Surface Pattern Yearbook 2010:
The first thing you'll notice about this is that it isn't so much a book but a double sided A1 folded poster. It seems like such a shame that at the end of a degree all you end up with is a folded poster. Obviously we don't know what the budget or timeframe was, but at the same time I'm sure something a little better than this could have been produced.
When looking at it as a group we noted a few problems. The biggest of which is the fact that there is no contact information or statement form the designers. Simply their name. Surely in a publication designed to promote the graduates of a course these are the fundamental things to include?! I suppose it does well at promoting the course - displaying the variety of approaches next to one another but you can't help but feel the graduates should have some sort of personal information on there. Again, as with the 2009 yearbook, we feel it important the designer has a small statement to put their work into context.
The only information on the whole poster is that of the course. In our opinion, in a pretty ugly two column grid with type set a couple point sizes too big.
Only the designers name under their thumbnail image:
We like the fact that you are able to see lots of peoples work next to one another but using one swatch for each person doesn't work for all of the designers. Again it is an issue of space, size of image and context.
The layout of the poster did give birth to an idea for our own publication however - a section at the back of the yearbook with perforated swatch pages (similar to these) so that they can be torn apart and the designs compared and contrasted (important with pattern design). These perforated cards could also double up as business cards for the designers - accompanying their DPS in the book.
The use of uncoated stock is a nice feature. As I have mentioned in a previous post, its this tactile quality we want to play on when designing our yearbook.
Things to take from this analysis:
- Don't make a poster (dependent on budget): Trying to present a whole degree on poster format is near impossible and is a poor way of showcasing an artists work. Much better would have been to design a poster for each graduate.
- Designer information - include more than just a name. Contact details, website and contextual statement would all be very beneficial.
- Pay special attention to the type in the book - look into the use of grids & type to present the copy / content clearly and beautifully without distracting from the designers work. The perfect typography for this project would be for it to go almost unnoticed.
No comments:
Post a Comment