Dimsum booklet amendments

A few amendments to make before printing the final outcomes for this tomorrow, these mainly include subtle adjustments with margins and type treatments, I think the overall design for the poster side seems to work alright. On the other hand, I'm not completely happy with the booklet side of it, I don't really think the layout works when folded and the columns just don't sit very well within the format. In comparison to the poster side of the outcome, the booklet seems a bit separated from it, the type seems overly big and the sections don't flow through very well. I also think the copy could be reduced in size from 10 point to 8point and possibly experimenting with a tighter leading specification.

The back cover of the booklet is currently empty, as I wasn't sure whether to place the key there or as part of the poster, but after getting it printed, I think it would be suitable to get it printed on the back of the booklet as this directly links with the front cover, whilst keeping the poster side of it quite bold and data heavy.

Reworked on some more spreads development as there were some major flaws with the printed mockup no.2. Made a few adjustments with the margins in particular, which refines the overall layout when viewed at as a spreads. I found the main issue with the previous layout was that it seemed too separate from the poster side, the type was oversized, which dominated the whole page too much, so resized it. I also found that the hierarchy and reading order of the booklet wasn't efficient enough therefore made a whole change with the overall layout of the titles and copy, instead dedicating each page to a single section.

Open publication - Free publishing - More spreads

Development on the front cover
The feedback received from other people found that the front cover was too busy and was constantly drawn to the solid shapes rather than the name of the booklet. I made quite a few adjustments to the overall design for the cover, but keeping with the concept of dissecting the infographics. After developing a few variations, I've ended up going back to the origin design, but making some very subtle changes, these include making everyone on the front cover apart from the title 80% opacity, this hopefully makes the title of the booklet the main focus again as it's the only solid black. The key for the poster has been applied to the back cover, which I feel works quite well, allowing the poster side of it to be a bit more spacious and focused on the infographic diagrams.

Open publication - Free publishing - More dimsum

Brief 05 - Living space

Dimsum booklet mock up 02

An almost complete mock up of the Dimsum booklet in it's functional format, intended stock and size. This was printed in A2 on the 130gsm matte in full colour, which folds into an A5 booklet containing 3 spreads and a fold out poster to reveal the list of dimsum dishes in it's infographics approach.

I wanted a final check with the measurements that I have made and get it actually printed to scale to test the readability and the overall feel of the final product. From this mockup, it's quite evident that there are a few things that needs revising; the cover looks much better than the previous one, it sits more comfortably on the page and definitely makes a better impact when printed in full scale + colour. It's relatively simple, but the layout considerations are evident it it, it's format approach gives a professional feel to the booklet while the spacious layout gives it a relaxed and fun feel. In terms of the spreads, the margins between each spread needs to be increased or atleast adjust the type on it to make things sit a sit more comfortably. I think the copy looks ok, the direction of having separate blocks of text for each section on the same page works alright, but needs adjustments, definitely feel that the headers for each spread needs to be changed; either making it smaller or rethinking the layout of it entirely.

I'm quite pleased with how the colours and print quality has turned out for the side of the booklet, I think the spreads and booklet side of things work rather well together, I do however need to sort out the key for the poster and where that's going to be going. But other than these minor issues, I think a few more hours on adjusting it should lead to a final print very soon!

Dimsum Booklet Mock ups

1st mockup printed half the scale of intended on pretty standard 140gsm stock. This was made simply to test out how well the design direction works when printed out and also to test the folding method and whether I needed to make any adjustments to the margins etc.

From the first spreads already, it's evident that the margins are way too small, the type's literally on the verge of falling out of the edge of the pages, which makes it quite uncomfortable to read and look at to be honest. I did want it to have a small margin but because they're so small and inconsistent now, it just looks incomplete. The type on the other hand sits quite nicely, I like the size of the columns just from looking at the overall layout but will have to get it printed out in full scale to be able to check whether it's the right specification.

The fold of the booklet seems to work quite well with this, hiding the poster content inside whilst providing enough space for a few spreads.

2nd mockup printed to scale on satin stock in full colour, it wasn't the ideal stock I wanted to print on but simply did for the sake of checking the type and size of everything in full scale. There are quite a few type asjustments that I want to make on this, mainly on the order of the type, hierarchy of things aswell as the point size and leading of the general copy. The typefaces are inconsistent aswell so will need to ensure that I double check and round things off. ITC Avante Gard will be used as the headers and type on the poster throughout, whereas Times New Roman Italic will be used across the booklet side of it to compliment the minimal approach on the rest of the booklet.

