OUGD603 - Guidebook - Wallpaper* and LOST iN City Guides

As part of my research, it was decided to explore what makes a guidebook a guidebook in order to think more carefully and considered about how my own publication could defy the nature of a typical guidebook or informational book. Visual examples of guidebooks were therefore explored, looking particularly at Wallpaper* and LOST iN city guides.

Wallpaper* City Guides are a series of travel guides designed more with the creative conscious in mind. The series use a wide selection of Pantone colours for the covers which gives the guides a more minimalistic aesthetic, reflecting a more 'chilled out' nature which could put the audience more at ease of their travels rather than using a busy photographic cover like many typical travel guides which can almost be seen as quite chaotic. The inside of the publication uses tabs down the outward edges of the book in order to provide ease of use for the audience to be able to find exactly what they are seeking through specific sections. The publication utilises photography as one of the main elements which are accompanied by small passages of information on each place of interest.

The nature of this guide is very practical. It's small size means that it is suitable for travelling with in order to be used throughout and inform the direction of the user's trip. This guide shows how the overall design of my publication could be tailored towards its intended use in being a more souvenir type book in producing minimalistic layout through focusing on more photographic rather than written content.

The guide also includes additional elements, such as written accounts from people who may live or have travelled to the city specific to each publication. This can be seen to add a more personal touch to the guide. Other elements hold a more practical nature, such as the use of maps, statistics, hotel numbers and various other information which could potentially become useful throughout a trip. In my own publication, however, the use of statistics and hotels, etc would not be needed, since this will not be a conventional guidebook, but more of a souvenir/keep-sake informational book on the town. However, perhaps this could still include accounts from local people to give the publication a more personal element, like Wallpaper* does.

LOST iN city guides take on a similar approach to Wallpaper* in that they focus on the more creative conscious in terms of target audience, and also include personal accounts of locals and workers from each city. LOST iN city guides also include quirky illustrations alongside these articles, rather than just limiting the book to the use of photography. However, illustrative elements were experimented with previously alongside photography and this did not seem to work that effectively, however perhaps this will continued to be experimented with in different ways, such as through the use of ornate elements throughout the publication in representing the Arts and Crafts movement in the development of the town.