Communication Breakdown

I went to visit The Roman Group in Southbourne today to discuss printing my book, after initially speaking with them on the phone.

I explained everything I wanted, dimensions, embossing, paper stock etc., and then he asked me how many I wanted.....and was a bit shocked when I said 2 or 3!

He said it would run into thousands to only have that quantity done and gave me contact details for a digital printer who they recommend.

I did explain on the phone that I was a student and I only needed a couple of copies but they obviously didn't hear that! Disappointed, as I really wanted to produce a 'proper' book, professionally litho printed.

The digital printer has quoted me £300+VAT for two copies which seems excessive and he also said if I wanted embossing on the cover then the set up cost alone would be £90+VAT.

I am thinking of ways around this, and wondering if I can produce the embossing on the cover using the letterpress at Uni?

And if I am having it digitally printed, I might print it at the Uni or at least at Image XL, where I'm sure I could get some 'mate's rates'!

I still have a couple of Litho printers who could help, so all is not lost!

covers and time

Got some reall good cover ideas down. Most of them are similar in layout, just with different colours. Have decided not to use a photograph as a main image as it just seems to 'rough guide" or 'lonely planet' so am going to try and go for a bright eye catching cover.

Time is going well so far although my job does get in the way sometimes, and its hard to balance them both.

Early layout styles & progress

I've produced some early layout styles today based on a portrait dimensioned book. I tried some landscape layouts but it wasn't working so I left them, and most guide books I have found on my research have been portrait.

I have used a 3 column grid to place the elements and have only completed one style so far, but it is a complete "section" of the book that follows someone from their work place and finished with a review of the restaurant.

It still needs some work but I am quite happy with the progress made.

Tomorrow I will look at the cover for the book. My original concept of keeping it fairly plain with an embossed title might not be suitable as all the guidebooks are brightly coloured, with a strong image, to try and grab the attention of anyone browsing them.

Barcelona images

I have just gone through all the photos from Barcelona to see how they came out. I'm pleased with most of them, although due to extreme weather conditions (it snowed there for the first time in 30 years) I wasn't able to get as many as many as I would have liked.

I think I have enough to begin some layouts and show some initial ideas and this will way I will be be able to return to the city in April and take any further images that I might need.

Trial complete

I completed my trial run in Bournemouth with reasonable success. Its not the same following people on their lunch break to Greg's The Bakers but the idea worked well. I didn't want to get too up close and personal to anyone as that is not what the book is going to be about, but I did get the chance to follow people and see what its like to record images whilst trying to keep someone in your sights.

That was probably the most difficult part and I think when I do it for real I may have to go back over the route the person has taken to get better images as some of my shots were rushed and too out of focus to make any sense. Its hard to know where to look for the "way finding" part and keep an eye on my subject.

Food for thought for when I do it for real.

Trial Run

I m hoping to have a trial run of following someone in Bournemouth this week. It's not a sinister as it sounds, but rather than make mistakes when I'm trying to do this n Barcelona, Neil suggested to "have a go" this week and see what happens and how it effects my planning.

People of Bournemouth: DO NOT PANIC! No humans or animals will be hurt in the process of making this City Guide Book.

I want to try different styles of photography and also look at how I aim to map out the trail that I follow. I had initially thought of putting a narrative through the book, but Neil also mentioned today (he mentioned a lot eh?) that I could use lists of things too. Hmmm. Interesting idea!

Hard to find

I am finding research material hard to come by now. I have a strong idea of how I want the book to look but most of this has come from either reading other books or just, well, thinking!

With my sketchbook only really containing a few pages of work/research, I spoke with Neil today who has suggested some books and areas to look in to.
Situationists and Fluxists were first up, and a suggestion I could look into the more theory based side of things.

Following the discussion, I took out "The Situationist International (1957 72)", Andy Warhol "Film Factory" and "Wayfinding" from the library today and will look through them this week to see if I can go deeper into the subject.

Stolen

Just spotted this on the FdA Vis Com blog. Brilliant. Love it. What inspiration!