Design Practice - Studio Brief 4 - Outcome

As a result of the developed activity book ideas, the group was then able to print the pages and bind them into the intended booklet, at an A5 size. The book was printed at A5, as the cost would need to be kept down as well as making it convenient to students. As there were issues with printing the book using a professional printer, the group chose to use lower quality printer for the final outcome. One thing that was also considered was to hand stitch the pages together, however due to limited time this option was discarded.

The group also pursued the idea of using sugar paper and yellow card for the stock of the book. This would then easily allow the design to be printed on to them. Another feature that would be added to the book, was the pocket included on the inside of the back page. This would contain the cutouts for the ‘student clothing’ activity on the previous pages. This allows the viewer to remove the clothing items and place them in different areas of the provided models page.

Having changed the cover of the book, it was possible to reflect on ways that this may have been improved with more colour. The group agreed that the use of digital print for the book might have allowed the colour scheme to be done differently. This could have then been analysed during the final critique in comparison with the alternative version.

After receiving feedback from the final critique it was clear that many people agreed that the cover design could have been improved further, had it included the use of white in certain areas during production. Other peers say that the interactive element of the book works well for the context, as it would be ideal as an icebreaker activity for the first year students to engage with.

There were also some mistakes that could have been improved including a spelling mistake on one of the pages as well as aligning the book cover text central to the image. This may have subsequently allowed the book to look more professional and attractive to the intended audience. Furthermore the exploration of different colours may have also allowed the book to work well in the context. For example, as one of the initial ideas discussed by the group was to collage the front cover, creating this as an example may have gained further suggestions and feedback from peers on whether it would have worked or not.

Overall, the project has allowed the group to communicate the intended ideas about life at university and the student’s personal experience on the course. The book also works well in communicating a humorous intention to the intended audience about aspects of the course that may be seen as stressful. However the point of the book is to allow the viewer to de-stress.