Book Design: Female only

Draft Book: Female Only Version 1

In this version the images representing the male aspects have been removed and replaced by a series of grey initial pages and the book would sit inside a textured binding or sleeve, thus representing the hard outer shell of the community.  I have also considered making a metal cage that the book could be taken out of to view.

I have retained the Māori text from the original submission as I think this links back to the location and place.

The female portraits have remained in the original format and layout to that of my BoW.  A combination of single portraits and either triptychs or diptychs.  The lines are simple with space surrounding the images:

With this detail I’m concerned that the male element has been lost and relies on the viewers understanding that the cover and the grey pages represent them.  I know the narrative is about the women but I the maleness still needs to be there.

I did consider using grey pages throughout but some of the images would be lost.  The white offers a clean focus for the viewer without distraction.  The use of black text on the grey is not strong enough and I think needs to be reconsidered.  Once again, I’m wondering if the images are too small and maybe reducing the number and increasing the size would help.

Full pdf version is here: Inside the Shell Book Female only

Draft Book: Female Only Version 2

Prior to send out for student review I made a few changes.  These were based on feed back given from my professional portfolio reviews which can be found here, here, and here.  The first removed the multiple images on a page:

Version 1                                                       Version 2

Version 1                                                 Version 2

With this format of portrait and still life or an image representing an aspect of their life I realized that I would need to find alternative images for some of the women.

In the review by Rohan Hutchinson (here) we discussed the importance of cropping and how a crop will change depending on the presentation for example book v zine and book v exhibition.  The crop also affects the narrative.  When I first processed the hands of Trish I included both:

Version 1

However, when re-cropped in version 2 the narrative and the feel of the image changes and I think makes a stronger image:

Version 2.

One of the comments made at my first review was representing the male element with either a different coloured paper or texture.  For version 2 I returned to Ngawi and photographed a number of different textures, from rocks, sand, tractor tracks to rust.  Converting to black and white really highlighted the different textures and tones:

Examples of book covers

I tried each with the text and finally decided on the following with white text as the original black was lost.  I also removed details concerning my course:

Book cover for Version 2

I have a few concerns that the ‘male’ element will not come across as strong with this version and it just looks like a selection of women.  There are currently no environmental images which show the conditions under which they live.  The ones I have work well as black and white and I don’t think they would work as well as colour.

I think I prefer the more simplistic layout but I do need an additional image for Pam, so have left a placeholder for a return visit.

Version 2 pdf: Inside the Shell Book Female only v2

Draft Book: Black and White Only Version 3

I released all five designs to several forums that I attend on a regular basis; the Level 3 Support Group, the Rest of the World Group and the L2/L3 Support Group.  The full set of comments can be found here.

I have addressed the text justification to stop the text hyphenating across a line and I have reviewed different fonts, size and colour.  The review and comments can be found here.

I have included an additional image for Pam.  This is a still life as I wasn’t able to return to Ngawi I had to create this based on our conversation of her passion for gardening.  I managed to find a red plant pot to match her love of red.

The images will be printed and put in a temporary cover to be videoed before submitting for further student review.  I think the book / video will allow people to get more of a feel for the work rather than the pdfs but I will provide a link to my blog where they can be found.

Pdf of version 3: Inside the Shell Book Female only v3