The colours of the dishes how come out nicely, maybe a bit subtle especially when viewed from a distance but I don't really think this would be an issue in this case as the idea of the poster was to inform and promote by making people intrigued, in which this feeds into. From this close up, it's pretty obvious that Futura was used, this was the initial font I tested out but as mentioned before will need to be updated.

The 2nd side of the booklet before it is folded, unfortunately as it was printed on satin stock from a roll, it has been curved too much making it literally impossible to even try folding. But as a test piece, this is definitely useful for determining any further changes/ alterations on the type and layout.

It actually looks really nice when it hasn't been folded. The unusual layout really does stand out and makes you want to pick up to read. The large type does seem to work very when when it's opened out, but not quite sure about that when it's folded into a booklet. It seems a bit tight and uncomfortably especially with the tight margins. I will however need to finish off the back of the booklet aswell which I have so far left blank. I'm qite happy with the front cover, but will be using a slightly improved version for the final print tomorrow hopefully. Looking at the booklet in this form has also given me a quick idea to possibly apply a background shape, pattern or image, which get's revealed eventually when the whole thing is opened up; again another things to try out and test out later!

Booklet almost complete?

Due to the format of the booklet and the nature of how it would fold, I had to design the poster, spreads and front cover almost separately to ensure that a consistent grid structure was used throughout. I finally got to the point where I felt that the designs were ready to be put together into the printed format, so here it is.

I plan to get this printed duplex on a poster stock, this should be good enough to hold the ink while being light enough to fold into the required form.

The side the relies on the folds actually look quite nice as a poster as it is, nice to see the whole piece actually being put together and being able to notice that everything lines up properly! All the spreads are the ones that I've chosen to print on, but this can change depending on the feedback tomorrow and how it looks when it's put together in it's desired format. I've left the back page empty however, as I'm still working on the key for the infographics poster. I'm still contemplating whether to put it in with the poster of have it on the back of the book which would link directly with the front cover. Will see how the prints turn out and go from there I reckon!

Booklet cover developmet 03

Further development and adjustments to final front cover. So far I think these development are the strongest and most appropriate for the front cover of the booklet. They don't resemble anything to do with food from a glance but reflect a clear concept of dissecting information once you look into it and the whole things fits together. I found that my previous developments and design direction for the covers didn't really connect with the poster side of it, therefore started experimenting a bit more with the infographics elements from the poster itself, until I finally discovered an ordered yet flexible format to lay the whole set out.

From these, I've made a few more adjustments, with the type treatment and overall arrangement of the symbols and type. To an extent it almost resembles a math's or physics workbook, the idea of collating, distilling and re delivering information in a completely different format to what people expect for the subject of Dimsum. So far I think they'll work quite well, but will need to get something printed out as a whole booklet and will see how that turns out.

Open publication - Free publishing - More infographics

Booklet spreads development

Further development of the inside spreads for the dimsum booklet. It's only going to be approximately A5 in size so I didn't want to over complicate the layout and end up confusing the readers. I went for a more functional and simple approach for the majority of the layouts and tests, working with a sans serif typeface for the headers and a serif for the copy throughout. I explored with a few different layout directions, looking at the hierarchy of text and overall layout with the spreads. Because I only had 3 spreads to work with, I needed to capitalise on the most essential bits of information and deliver it in an interesting format that also fits well with the poster side of things.

Open publication - Free publishing - More type

Booklet cover development

Further development of possible front covers for the booklet. It will be produced out of folding an A2 sheet therefore the front and back would be approximately A5.

Open publication - Free publishing - More typography

Development - Poster Side

Developing the visual direction of the poster side of the booklet.

