Overall production Evaluation

As part of studying a Level 3 Extended Diploma at Leyton Sixth Form College, we had been given a brief to follow as part of London's Borough of Culture, a yearly programme for a borough in London to improve in which the chosen area was Waltham Forest, where Leyton Sixth Form College is located. We had been asked to follow a brief including 4 topics, radical, fellowship, nature and makers, in which I had intertwined these themes, being a creative person and the year of culture into a book. The following is a depiction of the making of my book; from page choice and designing, learning the importance of print, and research into poetry and photography.

Research
I found myself initially most driven to the theme of nature due to a personal interest in landscape/ travel photography. The start idea being the creation of a book with a definite element of poetry and photography, I had researched historical context behind popular poetry eras and English language. This action was necessary, as I felt I needed more knowledge on the English language and famous / modern poets I could take inspiration from for the time of writing my own poetry and free verse. Reflecting back, I found the research challenging but rewarding. Understanding certain time periods and becoming familiar with notations such as Anglo-Saxon and Caedmon developing into New English being challenging, and the rewarding research being information on the 16th to 18 century time periods being the 'Enlightenment' and 'Romanticism' poetry era. In terms of ideas supporting my final project, I found being knowledgeable on the Romanticism era of poets involving poetry about nature /life most useful, as I had researched poets who are similar to the romanticist era, finding artists R.H Sin, Amanda Lovelace, etc. and following similar poetry words and structures to them. Researching Old English however had not informed ideas throughout the development of poetry in the book.
Moving onto the photography content, I found researching the first photograph / heliography and daguerrtoype technique personally insightful due to my interest in photography,though within the project, learning about the first photograph has not been useful as I have not continued the research of the technique due to no technical link to the camera use or concept of my idea, rather more useful in real life situations - being aware of what the first example of the medium I practise is, along with noticing it within other audiences knowledge. Through this, I feel my research skills have developed and the use of relevant sources has become massively important as a personal notation.

Ansel Adams 'Moon and Half Dome'

Modern research as discussed with my mentor Scott of Ansel Adam's photography seemed more insightful technically, considerations of Adam's photographic highlights and shadows alongside overall black and white theme inspired the first part of my book, and when on location, I found myself viewing the similar attributes Ansel explains in his book 'The making of 40 photographs' My technical photography has therefore developed due to a portion of viewing Ansel Adams, an example of a final photograph inspired by said research. As visually evident, Adam's photography follows a gradient over monochrome /grey-scale giving black and white definition and layers, this being something I can strive for within future photographic projects.

My photograph

Further research conducted with the decision of the creation of a photo-book included finding out what audience would enjoy the product. The two biggest categories associated with audiences being niche and mainstream. Smaller, subtle attributes I found most insightful within the research included the link between a individuals psychographic attributes and the theme of my book - this being the point made about a person in search of a discovery, and my book exploring the characters discovery of a new world. Progressing into the research on the topic of psychographic's however, I feel I could have researched more common features of certain individuals in said targeted group and compared these with each other. Analysis of my actual target audience according to the desired themes included within my book was informative, conclusions made that my primary audience consists of upcoming photographers and social - media using young teens, growing up and facing the emotions that come with it, these being explored in the themes of my book, e.g under fellowship is heartbreak, and others being issues with society that the character dislikes - the division in people with issues such as discrimination under  'culture' these being worldly issues that must be raised, the ability to do so through a medium such as photography. One added attribute towards the end of the product in which a target audience had not been researched for was ideas on climate change. On the topic of worldly issues, I found that climate change can be highlighted through photography, especially considering my photography is landscape based, along with expressing the anger of it through a writing tone. As this idea developed towards the end of the project, I had not previously researched an audience for said topic. Though, I feel the audience would be mainstream and of all ages, from young teens/adults onwards, as it is an issue that society must be aware of, this being my goal when included. The analysis of primary audiences had therefore been carried to the end of the product, especially in times of writing under said themes with emotions teens relate to.
I found that authors, script writers, possible story developers for film, etc. are included under my secondary audience. Analysis of all features of an audience is important as you want the product to do well, I found this being the case towards the finalisation's of my product. Once said book arrived, comments about selling the book to an audience  (mentioned under distribution) were raised. An older audience typically buying this book for design / contextual purposes etc,  I found that my secondary audience comes into place for an individual to develop the storyline for film purposes, upcoming authors or people who enjoy photography itself. This research, though not informing ideas upto the product, has helped once the product arrived.
An element of research, reflecting back, I feel contradicts the final product is the information on socio-economic status. In terms of purchasing the book, I feel both primary and secondary audiences would have a mid- high economic status. Books being a materialistic feature helping more commonly with higher incomed education students, for example. This contradicts some information previously, as within my research, I had stated that the socio-economic status of the primary audience is low due to the relatable element they have of living in a disruptive society. Though this is the case in terms of storyline and feeling as though they can relate to the idea of a deprived world, actually purchasing the book may not be a priority action for them, alongside no specific themes exploring an issue with money or the economic status society holds, rather more human and equal right qualities. This being a point for storyline and theme development for my book, overall concluding research undertaken for socio-economic statuses not being close to my final product.
Audiences under my case studies are explained further below, though I have found that the audience for Note to self and The sun and her flowers are similar and have informed ideas upto the final product, audiences for Joe Cornishes 'First Light' however have not.

