OUGD603 - Photography Book - Experimenting With Creating Movement

Based on research into creating rhythm and movement, and thinking about the context of Akshay's photography, it was decided to experiment with initial ideas formed from this research most of which were informed by the movement of cars and light found within specific photographs. Since the layout itself would create a sense of rhythm and pace, it was thought in this instance about how additional design elements could be incorporated throughout the book in order to further highlight this movement. One of these ideas was to play on the aesthetics of petrol station buildings, which all have similar aesthetics in terms of their structure. It was thought that the strip of light which goes around the top of the building could be used as a strip across certain spreads of the book, utilising similar colours and structures as those in the photographs featuring on each page. It was thought that then this would then also help to guide the readers attention across the full spread, creating a sense of direction and movement, and therefore securing a kind of narrative across images.

Another idea explored the use of light within the photographs. It was thought that strips of colour matching the strips of light featured within the photographs could be used across the spread, in some cases trying to marry this up at the same angles in which these light strips are positioned in the images. In a similar sense to the idea above, it was thought that this would help to guide the readers attention across the full spread, creating a sense of direction and movement similar to that sense of movement which features in the images, and so enhancing its mood and themes.

A further idea was to have light extending from the image in the negative space on the spread in order to give this sense of movement in a slightly different way and acting as an extension of the photograph. This idea was experimented with with one of Akshay's long exposure images, having the lines extend off the end of the page, creating a sense of direction which then prompts the reader to carry on and turn the page. Rather than having these lines extend from every line on the photograph, it was decided that, if used, this would potentially work more effectively if utilised in small sections of light extensions since it was thought that this could end up too bulky and distract the reader from the photograph itself and become a bit too chaotic in its design.

OUGD603 - Photography Book - Type Developments

From initial type considerations, it was decided that the two typefaces 'Russo One Regular' and 'Berthold Akzidenz Grotesk Regular' worked best in communicating the intended themes, with 'Russo One' being utilised as the title font due to it's squared characteristics which were initially thought worked effectively to represent typical designs of 24 hour stop signs and petrol station signs, with its square characteristics also giving it a sort of industrial feel which continues to work with the context and themes of the book.

Initially, it was thought that this typeface would work on its own with no additional details in order to keep it simple and clear as to what it is trying to communicate. However, it was considered that perhaps for the cover this could be stylised in some way. Based on this, some visual research was conducted into the typical designs of 24 hour signs. From this it was found that most of these tend to be neon designs, since these must be able to stand out when it is dark outside to show people that a place is still open. These vary slightly in their type design, however one thing which was found to be consistent throughout was that these tended to have more rounded characteristics which have simply been predetermined by the typical structure of neon tubing.

Based on this visual research, it was decided to therefore experiment with creating neon typographic effects in Illustrator, however utilising the typeface 'Russo One Regular' rather than a typeface with typical rounded characteristics, in order to make this more playful and still communicate the more industrial themes of the book. In addition, simply to see the contrast in design and whether or not it would potentially work, variations of this typographic effect were also produced using 'Arial Rounded' which has more round characteristics closer to the traditional style of neon signage. These were experimented with in a variety of colours which I thought would potentially relate to the colour featured in some of Akshay's photography. However, overall it was thought that this effect did not work as effectively as I would have liked it to, with it not giving much of a glow to help it stand out and be clear as representative of neon text. Instead, the effect looks as if the text is blurred slightly, which may then diminish the quality feel of the book.

Instead, it was decided to experiment with a more simple design, which shows off the characteristics of the type clearer. It was also thought that this simple clarity was more representative of the typical type designs of petrol stations and 24 hour stores when not using neon signage. This type was highlighted with a red ring, used to create an abstract representation of a clock being 24 hours. The type was also changed to red to match this ring based on looking at the typical colours of these sorts of signs in which red seemed to be one since this is a bold colour which helps it stand out. However, it was thought that this looked a bit odd to the eye.

This design was therefore manipulated in changing the type to black and keeping the abstracted ring in the same colour red. It was thought that this worked much more effectively in creating a contrast between the two colours that highlights the text and makes it stand out. It was also thought that this more simplistic design worked better with the context of the book and ideas around this in which it communicates themes of isolation in its simple design.

