YEARBOOK - PHOTOGRAPHY - EVALUATION

Producing this yearbook has been a great experience for my practice and I am glad I was able to work with Rob throughout the brief as this has shown me how well we can work together on something without it being overly difficult. This is perfect real-world practice for us in relation to WYS. It has shown me that we would both be able to work together well enough to produce work for clients like we have done with the yearbook. 

Although we lost the Graphic Design pitch which was a slight setback I'm happy that we were given then opportunity to produce the Photography yearbook as I feel that this actually suited our practice better as we are both looking to work more with artists/photographers in this way in the future. 

The brief itself is something completely different to anything that I have done before, working with a real client and having to please them was a challenge at times but this is how the design industry works we were very good at talking through any conserns and keeping up with deadlines that the photographers set for us, although we did have to set up towards the end to get them to speed things up as we went a long time without any content. Having one on one meeting with Evlouation Print was also a very valuable part of the process as it showed me what was possible with the £2000 budget (which isn't very much when you're trying to make it something special) but I feel that we have been able to produce the best book possible with what we had at our disposal. 

Throughout the project, we have had remain as professional as possible which meant organising meetings and making sure that everyone knew what was going on at all times as well working with people we may not have chosen to work with, it was important to have a good working relationship with everyone at all times. 

The project itself did stretch over a long period of time which did make it difficult to manage alongside other work, however, when we were working on this brief we worked at a very high intensisty to get the work done to the best standard as possible. We want this book to be to the highest of qualities as it will be a great way to show future clients/collaborators what we are capable of. 

Some of the more challenging parts of this brief was working as a three. It was very useful to have Jen on our team at the start when doing the Graphic Design pitch but becuase the brief went on for so long it wasn't always easy to get stuff done and as Rob and I live together it was easy for us to get the work done together, however Jen was a vauble asset to our team and we wouldn't have been able to deal with all the meeting etc. without her as she was very good at talking to people and getting things sorted which is what her role was meant to be as project manger (but this role to was taken away by the Photography team). 

Overall I am very happpy with the final outcome, I am disappointed that we could not show the final product for submission but there are certain stages which the book now needs to go through until it can get printed. I will be looking forward to the final print and am excited to see the book once it has been professionally printed as this would be the first time I have produced anything on this scale.   

YEARBOOK - PHOTOGRAPHY - FINAL DRAFT

• Contents page - I took onboard what Orlando said and I have changed to format of the page so that it is more legible. The structure of the grid allows the text to form two columns, which is a lot easier to follow than the previous version. It also makes better use of the space on the page, the whitespace which is left also reflects how we have used the grid to the best of its ability for each page. 
• The title of the projects Has now been changed to title case which definitely adds some character texture to each spread - which is important as we don't want all the pages to be exactly the same. 
• Page numbers - we found that the bottom right was the best place to have the numbers as this means that they can be flicked through to get the flipbook effect that we are after. The placement of the number was very difficult to get right as some of the images come right to the edge of the grid so I had to make sure that there was enough space around them to look right.
• Information page - changed to white on black to keep it consistent. As well as adjusting the placement of the text so that there was more room for each person - we are able to fit 12 people on a page which we thought was a good balance of information as we did not want too much text going on here. 
• The photographers were happy with this layout, they liked how each page had its own style to suit the work as this is what was most important. 
• We have not been able to finish all the pages at this point as we are still waiting for all of the content to come through. But we are confident with this as our final design all that needs to be done from this point is to fine tune the book so that it can be ready for final approval which isn't until the 18th May after the final hand in.  

YEARBOOK - PHOTOGRAPHY - EVOLUTION PRINT MEETING

Myself and the photography team had a meeting with Graham from Evolution Print it was an initial meeting with the printers to discuss what was possible with the budget that we had been given. In the meeting, he gave us an idea of what sort of stuff they print and who they print for etc. During the meeting, I went through the current specifications of the yearbook with him to make sure that it would be possible - we discussed the size of the Book (B5), stock choice (which would be best from his recommendations due to pricing), finishes (debossing), and cover choice here we spoke about what sort of covers we could have that would fit within our budget. 

It was really useful to have this meeting with Graham as it gave me a better idea of what we can and can't do with the book now. As none of my team was there I will have to relay this information back to them however we will be meeting again once we have completed the full design of the book. 

YEARBOOK - PHOTOGRAPHY - MEETINGS

Today we sat down with the photography students helping us to discuss initial ideas and how we could use what we had already done for Graphics and how this could be changed to work for photography. 

The feedback we received from this came from their tutor and the rest of the students on the course giving their first thoughts on what we had previously done and what they would be looking for their book. Here they gave us some old yearbooks to look at and we were able to set some outlines for deadlines so that the book could be ready for the final show on time. 