As I did not initially understand or signpost psychographic's of an audience enough in previous research alongside further discussions and feedback with my mentor, I had researched further using the internet and began discovering an audience more specific for my product, this being from the primary audience for photo books - an independent audience. I found researching independent audiences using the internet quite difficult as answers and information was not as straightforward as it was for niche and mainstream. Reflecting back, I could have used a wider range of resources such as sociological books, researching deeper into audience members and group associations. The process of this may have developed my understanding further in terms of who would buy my product therefore being more aware as to who to target creatively content wise. This being said, the research I had conducted was still informative, knowledge such as the demographic / psychographic letter group for my photo-book, C1-B being obtained. A further point I found contradicting once my product had arrived is the notation on general photo-books being prices £15-£25. As the making of my photo-book initially cost £80 for 50+ pages, I feel the distribution would be higher, also depending on demand.

Research that gave the product shape was the first 3 case studies. Reflecting on these with the final product complete, I found 2/3 of those useful and impactful, these being Note to self by Connor Franta and Whiskey, words and a Shovel by R.H Sin.

Note to self -
I analysed note to self as it was the product that inspired the project, this photographer being one inspired by from personal photography along with through previous units. The story of Note to self and where the 'notes' come from are intimate and personal to the artist, this connection being something I wanted to replicate in my work as I am passionate about photography as a medium and have desires to tell stories through a 'photographers perspective.' I found overall analysis of the book rewarding, this research being one of the main that is close to my final project. In terms of story line, I enjoyed the idea of themes Franta used - heartbreak, love, travel, mental health and the idea of using photographs to link his personal journey to the notations within the book. A video also made by said artist titled 'A simple question'

The video is a representation of a photographers passion, and explores the ambition one can have for something they enjoy - more specifically, photography.
I have acquired a deeper understanding through the analysis of Franta's demographic as I have found it consists of teenagers I notice daily on social media, indicating audience members that have similar interests to mine. This target audience enjoying content that is aesthetically pleasing to photograph alongside objects or in visually pleasing environments (example) along with relating to word phrases or symbolisation's behind photographs. Obtaining this knowledge from the research had informed my ideas through the development of photographing and writing, consistently considering the target audience that would enjoy reading what is being said and felt they could relate, along with being attracted to the aesthetic in a loop of then photographing the book. Having this in mind made writing challenging at certain time periods, consistently ensuring the theme seems universally relatable to the group along with keeping clarity to the storyline.
The final product can be seen as similar to Note to self, with elements such as timings,  photographs of specific emotions linking to the text placed beside it, photographs as whole background pages and poetry from personal experience being inspirations in parallel to the book. Parallel attributes such as timings - the time of day in which Franta applies at the beginning of certain poetry indicates the time he wrote a 'note' and felt that certain emotion, the timings in my book not being as deep meaning, though exploring the dream as the night progresses - as the dream goes on, the morning approaches to when the character then wakes up as reality. Photographs Franta includes within his book link to the 'notes' next to it, this being the case in my book on page, for example, 'Nature has cunning ways of finding our weakest spots.' The photograph behind being a pathway full of landscaped greenery, and the quote including 'Nature.' Design wise, Franta has certain pages where photographs take up a whole spread, the comparison between this and the design of my book shown below (titled 'design') Lastly, poetry and free verse from personal experiences. Franta uses first person for all his poetry. As my book takes the form of a character though a portrayal of my emotions, first person has not been explored as much, though in certain places as shown below (titled 'first person') The amount of pages Franta has in terms of pages of poetry is higher than by book, and the amount of pages Franta has of full photographic spreads is lower than the art of dreaming, due to the fact that Note to self is a biography, and the art of dreaming is a photo-book.



Whiskey, words and a shovel II
The second case study researched was r.h Sins' "Whiskey, words and a shovel II" I had decided to use this book as I needed inspiration for the subject of poetry as I previously was not fully aware. The book captures, as mentioned, 'the raw truth of what living and loving is'  along with exploration of both first and second person. The most highlighted points made being the structure, vocabulary and audience for the book. The structure within the book varies and emphasise's the words that follow. I found this an attribute that I wanted to include within my book, as structure holds subtle messages along with exploring the technical side of English poetry. On the topic of English poetry, I found myself analysing other technical techniques such as the use of syllables and the link between this and the word count. A technique mentioned that I have used reflecting back was personification. This being the process of describing nature or un-human things using human characteristics. Within my book, this is demonstrated under the 'culture' theme, with the word phrase - 'I watch ancestry roots flourish into vibrant flowers.' Story-line wise, 'traditions' links to the theme of culture, along with 'flowers' and 'a vibrant mix' linking to the background photograph of a blurred, shallow depth of field of a green, landscaped environment. This indicates that the analysis of Sin's techniques was successful. Linking to the project theme, this photograph has been taken in the location of a forest, indicating 'welcome to the forest.'
Furthermore, I found through the case study, that the vocabulary used in the book is in link with the structure, and demonstrates Sin's wide knowledge of word play.
Investigating the audience, I found that the book has a similar target audience to mine, this being young adults who can relate to said themes. In terms of distribution, Whiskey, words and a shovel has exceeded on the social media platform Instagram through advertisements of pages within the book and advertisements of Sin's Instagram. As my target audience is young teens who would use Instagram, I feel, for the wider distribution in the art of dreaming, I would also advertise on Instagram.
I found reading the book overall insightful as the poetry helped me, in particular helping me write the fellowship theme. Reading and understanding what has been said placed me in the mindset of writing and reminded me of any personal experiences I may have had. r.h Sin therefore accomplished the goal of making the audience feel as though they can relate by reading the a storyline.
The research and case study of this book had therefore informed my ideas for the free verse writing o my book, and had also lead to deeper research in similar poets, this being Rupi Kaur. Her work mentioned a few times within my work, after viewing the help researching this poetry book had done, I felt I further needed to view 'the sun and her flowers'  Many nature related themes and poems were found within the sun and her flowers, which I found as an advantage as I required some abstract quotes about nature, the other quotes being said from personal experience/ the characters emotions, etc. Quotes have been included from this research into production documentation and through to the final book, making the exploration of TSAHF rewarding. Reflecting back however, I feel I could have included a further case study purely on Kaur's book, having the notation of details behind the distribution of it along with the audience, etc. As the poetry book genre is competitive, I also may of had the opportunity to compare both books.

