Well, I’ve very nearly finished
the course! I have revised my photo book, adding a couple of extra images, and
have reached the point where I am happy with both the text and images – no further
alterations will be made. Likewise, I am happy with the cover design. I have
made various decisions regarding the design of the book. Only two major project
decisions remain to be made: firstly, whether to submit a self-published
version of the book for assessment or the commercially produced book and
secondly whether to accompany the book with a multimedia presentation, which I
have not started. Work carried out since my last update is described below.
Book Text and Images
In the first
draft of the book, the passages of text accompanying each of the images varied
in length from around 120 words to over 400 words. This necessitated using a
smaller font size for some of the longer passages. I knew that I would have to
do something about this and my tutor concurred. I therefore spent some time
revising and, in some cases, splitting the text whilst trying to retain the sentiments
expressed throughout the book. Eventually I was able, by incorporating two
additional passages of text, to cut down the length of each passage to a
maximum of 270 words. Although not perfect (around 175 words for each section
would have been ideal) I decided that I could make no further compromises on
this issue. Each section of text comfortably fits the page, using a standard 12
point ‘Times New Roman’ font size.
I decided to
produce two new images to accompany the extra passages of text. I chose to ‘start
from scratch’, rather than return to previously discarded images, and the
result was two images that blended text with photographs – perhaps an
indication of my increasing interest in this area (as noted by my post on the
influences of the art of Peter Beard and David Wojnarowicz ). I feel that both new
images fit well within the book, with one (used in the short section discussing
the illness of clinical depression) perhaps posing some interesting questions
for the viewer.
I also made (mainly
minor) alterations to some of my other images, following a careful review of
how they looked and ‘felt’ in the first draft of the photo book. My tutor agrees
with me that desaturation works for my images, so desaturated images will be
retained in the final version of the book.
I have now
reached the point where I can draw a line under this work. The text and images
are complete – no further alterations will be made.
Book Design
I have,
following my tutor’s recommendation, changed the text on the front cover from
bold to normal and moved the text to below the image. We concur that with this
change the front and back covers look fine.
The first draft
of the book was published ‘softback’ and my tutor was happy with this. However,
I would like to look at producing a hardback book, with a matt cover, to
investigate whether the surface is more tactile.
I have decided
not to number the pages, because I don’t think that this will add any value to
the book.
Although I felt
that the size of the book was a little small my tutor was happy with this,
describing it as “like a keepsake, or memento…” I will retain this size for
future commercial editions, although for self-publishing I may (whether or not
by choice) go slightly larger.
I have added a
couple of ‘chapter titles’ to separate the section on clinical depression from
the rest of the book, using the same format (bold title on faint Yorkshire
Dales landscape) as has been used elsewhere in the book. This brings the book
size up to 66 pages.
I have placed
the double page graph at the centre of the book (pages 33-34). I hope that a
self-published, stapled book will then avoid the danger of the centre of the
graph being lost in the centrefold – something that I anticipate will occur in
my commercially published book drafts. My tutor suggested that the graph could
be included as a ‘foldout’, but this would require a lot of extra work. I will
write a separate post on self-publishing (research and application) at a later
date.
The typeface (‘Times
New Roman’) is consistent throughout the book and the font size (12) is
consistent for all passages of text.
Future Work
Having
completed the changes described above and applied all my design decisions I
have ordered a ‘second draft’ photo book from a commercial supplier (‘Blurb’)
and await its arrival. I plan to use this book as a fall back for assessment
submission, whilst I investigate self-publishing the book. The main
disadvantage of the ‘Blurb’ book is that part of the graph will be hidden by
the centrefold. I also hope to have more flexibility by self-publishing.
Research and practice of self-publication will therefore take up much of my
time in the next month. I will continue to update my blog, although I feel that
my posts on influences, exhibitions, books etc. are pretty much complete. I’m
currently writing an artist statement and introduction to the project for the
assessors. I don’t intend to write explanatory notes for each image, as I have
done in the past, because I feel that the accompanying text in the photo book
offers enough information.
I will produce
square prints of all my images, to include in my submission. However, I am
starting to have doubts about the importance of supplying an accompanying
multimedia presentation for the assessors – will it add value to my submission?
I’ll make a final decision on this when the book has been finished and the
chosen copy for submission is in my hands.
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