Together they decided the name of the yearbook and exhibition would be 49 degrees relating to how many of them are on the course. This gives us the opportunity to experiment with degrees and temperature concepts. 

They also noted that the tear out postcards may not be suitable for photography however they liked the idea of including them within the exhibition for professionals and visitors to pick up. Overall the design received positive feedback, this meant we could continue using the typefaces and overall concept throughout the design process but start tweaking it to make it work for Photography. 

From this, we then had a better idea of what was being asked of us by the Photography course. We also arranged to keep meeting up as regularly as possible so that they could see the process of the book being made and helping us with any changes etc. We are now waiting for the images from the students to start properly designing as each page needs to be designed for the work, unlike the Graphics which as the same layout on each page.  

YEARBOOK - PHOTOGRAPHY - DESIGNING

Initial designs that have been modified to fit the Photography. The ideas come from imagery/icons that are camera related. I made these to show the group how we could change what we did for Graphics and how it could work for Photography. These were made before we had an idea of the name for the exhibition, so now these cannot be used however it was interesting to see how the concept could be adapted 

First Draft 

• Due to the nature of the book, I thought that the best way to get ideas down would be to start designing straight away keeping in mind all of the research that I had looked at to help inform the decisions I made about the book. 
• Before I was able to start populating the pages Rob and I decided on a grid system that we would stick to throughout the book. We both thought it was important for us to stick to the grid system throughout so that everything is perfectly in order - some advice that was given to us as we should either stick to the rule of the grid as much as we can or just not use one at all. We both thought it would help the overall design be more fluid so we are going to stick to using a grid. 
• As this was the first draft I just wanted to get an idea of how images can be laid out and whether the grid system is going its job properly. 
• Through populating the pages you could start to get an idea of what the book will look like as a whole - each page has its own specific layout that corresponds to the images we wanted to make sure the layout suits the images.   
• We decided that rather than having page numbers that it would be more interesting and also consistent of us to use the degrees as everyone on the course is 1 degree of the overall 49. This also works well as the numbering can still go up normally as everyone has a double page spread. 

Feedback

• Having done this design by myself to get the ball rolling I was then able to show it to Rob who then helped me to start editing each page and getting more appropriate layouts for the pages. 
• There was not much feedback to give at this point - we decided that now we had all of the content on the pages that myself and Rob would work from the same computer to design the rest of the book together so that we could get a stronger version of the yearbook. 

Second Draft

• Starting to come together more in this version - added all of the names and numbers properly as well as adding the project names from the information provided to us by the photography team. 
• This version saw a lot of changes - designing as a pair makes it very easy to get it right as we could both have different ideas for the pages having that then helped us to work out the best layout for the page. 
• Going over the pages for the second time helps to fine tunes details and make the page work more consistency along side the grid and also the style of the photography.  
• While designing we were both conscious of making each page different as well as making sure that the book flows well throughout for exmple we didn't want to have too many full bleed pages near each other or similar layouts clashing. 

Feedback

• Numbers should be on there own in a corner rather than next to the name - too much going on one side so it needs to be balanced out. 
• Numbers also need to be moved so that they can but put at the right angle for the flipbook effect. 
• Needs to be put in alphabetical order by last name, in order to get a good understanding on the book the pages need to be in the correct order so that there aren't any clashing pages which are too close together as the layout may need to be changed for some of them. 
• Contents page is needed

Third Draft

• Added contents page - layout taken from the graphic design book as we both agreed this was an interesting layout and was more fun than having it all aligned. The equal space between the names is also related to the equality throughout the book with everyone getting a double page each. 
• Refined the layout, even more seeing the design fresh helped us to think more about it and we were able to see if anything needs to be changed. 
• Numbers moved to the left of the page to give the names and title some more room
• The number is also rotating 1 degree each page to get the flipbook effect
• Information page at the back of the book has been added, simple and easy to read this contains a 100-word paragraph about the photographers work as well as their relevant contact information. Much better at the back rather than on the page as this keeps the artist pages clean and lets the work breath.

Feedback (Orlando) 

• Contents page needs changing - he did not buy the concept behind it. Need to come up with some more designs for the contents page. 
• The title of the photographer's work should be in Title Case rather than in ALL CAPS as this adds some word texture rather than having a large block of text in caps. Gives the page some contact as it looks a bit full on. 
• The numbers should be moved - already too much on the top of the page. Move to bottom right so that the flipbook effect works properly the way we have it now means you have to do it in reverse. We should also play with size does it need to be the same size as the rest or could it be bigger?
• No black on white final page - looks out of place keep it consistent. 

YEARBOOK - PHOTOGRAPHY - RESEARCH

Having already got a good idea of yearbook design from looking at Graphic Design yearbooks, I wanted to extend my research into photography yearbooks/exhibition catalogues so that I could have a better understanding of what the photographers would want from their yearbook.  