Due to the vast amount of obscure dimsum dishes that often puts people off trying it in the first place, I wanted to dissect the information and deliver it in a more approachable and interesting manner. To achieve this, I felt that the first things to do was not to use images of the dishes for 2 main reasons; 1. because quite often it doesn't look very good at all, particularly in such a small format that I have decided on using, the images would just make the whole piece look way too busy while not actually doing the dishes any justice, and secondly because I wanted to focus on the ingredients and the methods of cooking more which makes dimsum so different to everything else, which images wouldn't really help describe. I decided to treat the dimsum dishes as information only and delivering the details about them in a easy to understand yet interesting way, therefore went for an infographics approach, distilling the information and delivering it an innovative yet functional way,

With these initial designs, I focused on using simple shapes to categorise the dishes to start with. Each shape represents a different format of cooking which includes: steaming, frying and roast/baking. As I developed and adjusted the layout more, I start incorporated a few more methods of categorising and delivering more detailed information about each dish. these include the lines inside, which represent how many pieces will be served with the 'X' representing a divide of 4 therefore 4 pieces etc. And finally to include the nutrition information, I started incorporated a few colours to represent the main ingredients used for each dish. I think the layout at the moment works quite well. They look interesting as a set while being quite easy to understand once a key has been embedded into the poster/booklet side of it.

Open publication - Free publishing - More infographics

I think the general design direction of this is going quite well so far; although the main concern at the moment is how well it works with the booklet side of it. At the moment they do seem quite separated, so I will have to develop both side of things to achieve a consistent outcome for this. I think there are many alterations that need to be made, mostly with the order of the information, hierarchy and the type treatments, I think I need to pay more attention to the detail of the type and the order of where they appear on the list. I also think that I need to add a few more finer details to it to make it more refined.

Format

The brief required something that could be easily reproduced and at a tight budget, so my idea was to keep the information tight and work only on 1 sheet of paper. I really wanted the solution to have an interesting interactive element to it rather than just being a leaflet so decided on experimenting on this particular fold that I remember seeing recently.

It's an interesting folding technique which allows the final to have a booklet format to start with, which opens into 3 spreads which then folds out again to reveal the other side which ultimately can be used for a poster. I think there's quite a lot I can do and experiment with ths fold, the layout and design approach of delivering the information will be a crucial part of whether this works or not.

List of Dimsum dishes

The list of Dimsum dishes that I will be dissecting, organising and categorising into different sections. At the moment it's pretty confusing and you just don't really want to read it. So the task really is to organise and design this list of food into something that engaging and informative to someone whose completely new to Dimsum.

Promoting Dimsum - Concept & Idea

Concept
To promote dimsum by providing an engaging & informative printed deliverable that categorises and simplifies the vast choice of dimsum dishes available.

Idea
Develop a booklet that contains history & background information of dimsum, while folding out to showcase the array of dimsum dishes in a type driven infographics format.

Design development

Developed design direction and spread ideas for the booklet side of the design solution. I wanted to keep it quite design and type driven, as mentioned before I didn't want to follow the conventional approach for food related projects, so I have decided not to incorporate any images or photos of the dimsum.

After experimenting with a few layouts, type treatments and design direction, I'm going to develop the poster side of it to inform the booklet side of things. I didn't want the poster side and the booklet to seem like 2 completely separate things so it's essential that I develop these both together to ensure that the design throughout is consistent.

Open publication - Free publishing - More graphic design

Format - Dimsum brief

To achieve the most suitable and cost effective design solution, I have to come up with a viable format for the booklet/information pack. I have decided to avoid the conventional format of a booklet, instead it would be made out of a single sheet of paper, which would be folded in a way that forms a booklet while providing a narrative, sense of order and a platform for the information to be printed/applied onto.

So far due to the printing and time limitations, I have decided to work on an A2 sheet of paper, which would be folded 3 times to produce 8 sections, forming a 3 spread booklet. This would hold the information ranging from background and history to the cultural impact of Dimsum. On the reverse side, there will be the information of 30 of the most popular dimsum dishes categorised into different fields.

Final design outcomes

Final range of printed outcomes, including an exhibition guide, post exhibition publication proposal and design direction and a set of promotional posters. Along with these are also a set of exhibition invites and a proposed website direction.

Exhibition guide - a small booklet containing information on the exhibitors, a selection of images on there work and background details.

Post exhibition publication - Publication that documents the creations visitors have made out of a limited number of LEGO bricks during there visit to the MAKE exhibition. This concept explores the idea of having an endless possibility even when people were only given the same limited selection of LEGO bricks. This is my proposal for the design direction for the publication as the event's not actually happening, Each publication contains 20 spreads made up of 10 sheets of 140gsm stock inside, all wrapped up in a gloss cover and bound together. The use of the glossy stock was intended to resemble the varnished quality of LEGO bricks, a set of 4 publications were made with the same content, it utilises the same swatch colours that was used throughout the entire range to help sustain the consistent design direction throughout.

Promotional posters printed half the scale on 140gsm stock.