First light
A case study I have not however used to develop my project has been Joe Cornish's book 'First light.' As pointed out, the initial reaction to the design of the book was negative, due to the monochrome grey background in contrast to the bright and vibrant foreground picture. The  aesthetic contribution of the book to my final project being non existent. With deeper research conducted, I found both the book and Joe Cornish's work difficult to find. As my primary audience consists mostly of young teens and distribution using social media is both a goal of mine and highly common in modern day, I found this also to be a negative attribute as I could not find his work on socials easily. If my target audience included individuals of a elder age, the research may have helped. Attributes I found helpful however included the analysis of his photography and processes of how he captures. Though not used in my final product, Cornish's words are ones about landscape photography in which I have considered for personal photography. Contrasting, I found the research about Ansel Adams more informative along with that information staying clear in my mind. Other positive attributes include the knowledge acquired on photography techniques Cornish embarked on in his book. This including foreground/background, framing, lighting and composition, etc. Technical photographic ideas were developed from this. Concluding, this research was both a positive and negative element of my research, as it had slightly informed the other part of content in my book being photography, though not contributing to the design or storyline of the final book. I feel the action of practising photography and practising in said way described in First light may have made a bigger difference in terms of what research helped, though timing must also be considered.

Production documentation
With research complete upto the point of knowing what content I would like to include with inspirations in mind, I had begun production documentation. As I had not chosen a specific book website, I felt a pressure in time as I was unaware of how long shipping could take, a initial estimate being 2-3 weeks.
Beginning the production documentation, notations had been made under 'pre production,' planning out certain locations and certain ways I imagine the book to be according to 'spreads' I found myself constantly looking over these notations later on when starting the pages of the book, this therefore being a reasoned and helpful decision. The photographic production documentation included images that the final photos would look similar to. Reflecting over, I found taking extra photographs for each theme time consuming and not required, I felt the notes taken about what photographs I wanted to include helped me more, however, noting the locations of where the photos were to be taken along with photographs of the place e.g as shown for Shoreditch, London under 'art' was helpful, along with under 'fellowship' where I have stated the photography studio will be used. Taking photographs for the 'nature' theme was most time consuming, though I also feel that more photographs could have been taken under the 'culture' documentation. I found myself using Photoshop for adjustments mostly under the 'culture,' and 'art.' theme. Using Photoshop in situations like this has developed my skills and made it easier when I used the software for my final photos.
Developing from the photographic content, I found I required more knowledge on the context and meaning behind photographs in my book along with clarifying the idea of a 'deprived society' more. Suggested by peers was the idea of indicating more wordily issues such as climate change. To do so, I had researched issues associated, such as endangered bees and water pollution. I found this research challenging and time consuming, though having it noted provided me with context and an understanding on a topic that must be addressed within the world. In terms of progressing until the final project, this information has played a vital role. I found myself checking back on the water pollution and melting glacier notes before going on location to shoot, ensuring I can photograph in a way that will represent said issues, providing complex concepts behind my photography. Finding my own photographs to embed on this post also was an insightful process, as it gave me an example of previous photography I have done, and how I can use this as an example.
A technical photographic note to be made about a personal style of mine is using low ISO. This is demonstrated in the same post, of this photograph (example.) This photograph was also included to portray a type of weathering, this being snow. The hint of sunlight providing shadows for the trees also represents the issue of snow melting due to higher temperatures, linking to melting glaciers. I have continued the process of including these subtle messages behind photographs in the art of dreaming, as demonstrated on pages such as the photograph of the bee on page 11 and 12 linking to the extinction of bees and other natural habitats that play a vital role to human lives.






I have learnt how to tell stories using photographs through processes such as this. The use of shallow depth of field within this final photograph allows emphasise on the bee, along with demonstrating a photographic technique.














