Module Evaluation

Book Cover Final

Final Book Cover

I started by creating type as the backgrounds to build up texture. This was building on the rough very similar to this.

I then tested my only photoshop skill as of then, how to "invert" so after scanning I inverted the flaps to be the other way around. This gives a very flat effect because it is done on photoshop however it looks very smart. I like that the flaps are the same idea as the main background but contrast due to the inverse of the black and white.

This is the image I created for the front cover. I changed some of the words in her hair to be more focussed on dyslexic thoughts than things which could be wider as anxiety. I also used coloured pencil rather than chalk pencil so that I was bolder and less smudgy. I drew her face with the outline being a confident line. This has changed the overall aesthetic of the piece but adds more contrast of line to the features and fits with the confident lines in the hair.

I then scanned the image in and cut the image in half so that it could fit the spine in. I then used a magic wand too to select only the image and delete the background so that I could add it into the handwriting on the back.

At this point I came across a problem... Although I had thought it would be simple to flip the image, I hadn't taken into account that I had words which would be shown backwards. I had to take a breather and try not to have a major panic. I decided that it was most important to have the words facing the right way so I rolled with the face being on the back and the hair being on the front-at least it will draw attention to the back cover too. It also left more space for the font to go on the front cover. I can't believe that I didn't learn from my mistakes before... I did bear it in mind and at least knew which side the writing was going on! I guess maybe I can get away with it because it is a book on dyslexia and my dyslexic brain couldn't get my head around the layout!?!?!

I dimmed the transparency of the handwriting behind the face so that it wasn't so harsh and was just a background. I like that mainly this book cover works on black and white- the colours of text and handwriting, playing around with light and dark by alternating the black and white backgrounds. I also like that there is some application of colour but only in small lines just to add some life to the cover.
However adding this to the blog I have just noticed that the lines of the hair don't write match up... but I don't feel this ruins the overall aesthetic.
I also had the problem that I it was too large for a printer so I started off making it in 2 halves and then decided to print as much of as in this image in one go and then print of an extra part for the other flap and stick them together. I had heard from others that glue made the paper crinkly so I have used double sided sticky tape. I think that doing it on the flap is best because if the spine raps around it will look a lot neater and more professional.

Book Cover Roughs and Feedback

Book Cover Roughs Feedback

How did you do them all backwards?? Could work as it is a dyslexic mistake?? It did not occur to me that I was doing all of the images backwards...It took me a very long time (2 hours) to draw out the dimensions of the book covers and then I did them backwards... I still am confused as to how to begin but I understand that these ones don't fit. So this was important to learn through doing roughs!

1) 

Like the hair and the incorporation of the words (flow through it) effective
Like the Scratchy lines
Doesn't say anything about dyslexia? Anxiety instead?
Like it as a drawing-nice image
Think about spine... Break the text just to the front and back and have a spine different from the image
Striking image
-Still make the woman face seem fragile and worked by using the fine liner thinly BUT do it in more confident lines rather than sketchy as here-
I wanted to portray someone having so many thoughts buzzing around in their head (like a chapter of the book describes as a symptom). I looked on google for an image of an anxious face on the side but struggled to find something to use for a reference soon I took some photos of my flat mate.
I am happy with the image and if i saw it on a book i would pick it up. The title and spine were only after thoughts which i now know to prioritise because I ran out of room and space for the important parts as the figure dominated.


2) 

Love the use of colour-black and white
Different ways done-like it with experimenting 
Effective-what you think of when you think of dyslexia (all the words merging together)
Reminds of whiteboard-basic learning
2 back to front
Style of the font used in title-over laying as well
Thinner pen over authors name
Like the handwriting
Makes a pattern from the words
I actually made mistakes in here which weren't intentional-it was so hard writing the same letters alternate to each other! Whilst making this I was still experimenting with how to combine black and white in different methods.
The fine liner definitely works to look like someones hand written work and also creates a pattern which looks quite trippy and I find illustrates well how hard I find it to focus on writing.
The white paint on the black was very thick and unclear, however I agree that the chalk on the black paint works well looking like handwriting on a chalk board and learning.
The carchoal background with chalk on however didn't work and I went over the top in a nice white liquid pen which still was very unclear.
I like the contrast between the black and the white.

3)

Concept good
Clear what is doing -inside and outside the box (some didn't understand the concept though)
Needs words on wall as well as the words
Likes the colours-primary colours, simple (only a few)
3D
Maybe doesn't need to front cover with the box? 
Combine 2 ideas-words everywhere and creativity shown
I came up with this idea from the imagery in the book saying that dyslexic people are creative and its not recommended for them to become theoretical physicists. I was finding it really hard to figure out HOW i was going to illustrate this phrase. However at 3am a design idea came to me and I got out of bed and drew it down. I think that it is clearly showing the phrase and how it links to dyslexia but Im a bit worried other people wont get it. Also I think it would work better with flat digital colour on photoshop rather than my watercolours to make it look more professional and less handmade.