OUGD603 - Photography Book - Type and Format Considerations

It was thought that the book would be more interesting and its design more considered if made specific in its themes. Therefore, Akshay's night photography, including petrol stations at night, supermarkets at night and his long exposure shots was selected which could be formatted into a book with a more specific theme. These photographs prove to be consistent since all have elements of neon/bright lights amongst the darkness, and shows the isolated nature of these buildings at night. For this reason, it was decided that the book could be called "Open 24 hrs".

Different typefaces were explored based on this, picking out a list of those with characteristics which I thought best reflected the typographic nature of petrol stations and 24 hr stops. Since these petrol stations are typically found on motorways and associated with transport, these typefaces also show characteristics which I thought linked to this idea of transport, with most be san-serif in nature and reflecting the idea of movement in their design.

Based on this initial exploration, these were reduced down and a few were chosen to continue experimenting with which were thought best communicated the theme of the book. 'Russo One Regular' will be used for the title of the book, since it was thought that this best reflected the nature of a 24 hour petrol station or store, whilst remaining bold, legible and impactful.

For the body font, 'Berthold Akzidenz Grotesk Regular' and 'Agency FB Regular' were both experimented with in order to see which worked better in context. 'Berthold Akzidenz Grotesk' was chosen due to its bold and legible characteristics being good for effective communication of information, whilst its bold nature also links in a way to the chosen title font. 'Agency FB' was also chosen as a potential font in that it was considered this has similar squared characteristics to the title font, whilst being slightly thinner in its weight which would allow for a clear distinction between the title and body copy, therefore also allowing for a clear hierarchy of information.

These fonts were then started to be experimented with in context, thinking about how these would work together, with the photographic content, as well as how the textual information could be formatted. One of these experiments was based on an initial idea which mimicked the tall style of petrol station signs, formatting the introductory text into a column using an underlying column grid to represent these signs. This format also includes a lot of negative space, something which was thought to reflect the isolated and empty nature of petrol stations at night, a mood portrayed through a lot of Akshay's photography in these themes.

Based on initial digital layout and format experiments, it was decided that the format H 210 mm x W 250 mm was most appropriate and effective in formatting content in an interesting and engaging way for the specific content of this book.

Continuing to play with these ideas of negative space and columns, another variation explored placing both these typographic elements onto the same page and leaving the first page blank, creating larger block areas of negative space. It was thought that this layout and format could potentially work with some initial layout ideas for the placement of photographic content throughout the book whereby some spreads feature breaks between content through this use of negative space, again to represent the idea of isolation in petrol stations and shops at night, whilst also allowing the reader time to better engage with content and think about what they just viewed or read. This layout would therefore add an element of consistency between more textual pages and the layout of photographic content.

Another idea in the format of this textual information was to potentially pair this with photographic imagery from Akshay in order to give the reader an initial look at the type of photography which would feature throughout the book. The image I have paired with this textual information also highlights the idea behind the format of this information, with the image featuring a petrol station sign and the text mimicking this in its format. This side-by-side layout therefore can also be considered to show a juxtaposition between the two pieces of content, something which was found in initial research to create interesting narratives surrounding the themes of the book.

Since the photography is all based at night, it was also decided to experiment with colour in the design and format of this information, which could visualise how different stock choices and colours could potentially be used. One of these colour experiments for this spread was to have a black background, which potentially could be a black paper stock, with white text printed onto this, reflecting the colour of nighttime, with the white text standing out from the black similar to the way the lights in Akshay's photography show. However, due to the dark nature of the photography, it was found that this background perhaps limited the impact of the photography, with elements of this blending into the background. For this reason another variation was produced whereby this black background was only present on the text page and a white background on the photo page, creating more of a balance between the use of the two colours and allowing the photograph to stand out better from the background.

Other colour variations experimented with incorporating colours taken from the photograph itself for use as a background colour in order to colour consistencies between the photograph and the design of the book, and continues to play on the idea of juxtaposition of content.

Further ideas looked back at experimenting with colour in the background of the photograph, taking other elements of colour from this, such as yellow from the glow of the logo and petrol prices. Variations experimented with this use of yellow and black, which was found to make the type in particular stand out from the background and reflect the idea of light in the darkness as featured throughout Akshay's photography and so communicates the content of the book in an interesting way through this colour and format. Another variations inverted this colour scheme on each page on the spread, reverting back to experimenting with a black background on the photograph, which originally was thought to limit the impact of the photograph, however paired with a brighter colour on the opposite page, it was found that this contrast worked in an interesting way and balanced the use of colour between each page.