Progressing further through production documentation, I had made mind-maps for all 4 themes, writing word phrases I already had associated along with the themed words, etc. Reflecting back, one thing I did not include was rhyming words. I feel adding more rhyme makes poetry seem more traditional and called poetry by reading audiences. I hand-wrote the mind-maps as I feel it was easier in terms of visualising and easier to physically add words around in a brainstorming process, along with the flexibility of looking down at them when writing and designing the pages on screen. Through this, I also experimented with book names, though at this stage I was no clear on what I wanted to use. The free verse writing documentation was, out of all produced, the most helpful documentation as I found myself constantly looking back when writing the art of dreaming. This research therefore informed my ideas, though difficult to produce. I found myself in writers block for certain elements such as the mind-map for the ending of the book. Though this was the case, when in the finalising stages of the actual book, the ending came naturally as I was in the headspace of writing poetry. Notes under 'nature' helped the most through inspirations such as The sun and her flowers, Rupi Kaur, indicating development from my case studies.  Writing the other themes such as 'fellowship' and 'culture' required emotions and thoughts from personal experience, I found this also to be the case when producing the actual pages. The process typically followed taking a few words from the production documentation, then creating a phrase using this. In other cases, I used the word phrases on the actual page, this due to the fact that these phrases were ones I had in mind from the beginning. For example, using the fellowship mind-map example, 'love is love' has been used in the final book, and '3:15, we moon gazed on a snug, September night' had been changed to 'moon gazing in the 4am light, we watched the night turn into the morning,' as shown below.

 
Further pilot documentation includes researching a website to use for printing. Concluding what I found was difficult as all websites held many different attributes, though I decided to stay with Blurb. I found that Blurb's features include Adobe Plug-ins along with their own software, 'Bookwright.' This being what was used for the creation of the art of dreaming. I found researching actual websites helpful, documenting both the advantages and disadvantages of all of them necessary as a comparison was needed and made in order to conclude and find the best one. Blurb seemed the most advantaged due to the features such as templates and viewable options for photo-books. The website indicates the sizes and paper types along with paper/hardback options with inspirations for whichever book you would like to create. There were some issues when attempting to download their software, as it is not a software downloaded everywhere or as popular the book required one Mac to work on. This was an issue in terms of making sure the specific Mac was free, though did not stop me from creating the book under the allocated timescale. Documentation completed under what option I wanted to create the book on was helpful when downloading and ensuring the options chosen were correct, this being:

- Proline pearl photo 190GSM
- Hardcover dust jacket, glossy jacket over black linen
- Large landscape, 33x28cm

Research into what GSM was expanded my knowledge on the layout of photography in context of distribution and printing, allowing me to engage with the design of my book. As stated in my documentation, to photograph I would use a Nikon D7200 and an iPhone 7, this being what was used, though, within the software I had some issues with pixelation when using an iPhone, this being something I had not previously researched or considered design wise. To overcome this however, the design process included many alterations to the sizing of photographs on pages, keeping aesthetically aware at the same time. Concluding my production documentation, most information acquired has been helpful and contributed towards the final book, though some also not being necessary.

Technical skills
The creation of my project has required me to try new photographic and design things, along with develop previous skills. The first being skills in Blogger. Though I have not picked up any skills that are new to me, I feel I have become very comfortable using the website undertaking processes such as embedding a YouTube video, the duration / size of videos that are allowed to be embedded, etc.
Further research within the pre-production stage of my book has made me realise the importance of using relevant sources along with new skills developed such as how to write a bibliography in Harvard format and reference such sites. I feel as though I have used resources such as books more in this project than any previously done, in doing so has been rewarding and a research method I will continue for future projects.
During the production stage, I had used the photography studio for silhouette photography. This session in the studio being one of the most insightful through help of peers and the fact that I had been photographing constantly on location and experimenting with ISO, aperture and white balance giving me some practise to then come into the studio and have more of an understanding of the settings and, for example, how changing one of them will affect the other in terms of exposure. I however feel more practise is needed with the adjustment of shutter speed. Though I had not been practising silhouette photography to a large extent throughout the year, I felt I understood the settings of the camera more than I previously did. Beginning with the silhouette session, I felt obliged to have the model in one position, though progressing through to become more imaginative, the model and light-box continuously moved. Skills such as photographing in vivid and monochrome creating a warm yellow or pure white background were practised, along with the adjustment of light-box dials exposing certain features of the model. Getting a silhouette to begin with was difficult, issues with ISO in parallel to the setup along with shutter speed, though constantly changing and experimenting I had my desired result. A skill developed which I have been using since practised with is white balance. As my photography is landscape based, there is a golden, warm lighting setting that is evident through a collection of my photos, taken at similar times of when there is a sunrise. Experimenting with white balance under 'Direct sunlight' highlighted this on a technical level, and I have noticed a difference in photographing. I would like to try photographing with other white balance settings such as 'Cloudy' and 'Tungestan'
I have experimented within a new software under production, this being Bookwright along with skill development in Adobe Photoshop through the editing of my final photography. As the software is specific to the website Blurb, there was some difficulty (as stated earlier) with the fact that I had to use one specific Mac in college (and laptop at home) as the software was downloaded there and would take up too much time to download on all Mac's. This also meant that the software was unused by peers before, and was completely new to myself. Many practical skills have therefore not only been learnt in this software, but about designing as a whole. The following points include the skills I have learnt in both Bookwright and Adobe Photoshop.

