Guide Book - Front cover production

To complete the front cover of the book, I first needed to do a few tests to see which method and material etc. would be best to use. The front cover has been designed to be black as the research into books of this style often have a matte black cover, a trend that the target audience would be aware of. 

I decided to test out the foiling on white paper as it would be quick to print out allow me to see if the black foiling and the holographic foiling work well together and take to the ink from the printer. To prepare for this I took the front cover design (fig. 1) and removed the coloured corners, the black background and made all of the text black (fig. 2). 

fig. 1

fig. 2

I started by doing a test run on the white paper first just to make sure I had the heat transfer machine set up correctly and the foil would take to the ink. Figure 3 shows how I stuck the black foil down with masking tape to stop it curling up and then I also placed the holographic foil over the writing that I needed it to adhere to. I then set the heat transfer machine to 160 degrees and set the timer to 12 seconds. Figures 4 and 5 show that the foil transferred onto the paper successfully. To improve the outcome of how consistently the foil transfers I would allow more time for the foil to cool down before I removed it from the paper. Figures 6 and 7 show the outcome, which I am happy with but the holographic words are a little patchy across the bottom. For the final outcome, I will need to do lots of final attempts so that I can then select the best one to use as the front cover. 

fig.3

fig. 4

fig. 5

fig. 7

fig. 6

I then attempted the same process but on the black card instead to see if my design would work when put into production. Figure 8 shows the foiling being placed onto the black card in the same way as the white card and then it was placed under the heat press for the same 12 seconds at 160 degrees. Figure 9 shows that the holographic foiling did not transfer well onto the black card, not in the same way that it did on the white, 

fig. 8

fig. 9

Problem and solution:

I spoke to the print room technicians and it was thought that the foil may not have picked up the black ink on the black card as they are not different enough. This is a problem for my final design because there is no other way in which I would be able to get the same effect. I could hand cut into the black card the outline for the word 'QUEERS' and then place the holographic paper behind it and then stick another piece of black card under that. This would work, but it will give the wrong aesthetic to the book, adding an element of 3D/embossing for no added design need or reason. 
As the foiling worked well on the white, another option would be to use white for the front cover. I would need to research the colour white and how it would look as a book cover before I commit to this design decision. As a solution to the problem, my client agreed that the black would not produce the high-quality final outcome that the book is designed to have. 

White
I have found out that white is often associated with light, goodness, innocence, purity and virginity. It is also considered to be the colour of perfection, something that the lgbtq+ society may not be considered to be, but the idea of decriminalisation is something that can be said to be perfection when it is completely in place within society. The acceptance of the lgbtq+ community by society would be seen to be perfection by those involved in the community. The fact that white usually has a positive connotation in comparison to black is another reason why the front cover would work better in white. 

This process has taught me that in the future I should not choose colours based only on the appearance, it is important to research into the colour meaning and what they can suggest about something. 

Final printing process
Although the final book is A5 in size, when printing the front cover I will need to account for the back page and also the spine. I have measured the height of the content pages when stacked, but for the final printing, I have left double the amount of space on the page just to allow for any adaptations that may need to happen or if the glue dries a little thicker when the book is perfect bound. Figure 10 shows the A3 InDesign document that I will be using to print the text on ready to foil with. I have outlined the A5 page size for a visual purpose to ensure that I get the positioning right for the printing, but before I print I will remove the back page outline and make some crop marks (fig. 11) to show where the front page should be positioned. This is important as it will ensure that the writing is in the correct position for the final front cover. 

fig. 10

fig. 11

fig. 12

I got some white card to print the front cover onto and then attempted to foil. I did the process in the same way that I had done for the initial attempts and the black foil worked very clearly, without out any sections missing. Figure 12 shows that the holographic foil did not stick to the ink on the paper well and there were lots of patches missing. I spoke to the technician and he explained that when a thicker stock is used, the longer time it takes to heat means that the toner is lifted from the surface of the card and this means that the foil has nothing to attach to when it cools and is peeled away. This something that they have not managed to solve, but suggested that I could either try to leave it under the heat for longer or at a higher temperature and also think about printing the front cover onto a slightly thinner stock. 

fig. 13

As another solution would be to hand cut one of the letters that need to be holographic and place the holographic foil underneath to show through. This is shown in figure 13 and although it does work, it does not have the simple and high-quality finish that I was aiming for when designing this book. The holographic element of the book was meant to be subtle, but meaningful. 

I continued to try and improve the outcome of the final front cover, applying the advise that I had been given in terms of stock thickness and the amount of time it is heated for. Printing the content onto the Olin 200 gsm instead of the white card improved the outcome of the foiling and the toner did not detach from the paper, meaning it still acted as the adhesive for the foil. Figure 14 shows that more of the foil transferred to the paper than it did previously, a result of pressing it for 18 seconds rather than 12 seconds. The increased in heating time did however make the masking tape leave behind a mark when removed as the glue may have transferred onto the paper slightly. Figure 15 turned out better as it was only the edges that didn't transfer completely and no masking tape marks were left because I tried to use as little as possible. I will decide which one I want to use at the end of the process, once the book is bound together. If I decide that the foiling is not of a high enough quality for the front cover then I will use the other design that I have had printed as a front cover (figure 16).

fig. 14

fig. 15

fig. 16