I am now at the point where I need to start putting the content of my book together but not before i decide what size is going to be the most appropriate. The research I conducted into different types of travel guides was very useful as it has given me a good view on the sort of size that would be most appropriate. A lot of the less design related guides where all from narrow but thick, and most of the design related were custom sizes also but not many were bigger than A5.
I could not see a travel guide at A4 size as this would be stupid it wouldn't enable you to take it with you (easily) it would be much better for the book to be not longer than 210 mm and no wider then 148 mm as then it does not become easy to carry. For my guide I will be keeping it in between these sizes but I will have to experiment with which works/looks better with the chosen content in also.
Making two different size mock ups makes it easier to figure out which size book would be more appropriate. First is the A5 size book which is very conventional there are many books that have been made to this size, specially this type of book. The second is smaller both in height and width, making it easier to hold when walking around, but it has the disadvantage of white space inside, meaning that the book may not look as pleasing with less white space, less white space also means that the type and images will have to be smaller and doing this may make it more difficult to read.
Making two different size mock ups makes it easier to figure out which size book would be more appropriate. First is the A5 size book which is very conventional there are many books that have been made to this size, specially this type of book. The second is smaller both in height and width, making it easier to hold when walking around, but it has the disadvantage of white space inside, meaning that the book may not look as pleasing with less white space, less white space also means that the type and images will have to be smaller and doing this may make it more difficult to read.
Using a grid -
I made a 4x6 grid, this grid could work very well as it will mean that the content has been arranged simply and it will not over complicate the layout. The grid will be better for placing images rather than text, as images will aline better with the grid and the consistency will still be there, unlike text which would be more irregular because there is more space.
Margins - 10mm
Gutter - 5mm
Bleed - 3mm
Examples -
I also made a 9x6 grid, this grid will be more appropriate for the layout of the content as you can keep the constancy but at the same time can make the layout of the content more interesting because the grid is more complicated unlike most of the competition that is out there, making it better for my book. I decided to go with the the second grid as I felt that it would work better for the alignment of the content, I didn't want to be be restricted by the having a different grid.
Margins - 10mm
Gutter - 5mm
Bleed - 5mm
Examples -
After creating hand rendered mock ups of the pages and then moving on to the putting it together on InDesign which really helped me to get a good understanding of what the book was going to look like when printed. I then decided that I would print a with my till text and how it was set out, this meant that I could look the size of the content and the pagination to see if it was the correct size. I also made this a test print where I could check stock choice, image quality and general feeling for the book.
The first thing that I noticed was that the on the introduction page the type was too large, specially the body type at the time it was 12pt I spoke to a few peers and tutors and they all suggested I bring it down to anything under 9pt, which I now agree with as the page looks much cleaner and less in your face but it is still legible.
Secondly, I had not realised that I had set up my document up at A4 pages, and I had decided that I wanted to make my book at A5 but at this point I had printed the test and this helped me identify a lot more mistakes that I may not have noticed. For example when it came to resizing the document I decided to rearrange some of the photos, I felt that some images could now be full bleed as they wouldn't so big like they were at A4.
I had intended to print my half-pages on red stock with black ink, but after looking at TOO MUCH magazine i loved the way they had printed blue on to white paper meaning you can get "white ink" I tested this but the stock was too glossy, this is something I will need to change for the final print, I will try and look at some recycled stock.
Test printing -
The previous test print I used to check over the stock and see what the book looked like for the first time when printed. This time I printed it with all the changes and as a more complete book with all content etc. After the first print I added the page titles, I thought this would be appropriate as there are small chapters of the book and it would make it easier for the reader to see where each pictures are, without having to flick back. I also discovered that some images were out of the grid and needed to be corrected, this did make a small difference, as some images were not centred or inline with the image across the page.
Rather than going back to digital print and spending more money on expensive stock I decided that I would produce the book as a perfect bound booklet using normal 90 gsm paper with black and white images, it still gives me a good example of what the final will look like. noticed that the page numbers and titles were too big, as they were the same point size as the body type, I have now changed this to 7pt making it look a lot cleaner and they now don't look like part of the body text.
Finalised layout -
After completing the two test prints I was able to figure out what I should change and what would improve the final outcome of the book. One of the biggest things that I changed was the theme of the images on each double page, I decided that the images on each double page should relate to each other in one way or another. For example pages 19-20 are all different signage from French boulangerie's and pages 9-10 have the theme of cars, one being an old french van and the other a parking sign, I did this because I felt that it made more sense rather than just randomly dropping images in where they may look "nice". As suggested I changed my pagination and title type to 7pt so that it wouldn't interfere with the main body text as much, as before it was too large. Spelling is something that I don't pride myself in so I made sure that I got two people to go over the text to proof read the content as this would been a big mistake, it could make the book go from great and good.
Below is the a PDF of the final layout ready for printing.
Undiscovered France - Final by Ben Cooper on Scribd
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