Bookwright-
Border lines, pixelations of photographs, layout templates, background colours and covers.
The border lines within Bookwright indicate where the book will roughly be trimmed. All photographs that were to be made the background must pass the line, or there may be a white line on the page. The skill learnt here included viewing and making sure all photos hit the end of the page, especially in between pages at the spine.
Pixelation's of photographs was a issue that appeared a few times within the book. Adjusting photos in Photoshop also affected this at times.
Though not used, there were many layouts and templates provided by Bookwright that included photographs overlapping each other / being the recommended size Bookwright recommends for pixelation.
An aesthetic skill of being aware when a photograph suits to be fitted for an entire page was one acquired, this also contributing to designing as a whole subject. The same applied for background colours, I feel a skill that must be improved - matching the embedded photograph to a suitable background colour, this done well on page 22/23 under 'culture' but not so well on page 20/21. This being an element of the book that requires improvement, and a designing skill that I will improve for future creative projects.

20/21

22/23

Designing the covers, a simplistic style and approach was taken, this requiring design skills and a visual eye for centre alignments, fonts of text, and colours. I found designing the front cover of the book with my mentor Scott challenging, as a pastel colour was desired to sum up the vibrancy that follows inside, along with ensuring the front text matches well. The centre text of 'the art of dreaming' adds emphasis, this also done on the page including the quote 'for the daydreamers and creative leaders of the world.'  Concluding with this simplistic style in mind, the final decision after documentation of different colours of both the background and text was made - grey text for all design pages and a pastel, baby blue - 230R, 246G, and 255B for all background design pages. One issue I found once the product arrived was the missed continuity of grey text on the back dust jacket cover, including the photograph of myself. I found the text also to be too big. In response and development for future projects, I should carefully check not just the inside content pages, but the dust jacket and design pages.


The opportunity to use other Adobe software's such as in-design was available, for example, when designing the front and back cover of the book. However, due to timing I found I could not use the software and overall evaluate that I can use it in future projects, as I plan to continue the photography route and have enjoyed the process of producing with design and experimenting with layouts of photography.


Adobe Photoshop
A software I am however familiar with is Adobe Photoshop, though I have developed and learnt new processes. This includes the patch tool, camera raw filter, eyedropper tool and black and white adjustment.
Patch tool
The ending photograph of the book consists of a photograph with wording of 'the future is.' As the end of the book is open, I wanted to include a photograph that symbolises the future and this photograph does so,though not all words match the context - the photo consists of 'the future of travel is bright' and I had removed 'the travel' using the patch tool in Photoshop. As the background of the poster with text was black, using the tool was easy to use as I simply moved the selected text to the right. I have therefore learnt how to use a new tool within the software, one in which I was previously unaware of.



Camera raw filter 
A challenge I had faced embedding photographs was the brightness and exposure of them. This being an issue as printing requires them to be bright, as shown in Bookwright under the option 'enhance image,' where Bookwright applies and recommends the suggested brightness. Using the 'adjustment' setting category including settings such as hue, saturation and brightness I found was not detailed enough for this final photography. Through surrounding peers, I further found the Camera Raw Filter setting. This found under the filter drop down bar, and includes settings such as highlights, shadows, blacks and whites. These are not found under the 'adjustment' tab, and make a difference to the background brightness of photography. Being aware of background brightness for printing is a skill I have acquired about design, though I would further like to expand my knowledge on printing overall.

Black and white adjustment 
For the beginning of my book, the design and aesthetic of black and white has been applied to symbolise the world and society before the dream starts. When on location and not using the Nikon D7200 setting of monochrome, I had the post production stage to make the photographs black and white. This has therefore been applied in Adobe Photoshop, under image - adjustments and black and white. I have learnt how to adjust the greyscale of this depending on the red, yellow, green etc. saturation on the actual photograph.

Eyedropper fill 
On page 18/19 of the book, I have designed the pages so that the left spread matches the right spread background, this being the silhouette of the hand background matching the background of the model. I decided to design the page this way as I feel it looks visually pleasing, the settings on the camera alongside a grey background and colour of the models scarf giving a dull in between pink and magenta tone which continues for both pages. To do so, I had eye-dropped the photograph of the model background and painted a new 5x7cm white background. then using the paint tool to cover the whole page in the same colour. Though a few attempts, I had a colour that looked most similar to the backdrop. This page to the final was one with pixelation issues, though as it was just a page with a colour, I felt the pixelation would be fine. I found that there was no issue when the book arrived, though in future designing situations I will ensure all pages, in terms of dimensions and aesthetic qualities, are to the best standard as recognise and recommended by said software.

Independently concluding I feel I have learnt many skills in Adobe Photoshop and Bookwright, though for future design and photography situations I would like to develop my technical design skills further and use another Adobe software.

Audience response
The response to the art of dreaming by audience members was mostly positive, with some feedback provided about the clarity of the storyline. I have asked individuals studying media to take part in a questionnaire, these also being people who have seen the book.

The results indicate that the storyline of the book needs improving and possibly more clarity in terms of symbolising worldly issues to a bigger extent, an example of an element which can be improved to show this issue is on page 5/6, the photograph of bottles and plastic in water. This could have been taken at a larger scale, a photograph of a landfill or photographs of bottles in a bigger ocean, though time would also need to be considered.

