Creative Process Journal 2 Brand Experience Studios 2 (BCS2) | MD8211 Afiqah Bte Nazarudin | P2007096 | DMAD/FT/2B/DC01
Week 13
Week 13 For this week, we learned more about the project that we will be doing for our upcoming CA which is to design a coffee table book. To learn more about what a coffee table book is, my lecturer provided different videos for us to watch so that we can better understand what is a coffee table books and what goes in the coffee table. After watching these videos, we had to do a class activity based on the videos that we watched. We had to answer questions based on what a coffee table book is as well as provide examples of interesting and attractive coffee table books that are already published. CLASS ACTIVITY:
Week 13 CLASS ACTIVITY: Examples that Captivate a Reader:
Week 13 Examples that Captivate a Reader:
Week 13 Examples that Captivate a Reader:
Week 13 Examples that Captivate a Reader:
Week 13
Week 13 After doing the class activity, we had a briefing our upcoming CA on the coffee table book design. I found out that the coffee table book design has to be the same theme as the Café design that we did for our previous CA, thus, I must make sure that the book is relevant to the café theme that I decided to go for my previous CA. This week has given me a clearer view of what I have to do for my upcoming CA and how important the brand guidelines that I did for my café were as it will affect the whole of this upcoming CA. Thus, I must start to look for inspiration for the coffee table book design as soon as possible to make sure that it fits the theme of my café.
Week 14
WWeeeekk1144 For this week, we learned more about grids so that we have a better understanding of how we can do up our layouts for our coffee table book. We first have to understand the elements that make up a page design. Elements: 1. Spreads • Consists of a left and right page, also known as the verso (left) and recto (right). 2. Spine • Refers to the outside edge of the book where the pages are gathered and bound.
WWeeeekk1144 Elements: 3. Margin • Keeps your content from running off the page and being cut off during the manufacturing process 4. Heading/ Subheading • Heading: Strategically placed to entice the reader to read the content • Subheading: mini-headline that elaborates the context of the heading.
WWeeeekk1144 Elements: 5. Pull Quotes • Text that is pulled form the main text. It is duplicated and presented on the page as an attention-grabbing visual element. 6. Body Copy • Main part of a piece of writing of the article.
WWeeeekk1144 Elements: 7. Footnote • Allows an author to guide the reader to additional information or further study without disrupting the flow of the sentence. 8. Running head • A line outside the margin of the document that provides the book title and article one is reading.
WWeeeekk1144 Elements: 9. Page numbers • Process of applying a sequence of numbers to the pages of a book or other document. 10. Caption • A brief explanation or description given to a picture, illustration, diagram, charts or graphs.
WWeeeekk1144 We then learned more about how we can start designing a publication layout. Following what we have learned last semester and in year 1, we can use the golden ratio to achieve harmony, balance and beauty. Without applying golden ratio, the layout is obscure to navigate and understand. Design with golden ratio applied: Design without golden ratio applied:
WWeeeekk1144 We also must consider of what kind of publication we are designing for as different kinds of purposes with some publications emphasizing on photos instead of texts or the other way around. We then learned about the symmetrical grid that was created by Jan Tschichold. This layout grid is a classic layout with a 2:3 proportion and can be defined by the spatial relationships that contain the text in harmonious proportion.
WWeeeekk1144 We then did a class activity where we attempted at folding a paper to create the symmetrical grid. This was the result: Personally, I had difficulties folding the paper to create lines, however, after successfully folding, I managed to see how the symmetrical grid is being applied. The 2 boxes are symmetrical to each other and create enough space for 2 paragraphs to fit which creates a very aesthetically pleasing feel to the page design. Not only that, I also realized that with this grid system, the golden ratio can be applied in multiple ways. Thus, this grid system is effective in helping us design our page design for our coffee table book.
WWeeeekk1144 Some ways that the golden ratio can be applied:
WWeeeekk1144 After applying the symmetrical grid on the A3 paper, we then applied the layout to InDesign. This is how it looks like: While doing the grid system on InDesign, I realized how easy it was to fit all of elements that makes up a page design. Thus, I would definitely apply this grid system when designing for the coffee table book for the upcoming CA.
WWeeeekk1144 After going through the lesson, we were given some time to work on our ideation worksheet for our CA. I got started on it first since I knew what I wanted my café to be like.
