Guide Book - Final Critique

The final critique allowed me to present my completed book layout before it was printed to get feedback to ensure the design worked well and any suggestions could be made on how to improve the overall consistency. 
The feedback was very useful and allowed me to see some areas in which improvements could be made.

Positive comments:

• The idea to use different paper stock for the artwork at the back of the book was seen to be a good design decision, maybe have some of them as pullout posters or postcards
• The layout is consistent
• Right alignment is a nice subtle layout decision 
• The section dividers work well with the colour coded page corners and headers
• The rip out section at the back of the book would be a good interactive edition to the book 
• The use of vibrant and bold colours works well to present the content
• The idea to perfect bound the book will finish it nicely and allow for the different paper stocks to be added easily

Constructive criticism: 

1. The Keith Haring and Simon Landrein illustrations need to be changed to ones of a higher quality
2. The double-page spread that has the daily mail newspaper image needs re-designing as it was thought to be a little duller than the rest of the book. This could be improved by the layout, or by adding colour to the pages or text
3. Pages 6 and 7 need to have a better sense of consistency to ensure that it doesn't look too crowded. The image needs to be placed differently, maybe right aligned or on the right-hand side page and not the left? Page 7 either needs less text or to be less spread out. 
4. Page 5 and 6 have the same 'to do at Pride' suggestion
5. The idea to use different paper stock was praised by most, but one comment was made about it potentially making the book have an unpolished outcome. This would be something that would need to be experimented with when it comes to printing the final thing. 
6. Pages 18 and 19 were thought to be a little bare for a section that describes a lot of things in depth
7. The image next to 'embrace the shade thrown at you by the queens' needs to be changed to one of a drag queen so that contextually it works better.
8. The introduction needs to be added
9. The last page before the front cover needs to be designed
10. Pages 40 and 41 need to be changed so that they work better as a double page spread layout. The images are two different shapes that do not work well together with the little text that is paired with them

Developments in response to feedback:

1. To improve the quality of the images in the book I opened them up with photoshop and changed the ppi to 300, using resample I was then able to change the percentage difference between the actual ppi and the effective ppi so that the image would scale appropriately to the size of the book. Figure 1 shows that the effective and actual ppi's are now the same, meaning the image is of the right quality now. The Keith Haring illustrations were of too a low quality to do this too, so I went online to find some bigger file sizes. I did not like the yellow being on the left and right of the page, as seen in figure 2, so I changed the artwork to something that would be more aesthetically suitable. Figure 3 shows the higher quality images and also the new artwork as they complement each other better in terms of colour. 

fig.1

fig. 2

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2. Figure 4 shows the original page layout which was thought to be a little 'duller' in comparison to the rest of the book design. After playing around with layouts for a very long time, figure 5 shows a possible outcome that with a bit of tweaking will be more consistent with the rest of the book and most importantly that particular section. Figure 6 shows what it would look like with the quote aligned to the right, in line with the text underneath. This made the double page spread a little too right side aligned and there was not enough variation in the layout, so I changed it and made it central, as seen in figure 7. This was said to be more successful.  

fig. 5

fig. 6

fig. 7

3. The placement of the image does not fit with the rest of the book layout, making this page look too cluttered and not part of the book. The size of the image is one problem, as seen in figure 8, the image is too large when also paired with a fairly large point sized type. Figure 9 shows the final layout, the image on the left has been scaled down to a size that matches the rest of the content within the book. The image and text on the left page have been grouped together and then placed centrally on the page. The right page has had the 3rd 'to do' moved to work with the grid layout and the orange text has been placed closer together and in line with the edge of the large text. This group of text has been placed centrally to make it the only focus of the page and it fits much better with the rest of the books visual design. 

fig. 8

fig. 9

4. 

fig. 11

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5. In regards to the main content of the book, that will be printed on a satin stock as it will not make it appear like a photo book but it will ensure that the element of high quality is still there. The back pages of illustrations will work best printed on a slightly thicker stock, matte finish so that when they are hung up by the reader they do not get glare from the sunlight etc.

6. This double page spread was a little empty, so I split the text more evenly between the two and then added another image of the dress style within the club scene.

fig. 12

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7. The Image next to number '9' to do, does not contextually fit with what is being said. I have spoken to my client and I am waiting for him to source a more appropriate image of a drag queen that I could use in this space instead. The highlighting of this problem made me want to rearrange the left page of this spread as well. The 'Bi is Fine' image could actually be put anywhere within the book, but the image that it has now been changed to work better to show the large community and works as a visual reminder as to why the money needs to be donated to the event hosts.

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8. Figure 16 shows the introduction added to the book.

fig. 16

9. The last page before the inside of the back cover is another of Gilbert and Georges pieces of art. It is not a full bleed image as it is long and thin and I think it is important to present it in this way so that the scale can be shown accurately. I tried out a few variations so that I could see what would work the best and then asked for some advice. Figure 7 shows what it would look like with the black background either side of it, in comparison to the white back shown in figure 18. I decided against this first layout because a printed black would turn out to be a different shade to the black card that the back cover would be made from. I then looked at the ways in which the name of the artists could be placed on the page. Figure 19 is in the same style as the rest of the book, but by making the image slightly smaller and then placing the text as a normal line, it works the best as a layout in terms of consistency to the rest of the book. 

fig. 17

fig. 18

fig. 19

fig. 20

10. The original design layout is shown in figure 21, it looks a little too aligned to the right and just does not flow as a double page spread. I changed the shape and size of the images so that they worked better and then fit the text to the grid system and overall it looks much better as a double page spread. 

fig. 21

fig. 22