Positive elements from the book however as indicated are the design and photographs, with further improvements needed again for the clarity of the storyline. Though some good and impactful quotes, represented by the 14.3% chosen poetry.

The medium in which I have explored,this being photo-books, has a tough and as researched independent audience, shown through a majority of the audience possibly buying photo-books as a whole at 28.6% though majority not at 42.9%

The overall response to the book however has shown to be that there are good features and the audience would therefore buy, producing an overall successful product from my previous research.

Response from technicians and teachers also included the fact that the book could sell to members of staff or audiences similar. If given a reasonable amount, the book could be ordered again in specific numbers to sell to audience members, therefore making profit from the product.

Distribution 
In terms of next steps for my book, distribution comes into account to wider audiences and the wider world.
An interesting point had been made under audience research in the pre-production stage of my book, this being about poetry books and the poetry medium being competitive, "1.3 million adults engaging with the genre between 2015-2016." This may be the case when distributing, making it difficult in comparison to wider poetry books by professional poets, though also giving it a good platform. As the art of dreaming is also a photo-book, audiences may be intrigued by the link between the both. As researched, there is not much competition between photo-books, giving the art of dreaming a balance of both. The book could be distributed to my primary audience of photographers, along with the availability on platforms such as Instagram. As researched and seen for Note to self and Whiskey, words and a shovel II, Instagram has users who are intrigued into poetry, along with aesthetic purposes. A further platform would be WeHeartIt, due to the aesthetic of the photographs, catering for the audience who enjoy taking photos of and with aesthetic objects and pieces of work.
In terms of making profit from the book, I would advertise it through promoted adverts on Instagram or through wider things such as billboards - advertising one powerful quote, most likely along the subject of a worldly subject with a photograph. Though this may be a place my primary audience aged individuals would see, it would be effective in terms of raising awareness about said issue, therefore intriguing people to see or know more into the product. A page with meaning expressed not too heavily in a complex manner would be advertised, due to the idea of audience members seeing something quickly and needing to be attracted at that initial moment. The website Blurb also allows you to sell with them, my book further looking professional and that it could be sold with the barcode on the back cover.

Next steps, media producer
Developing into the future, I would like to continue the medium of photography and further with film under the cinematography route, staying on the same route of cameras and a visual eye. Leading upto this, I also have an interest in working in lighting for stage production. Developing into next year, I would like to experiment with more photography types both in the studio, such as projection photography and on location, such as portraiture. I would also like to produce a moving image piece to introduce the photography project, for example, the trailer Connor Franta has for his book Note to self. I feel doing this will highlight skills I have in Adobe Premiere Pro and will demonstrate skills I have learnt in editing as developed over the year through experimentation with visual effects. This project has given me skills in designing and ideas on the distribution of photography, along with teaching me that my own skills, in particular in landscape photography, can be improved the more practise is undertaken, and the more practise with settings such as aperture and white balance can make a difference. Personal styles can also be an advantaged and professional thing to master. Elements holding me back would be more to do with post production editing in Adobe Photoshop along with stepping out of my comfort zone more with landscape photography. To overcome this, I feel next year I could challenge myself to photograph various people and elements, in both the studio and location along with researching further into photographic types, then editing these photos and becoming more familiar in Photoshop.

Overall notes I have made and concluded about my book include the following, the art of dreaming has therefore been a insightful project to undertake.

Final book - the art of dreaming.

My final product of a photobook, the art of dreaming, has arrived under the estimated time of a week. The following video flicks through all content and design pages. 

Whole book - final page development

Viewing the pages for the final time before uploading, I found some adjustments to be made in terms of removing and adding pages alongside ensuring no spelling mistakes, alignment of text to the desired area and photographs, for example, reaching the end of the page for background pages or being equal distance from the left, right, bottom and top placement of the page. I found most adjustments being made for photographs reaching the end of pages alongside text being inside the print safe area (purple border as seen in previous screenshots)

Going on location, I had taken some portraiture photos I enjoyed, therefore felt they would be visually pleasing within the book. This specifically being page 24 /25. I felt the models actions of looking down to up was appropriate to 'realising' something, this being under the 'culture' theme, therefore linking well to the concept of 'realising' who you are on the inside and the beauty that holds, overall indicating confidence for readers and being proud, on the inside, as to where they come from, and adding background as to where said quote came from.

Constant adjustments and considerations had been made between page 26 and 27, though finalising I had decided to keep the spread due to the aesthetic of the silhouette pointing at the quote and photograph, the black and white ending the 'culture' theme and beginning the fellowship theme well  alongside demonstrating techniques learnt in the photography studio. The spread is a good introduction to fellowship as the silhouettes are in black and white therefore you cannot see the colour of both individuals or what they fully look like, showing no judgement for who you are, culturally and for who you love. 

Again on location under the art theme, I felt the photographs followed on page 42/43 were vibrant and of buildings and streets, being more obvious and linking to the concept of streets being full of life well. Photographic techniques of symmetry on page 42 and shallow depth of field on page 43 are demonstrated as a reflection of what I have practised and learnt technically in photography over the previous units.  Due to the size of the book - 33cm by 28cm, the photos had to be cropped to a certain square level. This may be aesthetically evident, though I will reflect on the result once the physical form arrives. 