WWeeeekk1144
WWeeeekk1144 Based on our previous CA, I decided that my coffee table book was going to be based on the journey of a film maker with Tonton Café. I wanted to name it as ‘Your Stories On The Big Screen’ as it links back to the tagline of my café which is ‘Tell Stories Your Own Way’. The title of the book also reflects what the content of my book is going to be about and that is the different ways that a film maker who is a loyal patreon of Tonton has made it this far in their filmmaking journey. From a person who just dreamt of having their stories on the big screen to finally having it showcase on the actual big screen. Following my brand guidelines, my coffee table book was also going to be quite similar to the style of my café logo as I will be reusing the fonts and the colours that i have used in my previous CA for consistency. However, I was thinking of changing things up with the interior of my café as the comments from my previous CA was that the interior of my café did not really match with the café logo. Thus I will be showing that change in my coffee table book. This week has given me time to ideate and plan through my ideas thoroughly so that I am well prepared when I am actually designing my coffee table book. Of course with the help of feedback in the upcoming weeks, my idea will change but I am glad that I was able to plan prior to designing it.
Week 15
WWeeeekk1154 For this week’s lesson, we learned about girds and hierarchy. We first learn about the importance of having grids and hierarchy. Both of these are important for the us when we are reading so that we understand the flow of the book. Thus, both of these pieces must come together to communicate as a totality. We then learn what makes us a page structure: After that, we learn more about grids; a distinct set of alignment-based relationships that serves as a guide for distributing elements, which ultimately provide ease of visual navigation. We then learn about the Manuscript Grid or the Symmetrical Grid which is the simplest kind of grid, consisting of a large text block on each page of the spread.
WWeeeekk1154 We also learn about the column grid which is very flexible and can be used to separate different kinds of information because columns can either be dependent on each other for running text, independent for small blocks of text or crossed over to make wider text block or image: Last but not least, we learned about modular grid which is a column grid with large number of flow lines that subdivide the columns into rows, creating small boxes called modules. In my opinion, I would usually go for the Symmetrical or Column grid when doing the publication design as I am more used to these 2 layouts and grid systems.
WWeeeekk1154 We then learned about alignment logic where we would need to plan out where all the information in our publication goes to after setting the grids. For this, we need to create horizontal alignment when flow lines are introduces so that images, header or text blocks can hang from them or sit on them. After that we learn about hierarchy which is an important element in any design project as it tells people where to look first and what things on the screen or printed pages are the most important. With hierarchy, it gives readers a sense of how to actually read material from start to finish with visual cues and flow. A good visual hierarchy tells us what is important and makes reading so much easier.
WWeeeekk1154 Hierarchy can be created with: • Size • Typeface • Weight • Colour • Texture • Orientation • Space Or a combination of the above. One of the simplest ways to establish hierarchy is through size and scale where we see the important information or information such as headlines in bigger sizes than the rest of the content. We also have to take not of how we pair our typefaces as the thickness of the typeface reflects the hierarchy of a certain information, which typefaces that are thicker preferably carrying the greater importance.
WWeeeekk1154 Typeface is also important in creating typographic hierarchy. The key is to have contrast between the typefaces. We can also use colour to add emphasis and increase weight to type. From there, we can also change the orientation of the text to which changes the hierarchy of the whole page. If we were to place texts vertically on a horizontal page, this would make the text seem more important.
WWeeeekk1154 We can also make use of space to create visual hierarchy with more white space making the type appear bigger and more legible whereas the lack of whitespace can make the type feel tighter and smaller. We would also need to think about the spatial relationship between letters and the edge of the canvas. And with that, we came to the end of the lesson with the other half of the lesson as part of a make up lesson due to Chinese new year.
WWeeeekk1154 For the other half of the lesson, we were given a softwear demo on how to use InDesign which will help us with our publication design ca. For the softwear demo, we first began the demo by learning how to set up grids and columns. We applied the symmetrical grid that we learned last week to create columns for the text and pictures to go in. Then we played with the margins to see what suits best for our design. This is what we ended up with: As you can see, the 2 columns are centralized with each other, giving us enough space at the side to add in our section headers and other elements. We also applied modular grids which will help us with the layout of the information. After that, we learn more about parents for pages.
WWeeeekk1154 The parent for pages makes it easier for us to add in page numbers or even headers that are going to repeat throughout our publication design. You can even create new parents and apply that parent to the pages that you want, thus, you don’t really need to create the design on the page itself. This will help us create a neat system for our publication design and it will help us make changes to certain pages easily if we need to. This is especially important if we are working with a lot of pages for a publication design. We then played around with the layout of the publication design and went ahead and tried to do text wraps in our paragraphs. This is get us familiar with the software and what are some of the things that we can do for our publication design CA.
