Studio Brief 01 - Type In Context - Content

Pictures/Editing - 

Duo-tones images was an experiment that I wanted to play with and see if it would be good idea/if it would work with the overall style of the book. So I took some of my images to see wether it would be a good idea to use them in this way. 

I have mocked up one of the half-pages so that I could see whether I liked the look of method, I think it looks very interesting and could help to catch the readers eye but the idea of the half-page is to let the reader have a small over view of the place, and I don't have the right sort of images for each place to do this with so I think I will use the map. 

The rest of the photos I edited in Lightroom as I left that it gave me the right options of how I wanted to edit my photos, as I wanted them all to be of the same style. I also needed to make sure that all the picture had been exported from RAW to JPEG so that they could be used in a document and not take up all the space. 

Illustrations - 

Although I could see the appeal of the duo-tone images and I feel that this style could have worked, I wanted to to break up all the photography and use some illustration to give a a slightly more design related approach to the book. By accident I was looking at the locations on Google maps and it highlights the boundaries of a place and I thought this could make a good illustration for the introduction pages.

Words by... - 

Intro page - 

“Dordogne, made by the gods for the gods” 

When it comes to design and interesting places to go in France one may think of grand cities like Paris and Lyon but there is much more to dive into in the more southern regions of France. These areas are peppered with small interesting towns and villages where life moves at half the speed and it gives you a moment to breath and absorb the historical world that is south west France. 

This guide is showcasing some of France’s oldest but beautiful towns that are still up to be discovered by many, but its not all just wine and cheese. These captivating destinations have so much to offer to the young creative out there, from medieval architecture to fascinating typography. 

This may not be your ordinary travel guide giving you things to keep you busy, its up to you to explore the undiscovered! Just take our recommendations on towns to visit and see what you might encounter on your own journey. 

Halfpages - 

Cahors

The capital of the Lot department in  south-western France. Its site is dramatic, being contained on three sides with a U-shaped bend in the River Lot as the prequ’île. Today Cahors is perhaps best known as the centre of the famous ‘black’ wine known since the middle ages and exported via Bordeaux, long before that region developed its on viniculture industry. 

Domme

Domme is 250 meters above sea level on a rocky outcrop overlooking the Dordogne river. With its trapezoid city plan, Domme is a fortified medieval town adapted to the surrounding terrain. Today the town is a member of the association Les Plus Beaux Villages de France which translates to ‘The Most Beautiful Villages of France’.

Gourdon

The small town, Gourdon, close to Rocamadour, s situated in the southwest region of France. Gourdon has a rich prehistoric past, and a high concentration of prehistoric sites. It is the capital of the Bouriane, the natural region part of the Quercy, which extends up to the Dordogne River and neighbours the Périgord.

Gramat 

Garmat is a small town in the Lot department of the Midi-Pyrenees, to the south-east of Rocamadour, It falls within the Causses du Quercy Regional Natural Park. The town centre of Gramat today it is a quiet but pleasant place to explore with several interesting buildings and monument of interest, and although not a major tourist destinations it certainly deserves a visit when you are in the region. 

Type - 

Finding the correct typefaces to use for the book is key because I was to have a good mix of serif and sans serif to set the right tone of voice to the audience. The serif will be used as the heading type was this information is more formative compared to the body copy which will be serif is more playful and doesn't need to have the same tone of voice. I am also choosing to pair two different styles of type so that it breaks up the book and I hope it will make the book flow better. 

After much consideration I decided that I would pair Minion and Apercu, as I think they set the right tone of voice, Minion is not too ver the top and it is very easy to read for the heading type. Apercu is also very legible but it is also not ultra modern it fits well with with the sections of the book that it will be used.  

Front cover - 

Producing a front cover that would be eye catching but not too over the top is what I am trying to achieve. I learnt from the research that I did that bold colour works well when the book is on the shelf and it helps it to stand out from other books. Another thing that I noted was the use of spines, it can be very useful to have a interesting/bold type so that it is not lost amongst other books. 

I have thought about purely using a large photo on the front cover but this would be very similar to a lot of trend magazines that are on the market currently. So I decided early on that I would work with type and illustration when suitable as this would give a more effective and bespoke look to the book. But I did look into what a cover with a photo may look like, so I could compare. 

The idea of using type to convey the what the words are saying was something I found interesting because it shows the reader something extra to look at just by reading it, it gets them to think. Adding the map was in place of what would normally be a large image, but using the map I found helped to contextualise the maps inside, it continues the theme well. The back I want to keep as simple as possible, minimal text and a lot of white space works well as it will make the reader look inside if you give them a good enough teaser. 

Although I was a bit apprehensive about using a photo but I tired to make it as different as possible from most of the normal magazines and create something that was slightly more interesting. I loved the idea of using the duo-tone on the half-pages but as this was not possible I thought using it on the cover could also help to attract the right target audience. 

As I was wanting to have more of an illustrative style I used the map again, this cover I chose to drop the large title and let the imagery do the talking. I had seen how other books utilise the spines; by having the map cover to the back it will make people turn it and see the spine which will then make them realise the name and nature of the book. To the back I added a small quote from the book and ditched the credits, I thought these would belong better on the last page. This would be printed on blue stock, to match the red half-pages to make it correlate with the French flag.  

This is the cover that I have chosen has I feel that it interacts with the audience the best and it also gives the best tone of voice. I would like the book to be very sublet and become part of someones collection and I hope the audience would see this as an interesting cover to keep on the book shelf to treasure the memories of that place.