The book takes 7 days to print and be shipped to my location. I found that the finalising stages of printing were fast and easy, though the software required updating first. The uploading process consisted of 4 stages - Signing in, selecting what to upload, reviewing the book including spelling mistakes and pixalation errors, finally rendering all content to then pay.

Previews and information on book details is as followed. The final book has 52 pages, 33x28cm in the form of a large landscape. 

A slight 3.D version of the book is available at this point, this however only being for the front cover and flicking of pages. The dust jacket is not put into context, though the website showing a preview of the final pages is visually assuring. I found the uploading process straightforward along with the shipping and printing timescale being a huge advantage under the site.

Page development - dust jacket

A dust jacket of a book is the outer detachable cover, placed over the front book cover in paper format.

Choosing this option as hardback, I have started to design the front and back cover of it. Looking at professional books alongside my mentor, we found that an introduction to the author themselves is common, therefore including a introduction to myself on the front jacket cover. At first, figuring out and imagining how the 3.D version of the front cover of the actual book, front of the jacket and black linen page option would be placed, this causing confusion and more room for thought about where the introduction to myself would be alongside the introduction of the book and further attributes to include, further ensuring the design stays simplistic.

Intro to myself -
Writing the introduction to myself was challenging, the tone of whats being said needing to be parallel to the tone of the introduction of the book. The English not being too formal, but somewhat poetic to match the consistency of tone within the writing of the book. Design wise, I was unsure as to whether to keep the introduction writing onto the next dusk jacket cover as it was empty. Through discussions with audience members and my mentor, I had concluded not to as it would not make sense though done by many authors- A mentioned point that this is a photo book with a simplistic style, and does not require overflowing amounts of text - an art to the design. The background colour for all design pages also will stay the same. The text begins with capital letters in comparison to the rest of the book, alongside a specific black and white portrait photograph. These actions undertaken due to the professionalism of an introduction and whats said being different from other pieces of writing.

Quote and spine -
Developing from the introduction, I had decided to embed a quote, using punctuation quotation marks for the concept of it being something famously said and being notable, alongside a pleasing aesthetic. The centre alignment gives the quote space to stand out with higher emphasis on whats said, the context of the quote linking to the title of the book. The colour of text is the initial grey experimented with for the front cover. This grey being the colour of text for the title, alongside this text. As the placement of this quote is by itself, the size is slightly bigger with font Proxima nova. Staying consistent with design, this font is the same as the pages within the book.
The spine of the book follows with the title and my name, the same grey and Proxima Nova font. One issue I found with the software was the inability to view the book as a 3.D option. I felt this may have added clarity for design, alongside font sizing as this was a challenge to imagine for places like the spine as the design is on a screen. I had therefore decided to keep the sizing of font for the spine the same as text within the book, this being 14.

Page development 6 - two design pages

Start two design pages - 1 spread

The start two pages introduce what will happen within the story line of the book throughout the upcoming pages.

The bokeh photograph on page 2 represents a photographic skill, along with an abstract way of beginning the book - the photo does not have any set connotations, purely abstract. Writing the 'about' of the book was challenging, summing up the story line alongside the purpose of it in the tone of myself. Discussing this attribute with my mentor, this page was needed to make the book more professional and act as an introduction for the audience, something that one would buy. Though unplanned previously, I feel this is one of the most important attributes for the book and allows me to engage with the topic of books and publishing in a professional contextual manner.

Layout wise, I have aligned the text in the centre as I feel it's importance takes up the whole foreground. The initial font being Volkorn, a text experimented with at the beginning of my research.

Improvements to this page have been made. As I photographed a sunrise at 4/5am and liked the photograph, I embedded it onto page 3 behind the text. The dark tone of the photograph including a silhouette of trees has caused a change in text colour, now being white. I feel that the concept behind this photograph also has personal meaning, watching a sunrise. The background colour is now black as it blends in well with the bokeh photograph. Though I also feel the page before further additions / some improvements was more simplistic, this spread is aesthetic and worth experimenting with for viewing once printed. The text font has stayed with Volkorn, following through from previous research. The text is different to the front cover font - Crimson text and inside pages - Proxima nova as it is's layout is different - the most writing is on this page, alongside a desired consistency in experimentation of fonts. Sizing previously being 24, changed to 18.
One aesthetic element which is subtle yet visually strong is one singular bokeh light on page 3 at the bottom left corner, linking to the whole effect on page 2.

purposes of blogger
Structuring the text was also an important attribute, "change is needed" being on a separate line to the rest of the writing as it is the main message I want to get across for readers of this book.

End two pages - 1 spread
On the topic of change, the book has an open ending on how we should improve as a society and the 'future' being bright, therefore leaving suspense for the audience on the final pages. Through discussions with my mentor, a decision of using a timescale from the continuous timings throughout the book has been made, allowing the times to be highlighted to the fullest extent at this moment, with punctuation and the next timescale up leading to what possibly comes next.

Developing this page, I had also learnt a new skill within Photoshop, this being the use of the patch tool. As the photograph on page 51 did not contextually link due to a few words, I had removed them. I had no knowledge on the use of this tool previously, however I have been using it since as a progression skill. Other adjustments such as Camera Raw filter settings have also been applied.

after

before

Page development - journey ending  
Reflecting the beginning of the book where the journey begins, the layout and phrasing of the 'journey ending' page is parallel through the selection of ideas from using the time and one lined sentence, overall contributing to the simplistic style. A considerable thought about this spread included the photograph on page 48 - if the photograph would have technically been better with the bokeh effect, etc. The time of 6:30am represents when the character wakes up. 

