BOOK OF LIES
How do I make a book extraordinary? – I struggled for a while with this project as the books by past students shown to us took such innovative and extraordinary forms whilst none of the ideas I was coming up with excited me. I initially began thinking about a Book of Discoveries as I knew I was travelling to Iceland at the same time I would be producing this book. Even in Iceland, however, I still was finding it difficult to find inspiration. So I begun thinking less about the actual book form and decided to focus on the content of what the book might include. In Iceland I was really interested by the branding in their supermarkets and also some of the graffiti around the main city, Reykjavik. So for the remainder of the trip, I thought i'd take a lot of photos and see what they could develop into. The thing I was worried about was the book looking like just a book of 'holiday photos'. The book developed into a Book of Lies, after thinking about ways in which I could avoid 'holiday photos' and research on Ed Ruscha. I think adding the text avoided this, giving the images a good basis of context and substance. I think I was successful in terms of where I placed the text. I tried to make sure that the text worked with the photo and that it became apart of it rather than the two being separate things, to create atmosphere and fluidity through the image.
I think on the whole, the lies in the book work well, however looking back, some do not work as well as other do and should be revised. 'TITANIC' and 'I'M ON A DIET' are two in which I think get lost in the book. The type of lie I am telling should be revised and should also be consistent throughout the book. Originally, this book was going to be a concertina of images
presented inside an Iceland supermarket bag that acted as the front and the
back cover. I thought this would compliment the humour and would also add the
extraordinary element to the form that I was searching for. This, however, did not work so well. The plastic was too distracting and the bag form was not a suitable function for a book. I also decided that the content by itself was sufficient enough by itself in communicating the concept of the book.
If I had
more time to develop this book, I think I would think about the icelandic language and
incorporating that into the book somehow. I also would have spent more time
thinking about the book form. I would have printed the book landascape as I
think this layout would have been more complimentary to the photographs which are
all landscape. I also should have focused
more on the binding and creating a studier hardback cover. Risograph prints pinpointing some of the best images would also be a nice edition alongside the book.
A MOVING BOOK (1-DAY GROUP PROJECT)
I usually find one day project quite challenging. I think my initial idea generating process usually starts of quite slow as I like to think about everything very thoroughly as well as leave and come back to things whilst with only one day to complete everything you have to make decisions quickly and be effective with the short amount of time you have.
i found the idea of a 'moving book' quite difficult to wrap my head around - it didn't make any sense to me. The boundary of when it stopped being a book and how much it had to move was unclear. I think the problem with this project was that i wasn't completely clear about the group idea therefore quite confident with what we were working towards as I couldn't quite visual it. But when we started to properly put it together the concept became clearer in my head and I turned out to be quite pleased with our final outcome.
I think that overall our concept worked well as a moving book. A strong aspect of the project was the placement of the planes which created something very atmospheric and poetic - you 'get lost in the book'. Also having people make their own story was very effective, as it kept the audience engaged and focused.
A MOVING BOOK (1-DAY GROUP PROJECT)
i found the idea of a 'moving book' quite difficult to wrap my head around - it didn't make any sense to me. The boundary of when it stopped being a book and how much it had to move was unclear. I think the problem with this project was that i wasn't completely clear about the group idea therefore quite confident with what we were working towards as I couldn't quite visual it. But when we started to properly put it together the concept became clearer in my head and I turned out to be quite pleased with our final outcome.
I think that overall our concept worked well as a moving book. A strong aspect of the project was the placement of the planes which created something very atmospheric and poetic - you 'get lost in the book'. Also having people make their own story was very effective, as it kept the audience engaged and focused.