Collaboration: Production research + decisions

As a large high quality photo book the production is an important part of the process. We had decided that a size just a little wider was the most appropriate size for the book as it allowed for the landscape images to be on a page wide enough and at a reasonable size. The book had been designed to have an image as the front and back cover, but being hard back we were not sure how this could be achieved. 

We visited Village bookstore in Leeds to find an example that we could look at in terms of production methods. We found the book 'You Get Me?' which has the matte image on a hardback book and looks very professional. 

The hardback cover is achieved by using the tape along the spine and part of the way on the front and back cover in order to achieve strength. The printed image is then stuck over the top of this starting 0.5 cm from the spine and then wrapped around the mount board to achieve the full bleed image. 

The printed image used as the front cover has been wrapped around the mount board and stuck down. To cover the edges on the inside of the book, a black paper has been stuck over to start the book on white pages after this. This looks neat and is visually consistent because it is the same colour as the back page of the book. 

The binding is perfect but with signature booklets that have been saddle stitched, placed together and then glued as a whole. This increases the durability of the book and ensures that singular pages do not start to fall out. 
In terms of pages with images we have 48 so far, so that would mean 6 booklets of 8 pages. The writing for the book would then be designed to fit in an 8 page booklet at the back and bound together by the glue as a whole with the images. 


Considerations:
I went to speak to the print technician so that I could find out the different ways I could produce the photo book to the quality that we have designed it to be.

Front cover
- print directly onto mount board which would be easy, but the print would have an abrupt edge and may not reach the full bleed of the mount board
- print onto canvas and wrap around which would work very well but be a much more expensive option
- print onto a thin matte paper such as tyvek and use as a wrap to stick to the mount board which would be a more cost effective option and tyvek is a durable paper in comparison to most of the others

Binding
- perfect binding singular pages would work effectively in terms of visual outcome, but it is an expensive option (due to the singular pages), margins would need to be considered and part of the image would be lost on double page spreads because it cannot be opened flat
- perfect binding signature booklets of 8 pages would allow for less of the image to be lost along the margin, would increase durability and would be more cost effective because less single sheets would be used

Final decision (photobook):
- 8 page saddle stitch booklets
- perfect bound
- tyvek matte paper as the front cover wrap
- hard back mount board held together with tape
- a paper covering the inside pages
- white satin paper for the images and then a thinner stock for the writing at the back 

Final decision (zine):
- 16 page zine
- saddle stitch but with a sewing machine 
- matte paper or one with a slight gloss, but fairly thin