Here Design

I thought this piece by Here Design was a good example of how a book can be separated into several sub sections. You have the main cover that folds out to reveal a series of spines to different books that are sewn together, categorised by colour and then a ribbon book marker with that colour is used to mark out where these subdivisions are in the book. It also has a rather excellent fold out (example bottom) which just makes the whole thing feel considered. This is something to be aware of with Garry's book, he's sending it out to other artists and printmakers, the kinds of people that would really appreciate the more unusual touches in book design.

Chevy Chase

Chevy Chase are a studio that I occasionally see bits and bobs from through various design blogs etc. and often the work is to a great standard, below are just a few examples of their publication design.

This is a look book as part of branding and identity for swedish company 'Human Scales' so they've taken the theme of scales as in fish scales and created a look book that uses a fishing theme. The photography is excellent and the design is simple but very complimentary. The spreads are gloriously minimal. I love the way the pull quote is used in the bottom image. Also of note is the novel packaging, which makes the book seem more precious and fragile.




This piece I'm not such a fan of. I understand the simplicity of what they're trying to do, but to me it feels a little plain and the title and the image seem a little disparate. I do, however like the very clean white cover.

Case Study: Construct

Construct are a studio that put out a lot of work that I enjoy, often very stylish, contemporary and type driven, they're definitely a studio I'd like to ask about their practice. Of the work displayed below, I think that I like the Glastonbury book the least. I understand why the imagery is appropriate, but flat multi-coloured vectors really don't sit well for me. I enjoy the other publication work on display a lot more, particularly the unusual format with the tab in bottom image.

Tagging

As of now, with 6 briefs written it's best to start tagging briefs so we can all keep on top of this stuff.

Here we go:

Brief 1: Music Zine
The DIY and lofi music zine.
Brief 2: Year Book Pitch

Brief 3: Garry Barker Pitch

Brief 4: Kubrik
Stanly Kubrik essay books and packaging.

Brief 5: Mario Merz Exhibition.
The exhibition catalogue/publication etc.

Brief 6: Copyright Copy Type
Mail shot to agencies about copyright law and type.

New Brief, Kubrik

This is a brief I've written to explore the film area of the culture industry that is in my rationale. I'm a fan of Stanley Kubrik films, although I don't know a lot about them so this is a good research opportunity. I'm quite happy with it but I think it could do with tweaking so that's something to go to Lorenzo with tomorrow.

Emailing case studies

So I emailed all of the case studies I had on Monday with my snazzy new @benbowsher email address. Here are the copies of what I wrote...

Build:
Hi guys!

Sorry to be yet another (probably) very annoying student, but...

I'm third year at Leeds College of art on the Graphic Design course. I'm a big time admirer of your work, especially some of the collaboration with Generation Press. I'm doing a series of case studies on design agencies who's work is relevant to my own practice as part of my final major project. I was just wondering whether I could possibly either visit to ask you some questions, or failing that, I guess do it over email correspondence.

Thank you for your time

Ben Bowsher

The Consult:
Hi there,

I appreciate you must get emails like this quite often, so my apologies...

I'm a third year at Leeds College of Art and I'm doing a case study on your practice as part of my final major practice. I know one of your designers is coming into university on Friday, but I wasn't able to schedule a session. I was wondering whether it would be possible to pay you guys a visit in regards to my case study and just ask a few questions. I know your time is incredibly valuable but I'd love to visit the studio.

Kind regards

Ben Bowsher
Graphic Design

hello@benbowsher.co.uk
(+44)7794270594

Sagmeister:
Hi,

I'm a third year graphic design student over at Leeds College of Art,
England. I'm a massive fan of a lot of your work, particularly the
books and publications you've produced. I'm doing a case study on a
few of your works, and I'd like to ask you some questions regarding
some of your book and publication briefs, if that is OK?

Kind Regards

Ben Bowsher
Graphic Design

hello@benbowsher.co.uk
(+44)7794270594

Music:
Hi,

First off, I'd like to say that I'm a massive fan of some of the work you produce, particularly the books for the MIER Reports. The covers look so lovely.

I'm a third year over at Leeds College of Art and I'm doing a case study on you as part of my final major project. I was wondering whether there would be the possibility of going down to see your studio and ask you a few questions as part of my study?

Thanks for your time,



Ben Bowsher
Graphic Design

hello@benbowsher.co.uk
(+44)7794270594

Workshop:
Hi guys,

You may know me from BAGD in the year below, you may not. Anyway, myself and one or two others on the course were interested in paying your studio a quick visit to ask you some questions about your practice and such as part of our FMPs. You produce some excellent work and you've got some unique insight into post-graduation and getting work etc. that we could really benefit from.

Thanks for your time


Ben Bowsher
Graphic Design

hello@benbowsher.co.uk
(+44)7794270594

Generation Press:
Hi guys!

I'm a third year student at Leeds College of Art, I've known about you guys for some time and attended the seminar that you gave at University. Anyway, I really admire the quality of the work you produce and I'm interested in print and finish and I'd really just love to have a look around or a chat with you about some of the print processes you use, the relationship you have with clients and also learn some things about prepping my work for print.

If you think you can help, I'd really appreciate it. I realise your time is incredibly valuable.

Thanks very much,


Ben Bowsher
Graphic Design

hello@benbowsher.co.uk
(+44)7794270594

Team Impression
Hi there

I'm a design student over at Leeds College of Art and I'm a big fan of your work. I was just wondering about the possibility of 1 or 2 of us paying you a very short visit to just to look at some of the processes you use and understand the designer-printer relationship a bit more as part of our Final Major Projects. Your work is some of the best printing I've seen and it would be an absolute dream to visit. I appreciate your time is extremely precious, but let me know if this is a possibility.

Kind Regards,


Ben Bowsher
Graphic Design

hello@benbowsher.co.uk
(+44)7794270594

Hopefully they'll get back to me within the next week or so otherwise I'm going to have to call them, which I'm dreading. I think I came across OK, I was positive, relatively informal yet professional. reading them back feels a bit cringey, especially when a lot of it is sucking up, but I guess that's the nature of it.

FMP proposal form, 3rd draft

Open publication - Free publishing

This is the third draft of my FMP proposal form, this is the one I'm going to take to my tutorial with Lorenzo to get feedback on. I'm quite happy with this as a draft and I don't think there's anything seriously wrong with it, I just need to have Lorenzo look over it and fine tune it. There's two main things that I'm concerned about in regards to my briefs, firstly; the pitches, if I don't land them I need to write more briefs, something I should and could be doing now. Another thing is regarding particularly the 'copyright, copytype' deliverables; I know I want to do a mailshot and this will contain some form of publication design and possibly a poster, but what else can it be? I'm really struggling with this and could use some advice on it.