Collaboration: Meeting with Kris

Another meeting with Kristina allowed for us both to discuss what we had been thinking about and finding in terms of visual literacy and concept development. We spoke about the content that would be in the book and what message/messages exactly it is that we are trying to portray. 

zine

• concept would be needed 
• distribution
• sharing message

Paul Graham - New Europe series is something that we looked at for inspiration for layout and also content ideas. Within the book there are pictures of the models, the models in their own environment and then also some metaphorical objects that help the audience to learn more and understand more about the message being explored.

A4 book? landscape or horizontal? zine or phonebook? do I develop a promotional zine for the final photography book?

we are comfortable and think we understand this

CONTENT 

Islamaphobia

• 1-5 portraits per girl 
• 7/8 relating to metaphorical object relating to girl and home
• quote? story 500 words

Bali

• children in less fortunate environments
• women and women issues
• not exposed to a lot of nutrients - on going affect to children 
• snapshot flash camera - vibrant
• children using disposable to capture their own environment 

Front cover 

The visual literacy that we had both explored and gathered had a mixture of image based front covers, illustrative and also type. As a collaborative decision our immediate response was that the front cover should be one of the images within the book, part of the collection or a small section of one of the images. This will allow the audience to get an instant insight into the visuals and tone of the publication. 

Title

The title is something that needs to be confirmed, but its likely to be developed once the content has been finalised and the exact message of the book has been established. We had both researched into the photography book 'You Get Me?' by Mahtab Hussain and liked the subjective title but how well it links to the content of the book. An interview with the photogrpaher had revealed that the title was chosen as it was a phrase that kept on being said during the shoot with the models in the book. This is something we are looking out for as we get to know the Leeds based models and then Kristina will look out for when in Bali. 

Layout

The East and West divide within Bali is something that may hold a lot of relevance and reveal more about the message that the photography book will have. This may be able to be subtly illustrated through experimental layouts, the East images being left aligned and West images being right aligned. It is smalll things like this that when researched further will impact the layout and the different things that it can portray. 

Type

The main body of text will accompany the Islamophobia images in the form of an interview with the girls that are being photographed. We discussed the different placements of the text and how this can impact the power of the message. As the focus is on prejudgments of the Muslim women in the UK, the sequencing of the text needs to be explored. If placed before the image it could take away the idea of prejudgment that could be illustrated if placed after the image. It could be effective to have the text after the image so that the audience can start to establish their own ideas about the women and then the text will erase all of this and show that the girls are no different just because of their religion. Another way to emphasise the message even further would be to separate the text from the images and either present it to the audience right at the end of the book or as a separate publication in itself. Kristina and I agreed that this concept could be interesting to explore, but also we came to the conclusion that the final outcome will be more effective and suitable for the target audience when presented with the images with appropriate sequencing.

Message

There will be a large amount of content that could be developed in terms of holding strong messages about the different cultures. In order to create one publication, the content needs to be brought together with one common message. Speaking to Kristina, this message is not likely to be finalised until she has returned from Bali with all of the images as currently she is unsure as to what images will stand out to her. Whilst she is away I will regularly be sent edited images that I ca begin sequencing and brainstorming the common themes to see if there is a message that can drive the conceptual design of this book. 

Currently, prejudment and preconception seem to be the main focus of the book and in terms of a message it would be that within both of the subjects there is a large number of prejudgment that should morally not be there.