The last poem of the book is one of the longest with a meaningful end message for the audience. A reflection to the beginning of the book is again made through both the writing and photograph -

Start                    End 

'golden hour'       'golden future'

sunset photo       sunrise photo 

Christopher Poindexter

When writing the last poem of the book, I found I needed an example for the structuring of words. When researching, I found a poet called Christopher Poindexter. Born in 1991, the poet, and author, is most known for his poetry books titled 'Old soul love,' 'Lavender: A romantic series' and 'Naked human.'  Common themes found in his poetry include romance, nature, life and heartbreak. One thing I found most interesting about his work included the layout and format of text, as all of his poetry is written in font 'american typewriter' along with his exploration of themes being similar to ones explored within my book. The structuring of text from a professional poet was the element I had been attempting to research, though I found Poindexter's work notable and in perfect link to the poetry element overall. 

  

The structuring of text such as the example below plays a big role when reading poetry and emphasises certain emotions. An independent reflection and improvement point I have for the writing of this book along with for future design and layout related projects, being more experimentation with layouts of text, as done (e.g) on page 4 and 5 of the 'cracks' image. 

Taking inspiration from Poindexter, I have structured the text so that 'love unconditionally' is the last point to be read. This being the overall biggest positive message, requiring most emphasis by itself.  Experimentation with more rhyme had also been taken into account,  structuring the text in the tone of an audience member and ensuring the words had rhythm when reading - e.g 'again, friend. need, please.'

Styling two, Front and back cover

Finishing the content under the themes of the book and clarifying the story line as much as possible, I have now started to design the book with the help of my mentor. This design includes the name of the book along with colours, fonts and texts of the front and back cover.

Starting off, the name of the book was discussed. Previous notations I had being -

- the exploration of society
- dream
- the art of dreaming

with new considered names such as -

- the power of dreaming
- imagination
- daydream
- the art of dreaming
- fantasies

Continuing through, I decided to use 'the art of dreaming.' Close names I wanted to use being 'the power of dreams' and 'daydream' I felt that 'the art of dreaming' was most appropriate, using the word 'art' as the hardback is an art form alongside 'art' being a theme in the story line. The concept of a dream leads the whole book, and I had a desire to keep the title simplistic.

As the book holds various colours and photographs, going alongside the simplistic aesthetic, we had decided to keep the front cover a simple, pastel colour with just the title placed in the foreground.  I feel that a vibrant colour or simple photo could not sum up the entire narrative. Due to the sunrise/sunset theme and golden lighting approach carried throughout in my photography, we had first experimented with warm yellow colours. Reflecting on this as a personal notation, I have realised a personal style developed in my practical photography, being a golden lighting look - this being an aspect in my photography that has developed through the process of photographing for this project.

Though the concept behind using this colour made sense, aesthetically the colour did not match and gave the book a old, sepia colour. This yellow also portraying young children or baby colour connotations.

Continuing experimenting with pastel colours under a similar golden look, I had changed the green/blue filter slightly more, giving more of a pink pigmentation. I also found, visually this did not look successful.

A colour from this I had considered more was a peach/ pink, I found this more appealing as it was lighter and would not clash with further coloured photographs in the book.

The pink / purple pigmentation was one in which I experimented with a few times due to the results and complimentary aesthetic they gave, leading me onto a lavender, purple colour. Though I also visually enjoyed this colour, I felt it was not low-hued enough.

 Suggested by others was a more delicate grey. I found that this colour contradicted the meaning inside the book as the photographs and certain backgrounds are high in saturation and vibrance. Although, I liked the colour for certain text, possibly for the dust jacket text and actual cover text.

Colours on the chart I had not yet experimented with yet included the green/blue spectrum. When viewing I found these more visually fitting, overall coming to the independent conclusion of 230R, 246G, and 255B. I found this subtle blue most aesthetically pleasing and professional, along with having associations with a blue sky. I felt that this links to the concept of looking up when dreaming, along with the colour being uplifting in relation to the positive attributes within the book.

The simplistic vibe continues by keeping the back of the book clear, simply with a barcode and same light toned colour.

Text fonts - 
As the text of the whole book is lowercase due to the usual style of poetry book being lowercase along with the aesthetic of lower cased letters indicating a form of informalness towards my target audience, the front cover will also be lower. The first considered font for the front cover was 'Avenir' I found this font to be quite bold, though considerable.

'Proxima nova'
Proxima nova being the font used for all text within the book, I had further experimented with the visuals of it on the front page. I felt it again gave an effortless form and was considerable, though I wanted to experiment with  a different font for this page in comparison to the whole book.

'Charter'
A further font titled charter was available with a strict, similar form to the following font, though due to software issues the text is no longer available.

'Crimson text'
The final font and decision made is for Crimson text. I feel that the writing notation of letters visually seems straight and strict, and gives a professional approach. The sizing of the text at 24 filling up the foreground of the front page alongside my name. Design wise, the title, background and font fit the natural style of what I visually planned.