OUGD504 - Studio Brief 01 - Final Design Decisions

The final design for this publication, takes many ideas from the structure and design elements of Barcelona’s architecture. The overall layout of this publication reflects this through the use of squared images, which has been used to represent the idea of tiles found particularly in material used by Antoni Gaudi’s in his architecture. These images have been formatted to have a white frame around each, reflecting upon the white negative space usually found between each individual tile in order to hold the material together. Since these images have be laid over other content, these elements of negative space also help to keep the design from getting too ‘chaotic’ and stops content from being distracted amongst other elements. In addition, this overlap of content had been inspired by the design of Foreign Policy’s Singapore Brand Guide, which uses similar methods of displaying content that helps to give the final publication a more subjective nature, reflecting on the aesthetics of travel journals.

In order to enhance this travel journal aesthetic, collected material from the author has also been bound into the publication. Much of this includes content within themselves which has been used to add first-hand information from the city itself. Since the target audience was defined as travelling designers, this element works to act as inspirational material, which can influence the designer’s trip and potentially their future design work. The inside also includes a pocket whereby the audience can hold their own collected material for similar purposes to act as inspiration.
For similar reasons, a section of grid systems at the end of the publication has been produced within the final publication to be utilised by the travelling designer to take down any notes of inspiration or idea sketches. Each of these grids has been designed specifically based on design elements of each place of interest outlined within the publication, therefore creating links between the design and the subject matter itself.

Based on this and taking inspiration from research into existing travel publications, such as the Wallpaper* City Guides, the final publication has been produced at size just smaller than A5 overall. This has been done in order to enhance the function and purpose of the publication, allowing it to be a size suitable enough for travelling with.

The typeface used throughout the publication uses Caslon 540 to additionally enhance the communication of information based on it's characteristics of letterforms. The typeface has been used for both titles and body text, providing consistency throughout, as well as links to the traditional style of serif fonts found within street signs around Barcelona.

In binding all content together, a coptic stitch method has been used, which works by binding a number of signatures together using chain stitches. The number of these can be personalised in order to reflect a particular desired aesthetic, which has been used in this instance to communicate a more handmade and personal nature reflective of the typical aesthetics of travel journals. The use of a hardback cover alongside this binding method also gives the publication more strength and durability, making it suitable for travelling with to limit damage. This cover also makes used of collected material by the author continuously communicating a more personal nature, which was one of the mandatory requirements for this brief.