4) 

Not finished... hands one a better version of?
Liked how mixed the words together to be confusing
Inclusion of numbers and letter
Some parts standing out in pen
This was my initial idea and I just wanted to get some of the words down that I had researched. I think it describes well what it is like to see dyslexia with some things standing out and the background  moving around and being inconsistent. it also shows the confusion over words  and numbers and how when you read it your head is buzzing. I found it difficult providing a contrast (as in a before and after reading the book) as the front cover was based on repetition of words and it being a busy image. I then coloured in 3 of the sections which are possible over lay colours for visual stress (which was also mentioned in the book). I personally read with a purple overlay. I am not very happy with this one but it was worth roughing.

Conclusion: 
1st and 2nd best
Loads of words mixed with the hair or the background
Top one makes sense but wouldn't understand till read
My plan of action now is to combine the first and the second image together.
I will try and play around with the material which I already have (like scanning and flipping the image over) so I can experiment with combining handwriting as a background for the portrait and maybe have the black "chalk board" writing as the flaps.

I also need to figure out how to have room to write on the spine and develop which words I am putting in the hair (here I made a mistake so rolled with it 'What time is time is time?'

Something like this...

Article Illustration Inspiration

http://lynnbailey.co.uk/working-process/working-process-2

I stumbled across this and fell in love with it. The blog explains her process but I thought it could be something to inspire me for my Illumination brief. By Lynn Bailey

Along side this, the first thing that came into my head when reading the article on 'Rebuilding our relationship with the natural world' by George Monbiot was Mark Hearld. I discovered him at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park in 2013 and my family purchased a large fox print!

I love his use of layers and that each element and layer has so much detail to it and that he creates texture through his layers and the combination or cut outs, collage and print.

Dyslexia book research

In this brief we had to chose a non fiction book to do the cover design off. When I went to the library I firstly chose a politics book which had beautiful illustrations all over it but before I knew we were front cover designing I was advised to chose another one just in case. I studied Politics at A-level so I was interested in this however I found another book with a very boring front cover on dyslexia which I myself struggle from. I have found it difficult chipping away at reading the book but everything I did read was crazy because it basically turned all of my problems into words and I kept having personal reactions to everything said. Furthermore it has been fascinating reading this because it not only out lines what I struggle with but also scientifically why I struggle and ways to help. So over all this has been a good book choice for me.

'Dyslexia Surviving and succeeding at college' Sylvia Moody

NOTES:

'Cope well with some things but hopeless at others'

Affected areas: Phonology, Auditory Memory, Sequencing and Structure, Visual Tracking (dot around the page-should use a finger or ruler to help)

Visual Stress-associated with dyslexia and 'adds extra difficulty'. The print tends to 'jump around, lines appear blurred, repetitive patterns shift around, reading in bright light is stressful and the paper seems to glare'.

Is it a nuisance? major handicap? confers benefits?

Dyslexics interpret things in a 'holistic and creative way'

'Good at problem solving and lateral thinking' - thinking 'outside the box'

Work hard to ambitions

Can 'confuse reversible letters = bd, mw, pg', see the 'wrong order = was, saw' and 'miss sequence sounds = conversation and conservation' and 'just fail to track sounds = interdenominational'.

This is because the brain makes intelligent suggestions... Way to deal with some of these issues is to break the word down 'con  ver  sa  tion'

Some people are 'much more inaccurate with numbers rather than words with tracking' This is because the brain 'can't use context'
As with above, the best way of dealing with 396069235825 is to break it down 39  60  69  23  58  25.

Need to get a balance of speed and accuracy

Could colour code is useful

'If you're mathematically challenged, I can only suggest that you do not attempt a degree in theoretical physics'

'Note taking is one of the most crucial skills' because it advises what to do after the question 'Do you ever find that, when reading a book or journal article, you get to the end of it and then realise that you can't remember a single thing about what you've read?'

It says that commonly dyslexia students would: put off reading it , vaguely skim through it, start reading it trying to be very concentrated, read over and over hoping it sticks and dot about hoping there is something easy to understand but that these methods are all ineffective.

Another suggestion is to underline key words

'Not a good idea to keep all these odd thoughts, intensions and plans busily buzzing around in your head brain. Not only do they take up space and energy but they are also a form of anxiety' - Bring a notebook to write everything down!

'Dyslexic students often report that they are constantly forgetting where they have put things'

Use of a voice recorder to capture information-'There will be many occasions when you have to listen to instructions or explanations... Will you remember all of this later?'

How a teacher could help: 'Don't ask me to read out loud, Explain how to structure an essay..., Don't be hard on spelling, Advise me on time management.

