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.'