*At this stage of writing we have sent the book off for a test print and not yet received it back*
The Outcome
This is a project that I really wanted to take part in, as it is a chance to produce something physical for a real client in a lot of copies. Initially, our group had pitched for the graphic design yearbook, and although I really wanted that one, we had said that our next choice would be Printed Textiles. We were lucky enough to get that course, and could continue to work on something we would happy to produce something for.
Another reason I wanted to work on it was due to it being editorial - I usually always do web design so it was a chance to try something new.
Now the project is coming to an end, I am very happy with how it has turned out. Although we haven't received the test print back yet, I know that we will be able to resolve any issues without a problem and quickly. I feel like it has all come together now, and although very stressful at times, I am happy with how it looks, the concept behind it and how we all worked together in the last week to get it sent of to print early. It was tough to get it ready in the last week for print as there is so much to think about - the wraparound cover, the page order, missing information, missing student work, photography needed etc. So it was a good achievement for us all to complete it ahead of the deadline.
What Were the Positives and Things I Learned?
Communication
This was key throughout the project. We as a group had multiple meetings and met up several times each week. This was to make design decisions, discuss what had been done and what needed to be done, as well as anything else regarding printers, photography etc. It helped that we emailed and texted each other too if we needed as we could get hold of each other quickly if we weren't around in person.
We also communicated a lot with Duncan as we needed to arrange things, ask for feedback, retrieve copy from him, talk about infographics and I also needed to let him know about different students who hadn't sent me work etc. This was so important to have close communication with him because it is such a big project and needed to be kept on track and sticking to deadlines.
We definitely wouldn't have printed the book by now if we hadn't had this communication. It has been pivotal when problems have arisen and we have been able to solve them quickly by talking - or even preventing problems from happening because of this.
I also think giving and receiving feedback has helped us create something that we can be proud of.
Towards the last week when we really wanted to print, this really became a constant thing. For example, Joe was in charge of the page order and contents, and we had to communicate a lot when there might have been missing contact details, or there wasn't enough spreads or it became confusing with the order. Since I was putting the spreads on the pages (made more sense since I have the student work on my Mac), I had to communicate with him a lot on the list that he had made. Since we were all really involved with everything that was happening, it was easy to ask questions and solve things as we were all up to date.
File Sizes
We actually sent it to print three days later than we planned - although it was ready, it wouldn't send because the file sizes were so big. It was at this point in the project that I got really stressed because I felt like we had tried so hard to send it off early and it wasn't working. I had also spent more time than I should have done on it, but since I had the files on my computer I needed to try and send it somehow. In the end, Danny took the files from me so he could send it and I could carry on with my other work. I really didn't anticipate how file size would have such a big impact on sending it to the printers. It also turned out they only needed the PDF for the test print, and so could have sent it on the same day we planned anyway as it was the InDesign file and links that were taking so long to send.
Preparing for Print
Since I usually work for screen, this isn't something that I am very confident with. However, I learned a lot for the preparation in InDesign thanks to Leo as he showed me which settings to use and how to check for problems. For example, I didn't even realise it said there were 15 RGB images in there when about to export it, yet he did and we were able to quickly resolve it. He also emailed Evolution a lot and copied me in so I was able to learn about issues through these such as info about the screws and wraparound cover.
Actually, it is a lot of work
I did not realise how much work this task would be. I did not anticipate girls emailing me at midnight with 5 weeks late submissions or data taking so long to reach us or problems with resizing images and margins. I thought that it would be a smooth process, and it hasn't been - so that has been very useful in seeing how a real life projects works with so many people to rely on.
I had the task of organising the girls images for the student work pages. This meant they were sending me their work, and I said that I would resize it too (this was easier with me having all of the files). This was a bigger task than I expected, as I needed to have a lot of communication with the course. A lot of times I needed work resending since it wasn't of a high quality, and I needed to think about how to talk to them about this. Problems such as Instagram filters, low res image, bad photography were common and I wanted to be as nice as possible when talking to them so it could be quickly resolved, and so they don't feel stressed about it. There were also times girls did not send me any work at all, and I needed to email them politely asking if they were having any problems - I was always friendly because although they were late, it was not a problem me adding in work late I just wanted to know if they were having any issues. I also didn't know their reasons for not responding to me, so I didn't want to cause more stress. I made the effort to make sure all of the girls got the layouts that they wanted, and had the best images of their work and emailed them to make sure they are happy if I needed to change them. Then there were times were people wanted their work swapping and layouts changing, which again wasn't a problem, it just meant I had to keep track of what everybody wanted and make lists. I made lots of lists. Lists of their names, lists who I needed to email, lists of layout choices, lists of images that needed changing, lists of copy that I needed, lists of details I was missing. This definitely helped to keep me organised since there was 62 students to keep up with. It also helped incredibly when resizing their work so I could tick them all of, or show Duncan when he needed to know names of people who needed chasing.