WWeeeekk1154 After going through the lesson, we were then given some time to plan our our pagination for next week’s pin up where we would have to give comments to our friend’s works. Since I am not really sure on the actual content of my coffee table book, I decided to draw up a brief sketch of how it will look like: Since I already had some picture reference for my coffee table book, I decided to use them as reference on how I would like the layout of my book to look like. I also sticked with the idea of playing around with flowy elements that will be connected throughout the book while still applying the boarders that are constantly around my brand stationaries in my previous CA. This is how I picture the typography and the elements to look like:
WWeeeekk1154 As for the cover of the book, I was inspired by this picture I found on pinterest which is a cardbox tv box with a broken screen. This reminded me of my brand’s tagline which is ‘Tell Stories Your Own Way’ and how Tonton café is always challenging its patreons to step out of their comfort zone and rebel against the typical mainstream blockbuster hits and focus on developing stories that have deeper, more personal meanings. Thus I decided that the cover would be a tv screen with a broken TV as it’s sleeve: On top of that, I did more research on the Singapore International Film Festival and picked out some movies that stood out to me that I will be mentioning in my coffee table book.
WWeeeekk1154 With that, I prepared myself for next week’s pin up. This week has given me the opportunity to properly plan out my coffee table book and make sure that I was well prepared for the pin up. This week also allowed me to learn more about how to navigate my way around InDesign, which is a softwear that I am not familiar with. I am grateful to have started the ideating portion i=of my CA earlier as I would soon not have time to focus on planning out my BXS ca. However, if given more time, I would have at least searched up the actual content that I will be showcasing in my coffee table book so that I can plan ahead and would not be stressed about this in the future.
Week 16
WWeeeekk1164 For this week, it was the start of our consults and planning for our coffee table book CA. This week is our pin up where we will be sharing with our classmates on what we would like to do for our publication design. We were tasked to split a paper into 4 parts; what to improve, what to keep, what to stay and what to stop. From there we will be filling up these boxes with the comments that were given by our classmates. This was what I took down during the pin up: *did not have anything written down for what to stop.
WWeeeekk1164 What to improve: When I presented the concept to my friends, they mention how they were afraid that my book was going to be too wordy as I will be focusing on the movies as well. Thus they mentioned how it would be better if I kept it simple. Some of my classmates also mention to add quotes or observations form the directors to make the content more appealing. Some of them also mentioned how I can include TV glitches especially since my cover is a broken tv screen and that I can include my brand mascot in the book by changing up its expression. They also said that I should not make the colours too bright and have consistency with the images by colour grading it. Last but not least, one of my classmate mentioned how I can include a QR code or a spotify code which leads to the soundtrack of the movie which makes the coffee table book more engaging.
WWeeeekk1164 What to stay: My classmates mentioned that the concept of my coffee table book is nice, thus the content that I will be showcasing can stay. They also mention how they like the cover design of my coffee table book, thus, I will be keeping that in my coffee table book. What to keep: Last but not least, my classmates mention that I should keep the squiggles regardless of it having a boxy design throughout and I should keep the mockups that I will be doing to showcase Tonton café.
WWeeeekk1164 From there, this pin up has given me inspiration on how I should continue with designing my coffee table book. However, due to lack of time and other modules, I was not able to continue planning and sticked with the idea that I had originally while taking in some of the advice that was given by my classmates. This caused me to be unprepared in the future, which will result in me being lost and unsure of how to properly layout my coffee table book. Thus, I should have taken this stage of planning seriously if there was more time for me to concentrate on this planning stage. Thus, while there was not much progress on my part this week, it has given me the opportunity to not only help myself ideate further on how I would like my coffee table book to look like but to also help my classmates who are in the same situation as me.
Week 17
WWeeeekk1174 This week was consultation week, however, I did not really have an actual plan for my coffee table book in terms of the content and layout, thus I was a bit nervous about my progress so far. Prior to my consultation with my lecturer, I did up more sketches of how my coffee table book was going to look like. Since we had a minimum of 8 spreads, I decided that each chapter of my book was going to take up 2 spreads. As for now I had a total of 4 chapters, thus it was just nice for 8 spread of my book. Sketch I did before consults: Some of the chapters that I came up with was ‘Tonton’ where I will be sharing more about what Tonton is all about. ‘And Action’ where I will be sharing about how Tonton gave aspiring filmmakers a safe space to express their ambitions. ‘Embrace Modernity’ where I will be sharing about how we should be more open to representation and complex genres in the film industry and last but but least would be ‘Don’t Stop Here’ where I will be sharing about how the patreons should not just stop their filmmaking journey here and should venture out to become the best versions of themselves in the industry of filmmaking.
