Pantone: Evaluation and ideas for improvement

The final design successfully shows how an everyday environment can be the start of a whole colour swatch for use in a design project. I think this was effectively shown because it was not a staged photo which would indicate an appeal to the particular colours and aesthetics of the environment before the analysis has even began. The image clearly shows the influences that can come from nearly everything around us, but we just need to take advantage of our surroundings rather than actively seeking inspiration from obvious places such as galleries. 

The use of tracing paper to act as the cover around the book worked well because it allowed the type to by the main focus as well as showing the colour of the book straight way. The front cover is the first impression, so it needs to provide the audience with an insight into what the contents will be and the style in which it will be presented. I do think that this could be further improved by using acetate rather than tracing paper because it would provide a glossy finish rather than the slightly frosted aesthetic that tracing paper has. It would also act more as a protective layer around the book and would be less likely to be ruined as it is a thicker stock.

To improve as a designer, if I was to improve this book I would work on the layout of the pages and choose a grid system to follow. This would create consistency and a more powerful visual identity would be established throughout the book. Research has shown that by following the grid on almost every page of the document would allow me to break it on certain pages as a way of highlighting particular pieces of information that are more important than the rest. The grid can only be broken once it has been made to be a consistent design choice throughout the whole book. 

The designing of the first and last few pages need to be more carefully considered as there are a lot of blank pages in the document which are not adding anything extra to the presentation of the information.

The final book was printed so that each page was the same stock, making it look untidy when folded because the gutter was not wide enough to account for this. The book may work better with a thicker front and back cover and then thinner pages with the information on to resolve this problem.