OUGD603 - Photography Book - Digital Layout and Format Experiments (2)

Format: H 184.507 mm x W 327.3 mm

Continuing to experiment with how potential formats would potentially affect layout ideas, the next format experimented with was H 184.507 mm x W 327.3, a very obscure and specific format, however a size which was found as one of the sizes for Akshay's photographs. It was thought therefore that this may work more effectively with the content. With the width being longer it was thought that this also partially reflected the aesthetics of petrol station signs as explored in visual research (rotated 90 degrees), and therefore reflects the content of the book through its format. However, it was soon realised that this did not work effectively for the squared format images and reduced the impact of these dramatically, and so it was decided that this would not be the most appropriate format to use in the production of the book.

Format: H 210 mm x W 130 mm

Another idea was to use the format H 210 mm x W 130 mm, which is just under A5 in size. Like the previous format, it was thought that this reflected the nature of the photography, with the length mimicking the typical design of petrol station columns, which could be used as a subtle link between the format and content of the book. It was also considered that this format would potentially create a good size which people can handle and engage with easily.

As a variation, it was thought this format could be experimented with in landscape, since this would allow the rectangular photography in particular to fill the pages better when working with individual photographs on individual pages. However, when working with the square images, it was thought that this was not as effective, and overall thought that this landscape distorted the narrative in that this did not prove to be very clear or create an sense of direction typical to that of the content of the book.

For this reason, it was decided to experiment with portrait format as originally intended, which was found to work slightly better with the format of some imagery in particular layouts, such as full length images across the entire spread. However, when using these rectangular formatted images on individual pages in this format, these drastically lost impact due to their size having to be manipulated and made smaller to fit the page. Therefore, it was decided that this also was not an appropriate format to use in the book's production since it presented too many challenges.

Format: H 210 mm x W 297 mm

As a final potential format, it was considered that A4 size could be used, the typical standard paper size which was thought could work effectively with the average size of Akshay's photography and would therefore contain the images better and allow for a better layout to be created. The first layouts experimented with in this format were found to work in a similarly effective way to the format H 210 x W 250mm, which is just under A4 in size, creating a good balance between the images and the negative space around these.

Columned layouts were picked back up on in exploring layouts within this format, which was found to work more effectively in this instance than previous formats since this allowed for a better balance to be created between images, with them sitting on the same baseline and height.

OUGD603 - Photography Book - Digital Layout and Format Experiments

Since it was considered that the format of the book would affect the layout, it was decided to do some digital experimentation with layout based on my initial layout ideas and sketches amongst the different potential book formats in order to better visualise these layout ideas and how each different format would affect these ideas. In addition, these ideas would also be affected by the different formats of the photographs which Akshay has given me to work with, therefore it was considered that this digital experimentation would be good to explore these potential challenges to my initial ideas.

Format: H 210 mm x W 250 mm

The first format experimented with in its layout of content was H 210 mm x W 250 mm, which was found through research is a typical format or similar format to that of many existing photography books in order to allow the photography to create an impact, whilst working more effectively with the typical sizes of photographic imagery.

In all these layout and format experiments, it was decided to utilise a column grid, since it was thought that this was most appropriate for the format of the book, as well as working as an underlying element which links to the context of the book, since it was thought that the column format represents aspects of petrol stations, such as the long, tall signs which are placed outside the station with the brand logo and petrol prices on.

This first experimentation explored the use of negative space amongst the spreads in order to communicate a sense of isolation and emptiness which you would find and feel at petrol stations late at night. It was thought that this layout idea worked particularly well for the squared format images since they allowed for a lot of space around them. Within this, placement was also explored, whether these were placed centre or to the inside margins in order to see how this placement would affect the feel of the book. It was found that these worked better when placed on this inside margin closer to each other, since this then better conveys a sort of narrative between the two images rather than being completely separate, however still allows for that sense of isolation to be conveyed through the larger amount of negative space around the outside margins. Other variations of this placement explored increasing the size of the images in order to fill slightly more of the pages so that the images do not get too lost amongst this negative space and effectively create an impact.