Leeds Arts University - Yearbooks  

• Unseen uses a simple cover design with embossing and debossing to subtly tell the reader the name of the show. I like how it uses white ink to highlight the fact that it is "unseen". 
• All of the yearbooks vary in style - which making it appropriate from year to year
• Interesting contents pages that help to make the book different to other places, giving it personal touches like the eyes in Infinity - 2012. 
• Layout throughout all of the books has an image with text - this is unlike a traditional photobook I feel that this may take away some of the focus from the images as people would want to read the text firstly. This is something I think we need to consider as it should flow nicely image to image with no text to break up the images. 
• Size - the older books have gone for a square format which I don't feel is the best format for a photobook as it can be difficult to handle and also for me makes it feel less superior to other yearbooks. 
• Binding - A key part feature of the book should be that it lays flat so that you can see all the images as easily as possible this is something that not all of the books have done. The ones that have done it use an exposed binding with an attached cover which helps the pages to lay completely flat. 
• Paper - Over the years they have used a range of paper finishes the ones that I think work best use uncoated stock as this suits everyones work the best. The ones that use a matt gloss or full gloss finish seem to feel cheap and I would not want to use this style of paper in our book.  

Unseen - 2011 

 Infinity - 2012

 One Thousand and One - 2015

Glue - 2016

Other University Photography Yearbooks 

Having looked through LAU's previous yearbooks I also wanted to see how other universities have approached their yearbooks. in the selection of the yearbooks that I looked at there was a good mix of styles which really help to show off the uni, I think that its all about standing out from the other unis and doing something a little different so that the students get the best publicity they can. It is also interesting to see how they all compare to one another there are some unis that really standout for example Brighton and Coventry have both done something completely different to what Leeds have ever done and this sort of approach to making it look more like a photo book rather than a yearbook seems like a much better idea to me.  

Coventry University

Brighton University

Middlesex University

University of West London

Roehampton University

 Swansea University

 Falmouth University and University of East London 

 University of Westminster

Photobooks 

I also wanted to visually compare the university yearbooks to professional photobooks which are much cleaner and let the work breath which I feel this what out book needs to do rather than having a lot of text on the pages with would distract the reader from the work itself. 

YEARBOOK - GRAPHIC DESIGN - RESULTS

Unfortunately, we did not win the pitch for the Graphic Design yearbook. This was a bit of a let down for us as we had put a lot of work in compared to the other groups but this is the realities of pitching ideas to people and this only made us more determined to get our hands dirty with a different yearbook. We emailed back to Amber straight away asking for some feedback on our presentation/idea to see why we didn't get picked - here she said that she liked our idea a lot but she thought that the year group was not convinced by the more contemporary approach that we took. 

After meeting with Amber the following day we confirmed that we would be designing the Photography yearbook instead. This was great news as we still wanted to get the experience of working with a live budget. We also thought that we would be able to use some of the concept/design that we had produced for Graphics to make their yearbook different to anything they have had previously. 

YEARBOOK - GRAPHIC DESIGN - PRESENTATION

The main part of this brief was getting the initial concept/design of the book ready so that we could present it to our year to see which group they would want to design the yearbook. Our presentation included GIFs to help people visualise the idea better. We also included some exhibition branding which can go along with the book.  

Introduction

• Explaining overall concept
• Focussing on our progression throughout the three years
• Creating a yearbook which would be suitable for both us and the public
  
  

Research

• Showed what we researched (old yearbooks) 
• How we wanted our yearbook to be different from these (improving) 

Covers - Front/back

• Clean and clear design that does not give an overall style to peoples work - almost like a blank canvas that can house all of the different work. 

Front Cover 

• Interactive front cover 
• The reader can take out their favourite work from the book at adding this to the cutouts in the front cover

Inside pages

• Shows how the book would work
• Explaining how each page is two postcard of peoples work

Poster 

• The poster that will be included in the book 
• The poster also comes with slits so that the reader can customise that as well keeping it as interactive as possible. 

Yearbook Photos

• More personal part of the book in the style of American yearbooks
• Each student has there photograph taken and add a funny/interesting quote about themselves 

Standard Cover 

• This is what the book would come like 
• Shows all of the students on one postcard
• This can then be replaced with other postcards of work

Promotional posters 

• Basic designs for promotional posters for the exhibition that follow the style of the book
• Includes images of peoples work
• Consistent use of branding 

Social media 

• Showing how the idea can be used on social media

Printing

• Spoke briefly about printing and how much it would cost to produce our idea
• Talk about the quite we received from the printers

The presentation/idea got only positive feedback from the class which was very reassuring that we had done a good job. The presentation itself I felt went really well and we were able to explain the idea very easily with all three of us. We now have to await the results to see whether we won the pitch.