Final 3 Article Images

Final Images!

Here I added some yellow to each of the animals because I felt that they could very easily get lost in their habitat here. This is intentional partly because that is why they are how they are and how they stay alive however I needed to increase their visibility and thought the bright yellow did this slightly.

With these 2 Collages I had made the real items x2 larger because it was so much easier to add more detail to them. I then scanned them in, cropped and rotated them and shrunk them to the correct size. I also fiddled around with the vibrancy settings on photoshop to make them as striking as possible. I really think that these are a step more sophisitcated than the other mock ups that I had made which look fun. Adding home made paper definitely helped achieve this but also the restrain to limit the colours to 2 helped simplify this as well. 

I ended up choosing this linocut because it looks the most professional. All of the prints are printed well (still leaving some texture thought) and I think that this slightly darker paper behind makes it more bold. This is a very different style to the other 2 and I am not sure how an commissioner would feel if I submitted these together... This is definitely a functional image and is very simple but communicates its message clearly-sometimes simple is better!

FEEDBACK

Article brief development

Development of Article Brief

I started my design process by highlighting my article for all the different animals included and then drew them. This is because I have somehow avoided drawing animals forever! These turned out to be loose drawings, loosely painted (watercolour) but yes they were drawn from reference because at current it is important to the way I work. 

I think my favourite of these drawings is the wild boar. He has definitely got a character and I like the suggestions of the hair but also the brush strokes underneath.

Roughs

Firstly I did a few quick thumbnail sketches just to get some ideas down on paper before I moved onto making the larger images.

From the article I got a general gist of what it was trying to say but because my brain works a bit crazy I looked at the imagery portrayed in each paragraph (jumping around) and wanted to create an image to represent this. Under each of the roughs I have put the quote which illustrates my inspiration.

At this point I didn't manage to create more designs for the portrait brief-partly because I ran out of paragraphs to visualise but more honestly because I got distracted with my collage...

I have chosen these 3 designs to be my ultimate:

Collage!

One night at about 3 in the morning I had the idea that I must collage! I had some images already made of fish and lobsters and just wanted to collage! I went into uni and whilst everyone was doing their roughs I just got side-tracked with my collaging. However whilst i was making these mock ups it totally slipped my mind to keep them to the proportions of the brief so I need to refigure that out.

This is definitely a direction I wish to pursue with this project. However since re-reading the brief i have discovered that I must limit my colours to 2. 

I have decided which 3 images I would like to make however 2 of them are collage based and the other is print so if possible I need make them into a trip-tage. A possibility for this is them all using the same colour palette if possible to bind them as they are different mediums. Also the 3rd design communicates in a different way to the collages. They say "the natural world is beautiful and we should reconnect to it" and the 3rd design says "look at the action that has been taken". I am not sure that this is a typical way to communicate my article but I have been reassured that if it were a real commission and editor would still be interested in a collage portraying natures beauty to draw the reader in as an alternative to communicating an intellectual image. 

Now I need to refine my 3 chosen designs, make them simpler, use them in the right proportions and begin testing my processes.

To start this I began to create different paper: (I haven't got a lot of blue to show because I cut it up for the background)

Here I was experimenting with the layout and positioning of what to remove, what to leave, what more to add, how to simplify. Something I did change was that I liked the introduction of light to add some lightness to the heavy background (and it looks like light reflecting on a rock pool) however it was a bit too bright white so I added some yellowy splurges on just to break it up a bit...

3rd Image
Here I was responding to the quote "The Borders Trust has bought 3000 Hectares of bar mountainside and planted thousands of native trees". I thought that a good response to this would be to divide the mountain into a before and after.
I experimented with 2 different mountainsides. One has half brown and half white mountain (with lumps for rocks) and the other is just a bare mountain side with a line down it. I managed to get a really rugged edge by accident actually. The lino was quite old and crumbly so it ripped off into a mountain like edge which was unintentional but I really like!

Here I had some lino that was in the shape of a round stamp. I thought this was perfect size however here I was a numpty and carved out the image so therefore as it printed inverse had a lot of green in circles round it...

Learning from this mistake I cut the lino out the other way around however I left a ring around it which still printed. Also I printed it on the brown side of the mountain and it got lost in the brown...

Then I cut even more out and was happy with the result of my trees print. I feel that they are a good representation of a SYMBOL of a tree but I still didn't think this was a finished result...

I printed it on the other lino mountain design but the rocks printed stronger than the trees and therefore the perspective didn't work...

Then I had the light bulb moment idea to print onto some slightly coloured paper. I rushed back into uni and pulled out some grey/brown (as shown) and some brown. Here even though the trees and the background didn't print thoroughly I feel that it gives it a rustic feel as there is texture to it. Here again I am back to everything being handcrafted which I wanted to try not to be so apparent...