This project tought me a lot very quickly, it was a very sharp learning curve. Firstly the sheer amount of technicalities involved with setting type in different sizes, body copy and the sensitivities in relation to what was being said. Even things like choosing the face was very time consuming but that act tought me a lot in terms of finding something to communicate authority where it was needed. I needed something routed in strong older type faces but not retro or too dry given the age and weight of the story but also something contemporary and appropriate to now. I was glad to have spoken with tutors about some of the technicalities. For example Dave Gill drew attention to things like quotation marks and how they should hang outside and leave the text its self in line, avoiding rivers in body and making minor adjustments to the wording so rivers are prevented and blocks of copy line up and so on. I have gone back in to the book and addressed some of these things and re-printed those pages. In the future I’d like to continue refining some of these things and perhaps add more in to the book as its such a big subject. Another things I learned was the difference between having things on screen and how different it is to having the physical object in your hand and where your fingers cover type up and how that needs to be adjusted. But also the feel of the object in the hand. one of the things I did try and do was to make this a nice thing to hold with at least some tactile qualities.
The covers although not perfect took a lot of attempts and a lot of experimentation with applying the image to the circuit boards and how long to apply the heat for, how log to soak the thing in water and which chemical to use to disolve the unwanted copper. It took a long time to do and a lot of patience and wasn’t quite a straight forward as I’d hoped.
The content of the book took some adjusting as it is, for some, a dry and cold subject matter. I tried to make little tweaks here and there with the language to make some of it more punchy. I would like to add more to the book and expand some of the sections in the future as this is a rough guide to the subject covering the major principles of the arguement.
I really, really enjoyed this project and although it was hard work I look forward to doing more.
Hi Jon,
The book looks great – the covers remind me of a medieval maunscript – interesting contrast with the modern materials they are made from and the modern technology used to form the design…