Collaboration: Front cover development

The front cover of the book provides the reader with an instant impression of what kind of content the book will contain and instantly encourages ideas to be made up about the photos within.

Food

Due to the vibrancy of the food images in comparison to the portraits it seemed appropriate to use them on the front cover so that the book stood out visually on the shelf and also showed the positivity of a serious issue. This visually worked very well but it could appear to represent that the content is food based which it isn't, making it the wrong front cover choice for the book. 

Portrait

The use of a portrait was considered as an option for the front cover design as it would accurately represent the content of the book and instantly the viewer would be able to see visually what style of photography is within the book. There were a few problems with using a portrait on the front cover, one being that they are all shot with the subject centralised, making it difficult to place on the front cover without loosing the subject in the spine. Another problem would be choosing which portrait to use because this may result in the image that is chosen becoming of more importance in comparison to the rest of the book. 

Block colour

As a way of reflecting the content but also without giving too much away a block colour could be used on the front cover. Black initially seemed the most appropriate colour choice as it would represent the high percentage of black in the portraits and if the zine was to have a vibrant image on the front cover it would work well as a set. The idea was to have the title embossed or laser cut onto the hard back so that it is permanent but slightly hard to see - representing the title. Development then lead to the decision that this could reflect that the book is negative as opposed to positively sharing the issue to try and gain awareness and make a change for the people.

Disposable camera

In comparison to the images within these photos are very bright, landscapes not portraits and not shot digitally with a flash. Initially we thought that this may not reflect the content of the book very accurately, but as we started to apply it to the photo book design and especially the zine the vibrant colours began to work very nicely in contrast to the portraits within. The photo book contains very dark imagery and then some more vibrancy through the placement of the food imagery. The bright front cover effectively represents the 'out of sight, out of mind' concept, acting as the idyllic scenery that most people associate Bali to have, without touching upon the more serious issues within the hamlets. This publication is about the preconceptions vs. the reality and these disposable images work well to illustrate this point. In comparison to using a dark image on the front this adds an element of hope and positivity that there will be a brighter future for the Balinese.

Design development

Kristina and I discussed the options in detail, analysing the impact that they would have on the reader and how they would interact with the content within the book. It was decided that a portrait for the front cover would not be engaging and also choosing which one would be very hard. 

fig. 1

Initially the title was placed towards the top of the image in the centre of the page, a placing that a lot of photo books often use. The typeface colour was white as this stood out more effectively than a black. 

fig. 2

fig. 3

The film image chosen has an effect down the right handside which wasn't planned but has turned out really effectively. This acts as a natural frame, making it obvious to use as the place to position the title. Figure 2 shows the title lowercase apart from the words 'sight' and 'mind' which have been capitalised with the aim to try and emphasise this as the driving concept. This then the developed to the capitalisation of each of the first letters, the way in which we had been handwriting it. 

fig. 4

The black did not compliment the book visually or conceptually, so this idea was developed in a more conceptual way to try and enhance the choice of title even further. The idea to have the title only one/two shades darker than the colouring of the background plays on the idea that the issues within Bali are 'Out of Sight, Out of Mind'. 

fig. 5

fig. 6

The size in which the book would be printed means that the film image that we have been provided with from the developers would not stay a high quality when upscaled to the size needed for printing. To resolve this issue Kristina scanned the film negatives using the Hasselblad scanner and saved them as a very large size. Figure 5 shows the outcomes, a much higher quality image than before but it is a completely different colour in comparison to the one that we had originally recieved back from the developers. The dullness of figure 5 did not suit the reasoning we chose the other image for the front cover, so using Adobe Lightroom the vibrancy was enhanced and made as close to the original image as possible. Figure 6 shows the final outcome and it works well. 

As the image has now slightly changed colour, the title on the front page will need to be made a bit darker to account for this.

fig. 7

It was important that I wa redited for the design of the publications, so figure 7 shows the placement of my design logo on the back of the cover. It is small, white instead of blue and placed centrally towards the bottom of the page so that it is discrete and does not draw attention away from the image used.