Final Outcome & Evaluation - The final, printed publication came out to a fairly high-standard; the binding was carefully done so that the staples were almost exactly on the spine, and the different stocks worked well together, with a very high-quality feel. Some spreads had white gaps in the gutter, where the page had been folded slightly off; however, these are much less severe than those caused when printing at uni. If 200-300 publications were going to actually be produced, a much better commercial printer would be used, which would result in a slightly better finish. For a one-off print job however, the commercial printer used did a very successful job. To keep with the clean, minimal aesthetic, photographs of the publication were taken in front of a white background in the lighting studio. This was to keep a main focus on the publication; rather than its surroundings, and to tie in with the overall design style taken.
Overall, the publication successfully fulfills my initial aim of not producing a typical tourist city guide. The content is very informative to designers, specifically typography wise, and the large-scale images included are ideal for people that just want to have a leisurely read through the publication. The design treatment taken, informed by research into existing publications and mags, has ensured that the publication would fit in with other niche publications in a book/mag store. After receiving feedback from various peers and friends it became clear that the outcome was considered as a high-quality, sellable magazine. Many positive comments have been made on the quality of stock used, overall consistent aesthetic and simplicity of the publication as a whole.
The only negative feedback received regards how some of the double page spreads are misaligned due to the way the pages have been double-side printed. This was sadly inevitable, as the commercial printer used is not as accurate as the commercial printers that produce hundreds of copies at a time. In the future, when working on live briefs, I may be given a budget to produce a large quantitiy of publications. Whilst I have still not used the higher-end commercial printers, I have gained a basic understanding of the requirements needed for such a task in this project. Working with a basic commercial printing facility has developed my knowledge within publication design without a doubt.
In future projects I would like to experiment with some finishes, such as embossing and foiling. I did not feel that these were necessary for this particular publication, as I wanted to put more of a focus on the content and imagery, as opposed to finishes. For other projects, I would like to try and incorporate a few finishes into one publication/outcome, as this would develop my practical skills much more.
Reflecting back, I feel that I have learnt a lot from this project, specifically about the importance of content in publication design, and how this should shape the design treatment taken. I managed my time well with a weekly plan of action (see blog) and have produced a much higher-quality publication than I ever did last year. Whilst commercial printing ensured that the outcome was to a high-quality, it was quite enfuriating not being able to use custom stock, as it would have been interesting to use a combination of papers for the content. For other publication briefs I am going to try and find a slightly better commercial printers that would accept custom stock.
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