Book Fair

In visual language over the past few months each individual person was given a specific word, or item to research and explore. I was given the word 'circle'. Early exploration into the word involved photography, in a variety of scenarios, for example I captured already formed circles and items that when placed together make a circle. I also captured circles in differentiating environments, from the comfy confinements of the college to out on the streets in the rain. I tried as best I could to capture the circle at the same position in every photo, in the middle. This variety informed me greatly and led to me having a collection of interesting and well developed photographs. Below is a small selection of these images.


We were then told that we would be taking part in a book fair, and that we would have to produce twenty duplicates of the same 'hot dog' folded booklet, that would relate to that initial word we were given. In the first visual language session after we found out about the project we were given an introduction as to how to make the booklets. I brought in a selection of different stocks in different sizes and in turn created a wide selection of booklets that I could use to inform my decision making. Below shows the selection that I managed to create.


At first I was going to use the images I captured in the early sessions and simply place them on individual pages, but then I realised this was not a great idea as the booklet would not be too visually appealing and it would make it difficult to print double sided. Therefore I started to play around with circles on photoshop and illustrator and also hand rendered until I came up with an idea that I liked.


Eventually I settled on a few designs that look as though they have been influenced by the Bauhaus movement, with simple geometric motifs printed with just black ink. Because the designs were purely black I thought that I could inject colour another way and therefore chose to print on three different coloured stocks: red, yellow and green. Below are a few images of my final booklets.

This shows the effect that is created when the books are stacked in order of colour.


The three different colour variations of the same design.


A closer look at the yellow design.


Below is the folded out version of my booklet. Here you see how the eight individual designs look when the paper is laid flat. When the booklet is in its final state obviously only one of these appears on each page, however I think it is just as effective when you see them all at once like below.


Below is the reverse of my booklet. When it is in its folded form none of what you see below is visible in the slightest. It is only when you explore the product further that you realise it is double sided and there is actually a large poster on the back. It may have a slit running down the middle but when you flatten it out completely this is hardly visible. I tried to keep the poster design similar to the patterns on the front, and think I have been successful, with the only minor difference being that this design is not enclosed by a black border.