Printed illustrations

Print out mocks of the illustrations and early development of the spreads to review how well they have turned out when printed. I wasn't entirely sure whether I should have continued with the illustrations; I wanted a clinical feel to the catalogue containing detailed specifications while also become functional for students of the college. One of the main issues I felt with the illustrations was that quite a lot of it seemed quite obvious, people know what a Pritt Stick looks like which pretty much eliminates the purpose of the illustrations. I felt that the balance between function and aesthetic is a key area to consider here as I didn't want the publication to simply develop into a book of images.

On the other hand, they did print out quite nicely on the black & white laser and the desired 80gsm stock, something that would be cheap to print on while being substantial enough to hold the details and be able to be binded together well. The details of the illustrations and the fine stroke weights really do add to the clinical feel of the catalogue and after printing, I feel more confident that I should simply keep the whole thing in black & white. The benefits of this would obviously be the cost for it aswell as fitting in well in context.

Development 03 - Vector drawings

Initially I was split between using actual photographs or vector drawn images to illustrated the items available from the shop as they both had unique attributes about them, I eventually decided to test out vector drawn items as I wanted an almost clinical feel to the catalogue; stripping away anything that is decorative and almost becoming over designed. I was aiming to design something that is functional but well considered with the design aspect of it, therefore opted for a series of strict guidelines for the design direction, these include: only using black on white stock (except for colour swatches), only 01 typeface throughout, fixed format and page number to be no more than 36 pages including front and back covers.

Going back to the vectored drawings, I started by taking photos of almost every single item from the shop, I decided to shoot these from a direct/ flat on angle so that all my drawings would be 2D and not isometrical or anything, therefore hopefully they won't interfere or make it too difficult to lay out with text.

A selection of the photos

When drawing these items out, I used the photos as a guide but didn't trace directly as I almost want them to look like technical drawings of the items so that it follows the technical aspect of it. To ensure that everything was consistent, I used 0.5 point stroke weights for all illustrations. One of the main problems I had which raised a few questions was how much detail I wanted to draw, particularly with packaged products such as a spray mount can or a Pritt Stick; at first I started drawing the stationary as it seemed feasible to illustrate the tips of the pens, however when it got to things like Pritt Sticks, I was almost questioning why I was drawing them and what direction it was leading.

Either way, I wasn't too sure about the direction I was working on but the initial plan for this brief was to keep it short and productive, therefore I just worked on it and hoped that the design process itself would inform my next step. I continued drawing more items following the list of items from the shop, until I felt that I had enough to start experimenting with a series of spreads.

Development 02 - Layout

Development of layouts for the catalogue; from the previous post I spent most the time trying to develop a structure for laying out the information for the equipment, focusing on the margins, gutter and type specifications. I used the pens initially to visualise this as they have the most information for them, with these I've tried to refine the arrangement of the text, images and overall layout of the spreads, while introducing smaller details such as the location of the titles, page numbers and the colour swatches for each pen.

Open publication - Free publishing - More layout

Binding Method

Initially, I wanted to bind the catalogue by sewing a single thread through, giving it a nice tactile finish to the catalogue. I needed to test it out to see how the pages would attach and how accurate the bind would be.

I tested out booklets, each with increasing number of spreads to test the amount of paper the bind could handle ranging from 8, 10 and 12 sheets.

Saddle stitch with staple; I found that although I did like the stitch with thread, I didn't really fit well in context of the library shop. Instead I binded another book of 10 sheets of paper with a stapler, which delivers the same results but with more subtlety, something that seems to work better in relation to the context of the catalogue.

Development 01 - Layout/size/specification

Open publication - Free publishing - More information

Spread development for the catalogue design. Developing from the initial layout ideas I had drawn, I have started to interpret these digitally, focusing more on the essential details such as margin widths, type orientation, column and gutter specifications etc which is more efficient when working on it digitally as opposed to hand drawing them all. I think my thought process can be identified quite clearly in these, with the first one being quite bold and simple, I experimented with different variations while considering the readability, functional aspect and overal tone and aesthetics of the catalogue that I want to deliver it as.

So far I have just worked mainly on the pens & markers section, using a few initial vector drawings to illustrate my ideas. At this stage, I think i will be going ahead with the vector drawn approach for the products and have a final index at the back. As it's quite a short brief (2 weeks) and I'm already onto my second, I really need to start making some decisions on the design direction and work on the rest of the catalogue's content.

Breaking these up into different sections, these are the things I still need to do to meet my print deadline on friday:

- Type out all the information including ref numbers, normal prices & discount prices etc
- Photograph and draw out all the stationary and document all the colours available
- Collect all stock
- Decide on the size of catalogue
- Decide on final fonts specifications for the whole catalogue
- Make a decision on the stock to print catalogue on
- Decide on the binding format
- Finish all spreads
- Develop front cover

Layout development

A set of initial layout drafts that explore the range of layout possibilities, working on several different grid specifications.

Initial Ideas

The brief was quite straightforward really as the target audience, content and subject matter's already been defined, so it was just a matter of exploring a range of possible design directions for the catalogue.

Catalogue information

The current shop leaflet; essentially this is what I will be redesign but delivering the information in a more functioning and informative way, especially for items that were quite specific such as fine liners or certain pain brushes. I found the information quite easy to navigate, but quite often wanted to know more about the items, especially when viewing these away from the shop such as in the studio or at home.

Before getting into the design process to much, I wanted to get a better idea of how much information I'll be working with, and fortunately managed to obtain the spreadsheet of the stock lists and the details of it.

Rationale / Statement of Intent

Revised statement of intent for this year, changed a few things on here since the last crit on this so hopefully things are a lot more refined now.

Open publication - Free publishing - More rationale

Brief 01 - LCA Shop Catalogue