Similar placements were explored with the rectangular formatted images, looking at whether these are more impactful placed towards the top margins or placed in the centre of the pages. Based on this it was thought that these worked better at the top margins which created a bulk of negative space at the bottom of the page and allows for the potential to include information or captions at the bottom of these pages to accompany the images. It was also thought that these images generally created more of an impact at the top of the pages, since this is where your eyes would naturally look to first when reading, as well as this placement creating a better hierarchy of information. In addition, it was thought that this layout represented some of Ed Ruscha's work in which Akshay was inspired by and his photographs link to in terms of their content.

Another idea was to see how images would work across a whole spread in an attempt to give some images more of an impact than others, as well as representing the structures of petrol stations in their typical lengths and sizes. In this format, however, it was found that due to the size of the photograph itself and the slightly obscure size of this format, that the photograph did not fill the full spread. However, it was considered that this continued to allow the themes of the book to come across in the use of negative space. Placement was then experimented with at both the left and right outside margins, as it was thought that placing this in the centre would potentially lose some of the image in production. Based on these experiments, it was thought that this image layout worked best at the outside right margin since was found to create a better sense of rhythm and movement, which worked with the content of the photograph, since the car is cut off at the right and so placing this at the right margin makes it seem as if the car is continuing off the page, which therefore also creates a sense of direction and narrative for the book.

Other layout ideas looked back on initial ideas, one of which being based on the aesthetics of petrol columns which typically feature the brand's logo and petrol prices of that station separated into different sections to differentiate between the different pieces of information. In terms of layout then, the idea was to format photographs into columns, representing these aesthetics, such as stacking two images together at one margin of the page. Based on this experimentation, it was thought that this did not work that effectively with this particular format when the original image sizes were used. However, it was found this worked better when the images were cropped slightly to be more in-line with each other and work better with the size of the book. However, it was also thought that this could potentially cause a problem with the photographer or the content of the book, since parts of images would be cut out and not as they originally are, which may then give the wrong message across in terms of themes, as well as not presenting this work accurately.

Another idea was based on research into creating movement and pace in design, which suggested that perspective tricks the eye into thinking about movement, which can be created through cropping for depth and motion perception. This idea was also linked to visual research into the nature of petrol stations, looking at perspective in the way that these are photographed. In terms of experimenting with this idea in digital layouts then, images were juxtaposed in micro and macro formats in order to give this impression of perspective and movement. It was thought this idea would work most effectively with images which already convey a sense of movement so that this idea is clearly communicated and creates more of an impact in its layout.

Format: W 210 mm x H 210 mm

The next format experimented with in its layout of content was W 210 mm x H 210 mm, which was based on some of the typical formats of Akshay's photography. It was therefore thought that this could potentially be used in the production of the book to better contain aspects of his photography, as well as creating a good sized book which people can easily handle and so potentially cause more engagement between the readers and the content. It was also thought that this format would be relatable to a lot of people in its format being similar to Instagram, which could also potentially cause some engagement since its something which people can relate to.

Similarly to the previous format, similar layouts were experimented with in this format to see how these ideas would change. As thought, the squared images worked effectively in their placement since these allowed for an even border of negative space to be placed around these images. However, it was also considered that in this format this layout could be manipulated slightly to have one of these images full bleed on the page, contrasted with an image with negative space to create a sense of juxtaposition and narrative.

Although this format working effectively with the squared images, it was found that with the rectangular formatted images, placing one of these on each spread at original size meant that a lot of negative space was created and that perhaps this meant that these images lost impact amongst the spread since they were overpowered by this negative space.

However, it was found that this format worked more effectively with these rectangular images when used at a larger scale compared to the previous format, since this does not leave too much negative space, and works to balance the imagery and negative space better.

Working again with juxtaposition and perspective to convey the idea of direction and movement which could affect the narrative of the book, it was found that this idea worked interestingly with the squared images in creating more balance and impact. This idea could also be manipulated in presenting one image as full bleed to further enhance this juxtaposition and narrative.

An additional layout idea was inspired by one of my initial ideas in separating images into columns to represent the aesthetics of petrol station columns, whilst also being inspired by Ed Ruscha's photography work. One of Akshay's series of works is a homage to Ed Ruscha, and so this idea looks at exploring a sense of narrative as Ruscha does in terms of layout, pairing two images of a dark and empty petrol station with a full image of the station. Placement and cropping were explored within this idea in an attempt to create an interesting balance between the photographs. However, again, cropping images could potentially throw off this balance in some instances, and not present these original photographs accurately and as Akshay wants them to be presented.