also must only be bound using folds and cutting the paper. I think this will be a really interesting task to work on, especially having to figure out which was round the write the information on the pages so that it all reads correctly.