D & AD

For the last week I have been developing some ideas for the d&ad brief. I have come up with six concepts which are outline below.

Concept: “Swarm”

This concept plays on “faber and faber” long illustrious history in typography.
The swarm of type illustrates the volume of publications which “faber and faber” have published throughout the years. The logo sits in this swarm emphasizing its origin. The title for this book drives out of this past typographic history to become yet another publication for the company.

The large number represents the series number. This number portrays the viewer that this is part of a series.

If developed further the swarm would take on a much more organic look, much like the look of a swarm of bees. The emphasis here is representing faber and faber as a living organism. This swarm would travel around the book cover, not just confined to the front

Concept “The Box Office”

This concept is built around the direct relationship between the book series theme, film and physical aspects of the cinema (Box office LED’s). The type used will be the same as that seen on the box office board.

The ink used to print this cover would be florescent. This would glow red in the dark again emphasizing the link with the physical cinema. It would also provide a digital feel to the book, showing the modern cinema as opposed to the old.

If developed further it could be an option to relate to the early cinema as well as the modern cinema. This would create a historic sense for the cover, as it portrays a timeline from the past to the present.

This relationship might also encompass the florescent ink. When it in daylight the type looks like the very early cinema box office signs. In the dark it lights up much like the modern day box office.


Concept “Old and New”

This concept again plays on “faber and faber” long illustrious history in typography. The covers type will be sliced in two. The left side is represented by a type which is relatable to the past. The right is a more modern type.
Its design represents faber and fabers long history by emphasizing when/where they began and the point which they are now at, a modern publishing company. In this way a timeline for the company is created.

All this portrays a company with a long standing history of excellence in publishing and typography.

Concept “Mirror”

This concept is like the box office idea where it is built around the direct relationship between the book series theme, film. However this time it’s the non linear storylines of modern movies.

The type design is a breadcrumb trail for the viewer. The book needs to be interacted with in order to see the full title. The interaction in this case been the viewer needs to physically turn it over to see the full title.

Through this design the title it is also more easily read when the book is opened by the user. This might be an irrelevant fact as the user cannot see the cover when reading. However an onlooker will see this and instinctively try and read it.

Further development of this idea would lie in creating a more complex breadcrumb trail for the viewer to interact with. However it would need to balance in its readability as the cover also needs to be functional.

Concept “Interact”

This concept is simply based on interaction with the user and possible onlookers. The books interaction is housed in the positioning of the users hands when reading.
From first inspection the book cover looks like it’s built of type. However once the book is opened the users hand creates an illusion that their hands are holding aloft the cover title. This would be an unknown occurrence for the user as they would not be able to see the cover and hand position when reading. The onlooker is the intended target in this case. Unknown to them, the user becomes an unlikely advertisement for the book.

Further growth of this idea would encompass developing the position/layout of the type to interact with the hands in an imaginative way.

Concept “3D illusion”

This concept is based on converting the 2 dimensional surface of the book into a 3 dimensional one.

The perceptive would be completely created with typography. Mainly the “faber film” text and logo as all other text will be altered due to this been a POD book.
This book cover would represent “faber and faber” as a very modern company.

D&AD: Graphic Designers

Robert Brownjohn:



Saul Bass:

D&AD: Discussion

Yesterday I had my first discussion with John Clamp about the AD&D brief. During this it became very apparent that the concept was by far the most important item. This was followed closely by the presentation of the design.

He mentioned that the concept was important because when being judged the design must catch the eye of the judge. The reason being he may have to look at thousands of entries. It was for this reason alone that it was imperative that the concept was imaginative/innovative while also being functional.

Next we dissected the brief pointing out areas which must be considered:

The design must express that it is a series.
The design must encompass each area of Faber Films (Screenplays, Collected Screenplays, Directors on Directing, Technique, Film Books, and Film History).
The design must be updateable.
The design must look well in print and online.
The design must incorporate “Faber Film” text as well as their logo (both being a discreet but integral part of the overall design).

Target Audience: Film Professional, Film & Media Students, and Gifts for film enthusiasts)

Finally the dimensions which the design needed to be designed with:
126mm by 198mm (standard paper back) and 135mm by 216mm.

To finish he recommended some graphic designers which may interest me, Robert Brownjohn, Saul Bass and Edward Tuft.

Brief: D&AD

The brief I have decided to undertake is a graphic design one sponsored by faber and faber. Here you can find there website.

Outline: Use typography to create a series cover design for Faber Film’s range of books that reflects Faber and Faber’s long history of typographic excellence.

To begin I have decided to research the area of typography and book cover design by sourcing various books on these subjects. These books are detailed below.

Typography:

Jury, David - Title: About face: reviving the rules of typography
McLean, Ruari - Title: The Thames and Hudson manual of typography
Chappell, Warren - Title: A short history of the printed word / Warren Chappell and Robert Bringhurst.
Bringhurst, Robert - Title: The elements of typographic style / Robert Bringhurst. Tschichold, Jan - Title: The new typography : a handbook for modern designers
Author Atkinson, D. W - Title: Grid systems in graphic design
Samara, Timothy - Title: Design evolution : theory into practice : a handbook of basic design principles applied in contemporary design
Elam, Kimberly - Title: Grid systems: principles of organizing type
Lidwell, William - Title: Universal principles of design: [100 ways to enhance usability, influence perception, increase appeal, make better design decisions, and teach through design]
Samara, Timothy - Title: Making and breaking the grid: a graphic design layout workshop (2005) Book
Jury, David - Title: What is typography? (2006)
McLean, Ruari - Title: The Thames and Hudson manual of typography

Cover Design

Drew, Ned - Title By its cover : modern American book cover design
Powers, Alan - Title: Front cover : great book jackets and cover design
Title: Fully booked : cover art & design for books.

I have also been looking at Faber Finds. This is the current Print on Demand service which faber and faber currently run for various back catalogue books. These books are very uninspiring!!! Below show two example of the POD template which each book is designed to. I am looking at these because the brief also states that the cover design will be for the Faber Film series of books which will also be published using this technology.