Research - To gain some inspiration I have researched into some existing publications that focus on travelling and journeys. All picked examples have been analysed in terms of the binding, layout, style and stock chosen, and how these aspects could inform my own project.
Bus Journel by Sarah Le Donne - This first example is a publication that asks writers, artists, photographers and other creatives to take the bus in a certain city and observe the daily life there. The choice in a pink cover has been carefully considered to link with the palette of photos in the publication. Pink is quite a present colour in a lot of the images; therefore, a consistent aesthetic has been created between the inner content and outer content. As there is quite a lot of pages in the publication, it has been perfect bound as opposed to stitched or stapled. Perfect binding is much more suitable for larger publications because most stitch/staple bindings tend to not sit flat on a table without the top half pages springing up. Perfect binding suits the contemporary, modern approach as it is very clean-looking and subtle to see. Perfect binding is one production method I would possible like to experiment with in my publication, as the publication I made last year with this method came out badly with really cracked edges.
The layout of type and images in this publication looks quite inconsistent and sporadic, mainly due to there being no exact page layout - each page has a different arrangement. This inconsistency works quite well for a travel diary because it almost gives the feeling of constantly moving from page to page. Not knowing what to expect replicates that feeling you get when travelling to new places, which is why the overall layout works so well. It also ensures that readers don't lose interest with a constant fixed layout.
Despite the inconsistent look, grids have been used. Excluding images that cover the entire page, it appears that Tschichold's Canon has been used for blocks of type and other images. Using grids in some aspect is essential in modernist design; it is needed to keep some consistency and overall structure. I need to try and achieve a balance like this layout in my own publication.
'Unblinding Japan' by Rani Ramadiyan - Slightly different to the previous publication, this book is a visual travel diary from an Indonesian designer's trip to Japan. Ramadiyan highlights that 'the trip was too amazing that [she] needed to find a way to make it more memorable'. I chose this example for a similar reason to the previous publication - the layout of images and type is constantly different, which is much more engaging than a fixed layout that is the same on every page. Opposed to the other publication however; there is no clear use of grids in this book. I will not follow a layout like this as some basic underlying structure and consistency is needed to make a publication come together successfully. I will instead consider these combinations of image and type placement when arranging my content.
Ray & Horn Zines by Alexander Yaguza - This publication is 'an almanac about micro-projects and a designer's blog-moodboard'. The wide variety of stock choice creates engagement through the differing textures between pages. One aspect that I wanted to tie into my publication is having some loose images or fold-out pictures that readers can interact with. This example has a few included images and fold-out posters - it makes the overall experience more tangible and diverse. For my own publication I'd like to include some large scale photographs that I took of landscapes, the city centre and other relevant bits taken on the trip. It could be a good way to break up the publication.
Alongside the vast choice in stock, the layout of images and type is sporadic like the previous 2 examples. This publication has more of a scrapbook feeling to it than a strict piece of graphic design, which could be one graphical route to follow. I will present the two contrasting layouts to a crit group to see what people think would work for a target audience.
Above are some existing travel guides that can be found on the online market. They all have a very similar aesthetic, with a bold sans serif typeface in front of the iconic Space Needle building. The average cost of these guides ranges from £10-£15, depending on the size of content. They all appear to have glossy covers and standard quality stock however; which highlights that these guides focus purely on the content and making a profit over design and stock choices.
To look further into tourist guides and physically find out what is on the offline market, I found a selection in various book stores and the LCA library that had successful and unsuccessful aspects to them.
Paris by Max Derhy - This book is a guide on Paris through the eyes of a photographer. A recent lecture went through Jan Tschichold's 1991 book The Form of the Book: Essays on the Morality of Good Design. One point stated in this is that 'books wider than the ratio 3:4 (quarto), especially square ones, are ugly and impractical'. This book is exactly 4:3 in ratio, which infers that it looks good and is practical. In one sense, this is true in terms of the page size; however, the thickness of the book suggests otherwise. It is difficult to hold and flick through the pages with ease. Tschichold also make a point that 'the spines of bound books must be gently rounded; if they’re not, the book will be cockeyed after reading, and the middle signatures will protrude'. The spine on this book is curved and the pages are all aligned well; however, the sheer thickness of the book makes it very difficult to read. I am going to use the 2 principles mentioned and make a fairly thin publication.
The layout of type and images in this publication is very minimal and clean. The simplicity of using small paragraphs of text and large images is quite refreshing and easy to digest, as opposed to the other examples mentioned. This is one focus I would like to put in my own publication, as I want to predominantly focus on photography with a minimal amount of type.
Wallpaper* City Guide to Berlin by Luca Girardini - Despite the cover appearing cheap due to the library's lamination, the design of this book is fantastic. The book is sectioned into various areas such as shopping, urban life and more, which breaks the text-heavy pages up for easy use. Whilst my publication will have much less content than this, it is definitely worth considering breaking up the publication into sections so that readers can flick from one area to another. Cut out tabs like seen below may not work in such a small publication; however, it is definitely worth thinking about.
The size of this publication is pocket-sized to easily take on your travels. The scale of my publication is one thing that I must consider - will it be small to take with people or larger to read at home?
Creative Review Travel & Transport Issue - The design of Creative Review is always extremely well considered. The use of typography throughout the publication is very consistent - 2 main serif typefaces are used for the header and body text. As learnt last year Vignelli mentions in the Vignelli Canon that a maximum of 3 typefaces should be used in a publication. This will be remembered when designing the publication.
Similar to the Paris publication, large images and small paragraphs of accompanying text has been used - a modern aesthetic that is clearly very popular in today's journals; there aren't many journals out there that use sans-serif typefaces and small images. As I want to really push the photography taken on my trip, large images should be used.
London Guide by Eyewitness Travel - This book is the most touristy book out of all those analysed.
As seen in the images below, the book has a vast amount of type on each page. The point size is extremely small and the column gaps are very small, which makes reading the text quite challenging. There is almost no white space on the pages compared to other publications mentioned such as the Creative Review mag and Paris book. White space allows images and text to breathe on a page; without it, everything feels claustrophobic and unclear. For this reason, I am going to make a real effort to not overcomplicate and clutter my layouts.
AAD Berlin by Martin Kunz - I decided to analyse this book because of the fact that is has a very repetitive page layout, which becomes very dull and disengaging to read. Whilst the image layout differs from page to page, there is a constant block of small, point-sized type that's limited to a grid on every page. Furthermore, the bright colours from page to page are slightly too high in contrast, making each page rather difficult to read, especially when the red and pink backdrops cross over (seen in the left image below). For the purpose of easy readability, I will most likely use a white background, so that type and images are clearly visible.
As there are various aspects I can take from this research, I am going to come up with 2 main concepts to go down in terms of the content and design of the publication. These will be based on the analysis made above and the content I have already gathered.
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