Although it was stressful remembering everything and chasing people down, it was very rewarding at the same time because their work is of such a high standard, and I really enjoyed seeing everything that they had produced and then seeing it come together in the yearbook.
110% for Effort
I definitely put a lot of time and effort into this yearbook, and really put 110% into it. I definitely spent longer on it than I should have done and went the extra mile with emailing students to make sure they were happy with the work that I was putting in for them - for example, some emailed me with work but mentioned they would have some new work in a few weeks time, so I made sure to email them in a few weeks so that could be included instead.
And with the quotes spreads that I was designing, I considered each quote and thought what prospective students would want to see the most, as well as photography shots that would work well with them too. I did quite a lot of development with these too since I wanted them to be really good - I knew that Jordan would be putting his symbols on them so I didn't want to let him down on the design as I wanted his symbols to shine through too. I was really pleased with these final spreads once Jordan added his touch to them, it really bought through the tribal theme that we wanted to portray.
I also designed a few other spreads like the 'introduction', 'beyond the walls' and 'our studio is a space to be wrong'. These were quite simple and we got the copy really late for these - late enough that we had to delete some spreads we had already designed. So I quickly designed these in the style of the rest of the spreads. Working to quick deadlines is a good attribute of mine that I was able to implement here.
What Could Be Improved?
Timing
We had planned our deadlines a lot earlier than they happened. Although I would have preferred to have sent it earlier, there really was nothing that our group could have done differently to prevent this. We had asked for the work before Easter and for the content by Duncan then too. I was receiving student work at midnight before we sent it off for a test print, so this was something out of our control. I am happy that we were organised ourselves though, because if we wasn't it could have been printed even later. We still sent it to test print nearly two weeks before the final deadline so we still made good time - we just had originally planned to have it back for this submission.
Resizing Issue
There was one mistake that I made in this project which could have been prevented, and thankfully was easily resolved because of our good communication, as Joe spotted it. When resizing the images, me and Jordan completely skimmed over the fact we were making the book at B5 - and had done the measurements for B4. It was an easy mistake to overlook because we are not used to working in B sizes - and maths is definitely not my forte.
Thankfully though, Joe spotted it once he was inputting everybody's names and contact details on the pages. This meant we could resize the images before it was too late. Rather than me resize them all again, which took a whole day previously, we shared out the work equally. Luckily, I had created folders for each layout with everybody's work in a PSD and named correctly so I could share them on Drive and get started straight away. Thanks to my systematic way of resizing them, it only took an hour to resize them again due to being able to change the canvas size of the PSD and resize all of the layers (student work) in it. This shows that by not cutting corners and resizing the images correctly in the first place, it reduced this time a lot, and it also means that when we inserted the work the file sizes were a lot smaller and it reduced time here too.
Printers Feedback
Although we haven't received our test print yet, the printers have given some feedback - that the flap on the outer wrap around is too small so it sticks up, and the margins are too big where the screw binding is. If we had created a mockup ourselves we probably could have spotted this. We did print a page layout to see the margins, but would have been more effective to see it in an actual book format. Having said that, that would have taken a lot of time and we wouldn't have had access to the right stocks anyway - we are just lucky we sent off for a test print earlier than we needed too.
Overall
Although it was very stressful and time consuming, it will be worth it when we have the book. I am happy with how it all came together in the end and the way it looks and I am confident that we captured the essence of the course and reflected them in a human way but also represents their hard work ethic. I think one of the main things that motivated me through this was the quality of their work and the amazing, creative space that they share - I really wanted to portray that within this year book. Another reason was the fact we had a strong concept - they think of themselves as a tribe and so we had subtle tribal themes throughout such as in the copy, cover photo and with the symbols. This helped tie it all in, and I'm excited to see it all come together.
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