OUGD603 - Guidebook - Evaluation

In evaluating the final outcome, it was considered that the guidebook succeeds in both reflecting some of the typical design elements of a guidebook as well as the feel of it as something to be seen as more of a souvenir item, not just a practical item, which has been conveyed well through its production.

It was also considered that the layout of the guidebook worked effectively in presenting clarity of information, as needed in a typical guidebook. The underlying use of Fibonacci sequences and golden ratio within this layout also proves to be an interesting and creative way of representing ideas of nature in the context of the book through its design, a direct link to the Arts and Crafts movement which featured heavily in the design of Letchworth Garden City, likewise in the design of this book.

Originally, it was intended to include 'the people of the Arts and Crafts movement' A6 insert within the guidebook itself, however unfortunately as a last minute change it was suggested that this should be removed since this left too large of a gap within the spine to be able to bind it together with the rest of the A5 pages. This gap would have ended up compromising the bind and the design of the book whereby glue would seep through to the inside pages. This will be remembered for next time, instead creating an insert such as this with a smaller page count or at the same size as the book, but still utilising a different paper stock as a separation between this and the rest of the content. However, despite this challenge, the insert has still decided to be utilised within the guidebook, instead simply inserting it within the front cover since it features interesting information which was designed to accompany other information featured in the book.

In addition, there were many challenges in creating the hardback cover for the book. One of these was that the magnets used for the magnetic flap, once utilised within the book, lost some of their strength, and so the closure of the book is weaker than would have hoped for. However, despite this, the concept behind this idea of using three magnets to hold the book together in representing Ebenezer Howard's three magnets diagram for the development of Letchworth Garden City was considered to be a strong and creative way of incorporating the context of the book within the production of the book itself. If this were to be done differently, though, it was thought that perhaps the magnets should be adhered to the outside of the cover material so that these not only work stronger, but are also visible to the reader and so potentially communicates the idea behind using them clearer.