Done... but not Quiet dusted

I'm feeling great relief tonight - the book is printed and looking good.  There was a bit of a technical hiccup with one section yesterday, which needed to be re printed today, so this project continues to work me to my limit, but I am pleased with how its come together and amazed too at how bulky it seems. I feel justified in my late nights of writing and designing when I hold it in my hands.  It's been an absolutely insane couple of months getting it off the ground. I feel utterly shattered but seeing it printed and having done the die cutting and collating tonight I'm feeling pretty pleased with what I have achieved. As is always the case for me there are elements that I am less sure about visually and that I know I could have developed further but that is always part of my experience in design and in this instance I am far more accepting of those elements having surrendered this project to personal voice.  It's miles from where I started with the visual development at the beginning of REV and I suppose thats a good thing although I do have some regrets at the amount of time lost in the early stages having spent so much time grappling with After Effects.  In any case I am now the proud owner of a 100 page book. Although it won't officially be a book until I get it bound tomorrow... and that will be the moment I can really breath a sigh of relief... hopefully!

I'm photographing it in the college on Monday so that I'll have a better chance of some decent shots of the acetate layers, die cuts and envelope pages and the reflection page too  - which I really like.  Looking forward to getting it up here on the blog! Finally! And looking forward too to getting some time back with my family.

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy

I've just finished the design and layout of my book. I've now got to artwork it to get it ready to output to print - more complicated than it sounds as there are lots of bits to it across different papers and sizes. I definitely need a good nights sleep before tackling that. I'm aiming to get it output on Tuesday and then I've Wednesday night to collate, do the die cutting and folding and then get it into the binder on Thursday morning so as to be ready to photograph on Monday. I'm struggling to remember when I have been so wrecked...  the lack of sleep has reached new levels in the birthing of this book. I'm feeling envy for those who have found REV so enjoyable.. for me it has been an exhausting battle against time - and I'm right down to the wire with it. Don't know why I'm posting this... just so relieved that the designing is done and that soon I will have time to have another waking thought.

Judging a Book by its' Cover

Hooray! The paper for my book cover arrived today all the way from California. Its thermochromic so it reacts to the heat of your hands as you hold and handle the book. When its not reacting to heat its a lovely dense gloss black. I've set it carefully aside and am hoping that it survives the book finishing process intact! I'm starting to get a bit anxious about the binding now because there are so many elements to the book that I will not be able to see working until its bound  -  I hope I won't have any disappointments!

I've been into the binders yesterday to run it all by him. Unfortunatley given the cost of this paper and that its not readily replaceable he's not happy to bind it as a full wrap cover as I'd intended - the pressure on the cover as its bound may damage  the liquid crystals, so I'll be just applying it to the cover board afterwards but I think this will still work OK... hope so!  I'm enjoying its pristine loveliness for now!

REV E-JOURNAL 3 Voicethread September 2011

Another Completed Section of the Book

Design of Book - Introduction

This intro is 90% there and I'm concentrating on other sections within the book for now. I will be revisiting this with fresh eyes before printing the final book. The writing for some other chapters is continuing and I 'm finding myself looking again at the structure of the book - what to include/omit/combine etc. I don't want to make too many changes to the structure at this late stage so I'm treading carefully in my efforts of getting the balance right.  I have a couple more sections that are nearing completion also and will post on them soon.

Design of Book - Section on Research Completed

Here are the designs for seven spreads in the book, these spreads make up a section on research. As I stated in my previous post I am working on a book that is a personal account of the ideas and responses I have had to the subject of synaesthesia - through my research and through my visual expectations and explorations. Some of the book will be output onto paper and some onto acetate (exploiting the layering effects possible with that material). I am also employing other types of paper mechanics and effects in the make up of the book itself, and in the design and layout, to help communicate some concepts around my personal account of my response to the subject.  This section will be a paper section. The writing and designing continues... and is in varying degrees of completion!