Book Publication Project
C Studio II Project 2
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Curating the Life & Works of Saul Bass
Inspiration
Initial Grid Practice
- Grid is an important tool for organizing content that provides balance and consistency. By breaking the grid, it can create contrast between data elements and an eye-catching moment.
Breaking down content
From the 1500 word biography of Saul Bass, I categorized the information as follows:
- Table of Contents
- Entering the Film World
- A Renaissance Designer
- Collaboration with Elaine Bass
- A Design Hero
2. Sample layout sketches
Initial Ideation:
- Maybe have the table of content smaller?
- Add extra two pages (present the vastness of his works)
- Flow of timeline throughout the book (even start a little from the title page)
1st feedback
- Logical organization of the content
- The idea of string flowing throughout the pages as a design element makes more sense compared to a timeline (not intuitive enough)
- The gatefold spread needs work — it does not currently meet the purpose of presenting the vastness of film works.
- Color: Warm colors are dominating most of the spreads — add balance by mixing some cool/ neutral tones in between
- Overall lack of visual hierarchy: the scale of images are all too similar without a central focus element (particularly the gridding of all the posters and logos)
- The last spread feels very stylistically detached from the rest of the book
Revision Process
Identity Design page:
Revisiting idea of the Gatefold Spread
The purpose of the gatefold is to visually present Saul Bass as a prolific designer with a great amount of works that are diverse. However, right now all the film sequences are similar in size and they feel disconnected from viewing at the macro perspective. How can I add more rhythm into the presentation of the works?
- I tried to singularly focus on one film sequence that is distinct and visually dominating. When I scaled the red swirling graphic from Vertigo to fit two full pages, it created an impactful imagery with a focal point at the core.
- Following the swirling motion, I incorporated even more title sequence scenes around to continue the dynamic energy.
Full Content Rough
Brief view of the printed mockup of the rough draft
Feedback
- Type: needs hierarchy and variation (body context can also be reduced in font size, and maybe add another serif font for captions)
- Need system for image credits: link the citations to the images
- Continue on the flow of density of his works throughout the spreads (this slowly gets lost from Identity design section)
- The pages building up to the main gatefold spread require simple finessing with type, whereas the pages afterwards need to incorporate more works
Spread 1: Placement of Carmen Jones fire (make the graphic feel more integrated with my illustration)
Spread 2: Need image citation for the film posters
Identity Design Spread: More logos! Adjust placement of the type
Gatefold: Take out all the images collaborated with Elaine → drop to the collaborative spread
Collaboration & Legacy spreads: Feels too empty (add more works and scale up images)