WWeeeekk1174 After that, I consulted my lecturer and here was what he had to say: • The title is abit too long, can be shorten to just 2 words. • Based on the concept that you just told me, it could be ‘The Breakthrough’ or something that is used in the film industry that is similar to that. • The chapters can be like ‘Scene 01:….’ since you will be focusing on films. • The chapters can also be based on the different scenes that a movie has, for example: ‘Scene 01: Hero Entry can be taking about your patreons and their develoment as film makers from the firt time they enter Tonton café to when they finally reached their ‘breakthrough’
WWeeeekk1174 From there, I researcged more on what a breakthrough could mean in film terms and came across an article that talks about ‘breakthrough directors’ who are directors that fpcus on contemporary movies. Since this is what Tonton café strives tp have onto it’s paterpns, I decided that ‘The Breakthrough’ was a valid name to have for my coffeetable book. I also decided to confirm all of my chapters in the coffee table book so that I was sure of the content that I wanted to write. I did further research on terms and lingos tha are used in the film industry and decided to reference A24 coffee table books which talks about the process of how a show is being written. In their coffee table book, I noticed terms like ‘Screenplay by...” which talks about the script of the show. Thus I decided to take inspiration from that and created a chapter dedicated to a scriptwriting competition that is hosted by Tonton café called ‘Screenplay By You’ which shows how the winner of the competition would be given funding from Tonton café to help them produce the movie. This shows engagement within Tonton café and its patreons which relates back to the overall idea of the book. How the screenplay page looks like.
WWeeeekk1174 I also decided to add a chapter in the book called ‘Embracing Talents’ where I will be sharing how Tonton cafe would be showcasing the different movies that were featured in SGIFF through the rooftop movie screenings so that these movies would gain better exposure to the general public. This chapter would show how Tonton café is a supportive café which recognizes talents from all around the world. This will also be the chapter where I will be showcasing the illustrations of the mascot that I did where I added Tonton in different languages. I also wanted to showcase a movie written by a Singaporean filmmaker who was featured in SGIFF as a way to represent the SouthEast Asian film industry: Smoke Gets Into Your Eyes by Alvin Lee
WWeeeekk1174 Last but not least, I decided to include the chapter ‘Don’t Stop Here’ which was my initial plan for the coffee table book. This chapter will show how the patreons filmmaking journey does not have to stop here but they can always come back to Tonton café is they need to. Thus, as you can see, I decided not to make the chapters named ‘Scene 01…’ as it does not really fit the concept that I was going for. From there, I started designing the coffee table book. I started the process by setting up the grids of the coffee table book using symmetrical grids and adding modular grids so that I can place the pictures properly. I also made sure to add in the pages in he parent page This is how I set the the page up:
WWeeeekk1174 I then started to design the coffee table book. I made sure that the pictures were colour graded based on the colour scheme of the coffee table book so that everything looks consistent. I also made sure to add the elements that I have previously added in my brand stationary so that the design is consistent throughout. Here is how the pages turn out: The title page: Contents page:
WWeeeekk1174 Chapter 1: For the first chapter, as mentioned, I decided to focus more on the concept of the café. This is where I added the pictures of the café, the logo as well a mockups of how the café would look like. I also mentioned the rooftop screening that Tonton offers and I can further explain our brand mascot, Tom.
WWeeeekk1174 Chapter 2: For the second chapter, I explained more about the competition which is ‘Screenplay By You’ and also shows the patreon that won the competition. Personally, I did not really like how these pages turned out as I could have played around with the typography which is similar to the visual references that I had, however, due to lack of time, I decided to make it simple and straight to the point. This was also when I had the idea of reusing the elements that I had used in my brand stationary in my previous CA such as the heart and the Tom to make the design consistent.
WWeeeekk1174 Chapter 3: For the third chapter, I explained more about the movies from SGIFF and added in the ‘Movie Of The Month’ poster that will be showcased in the café. Similar to the previous pages, I also did not really like now these pages turned out as I could have played more with the layout and the typography for the quotes. I could have also included more movies which was my initial plan for this page.
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