Evaluation

­­­­­This module was a great introduction to self publishing which surely is an inherent skill of the photographic industry and which I as future photographer would like to develop. Also, to me, one of the main advantages of this project is the fact that I learned how to use Adobe InDesign which I have never used before. In addition to this, this module allowed me to develop my skills and expand on my knowledge in terms of presenting my work in certain, considered order creating visual and thematic continuity. I personally enjoyed this project as it covered broad range of different subjects (e.g. photography, typography, design)

Image Editing- photoshop post-processing stages

I would like to show the way I edited my images. My aim was to produce a quite vintage 'analogue' look as I believe this style reflects the senility of photographed buildings.

original 'raw' b&w image

In terms of tones and contrast my editing was mainly based on using curves.

this is a rough curve setting I mostly applied to all my images. I gives a stronger contrast but also brightens the black parts of an image adding a little bit of 'analogue film camera' feel to it.

Before and after the curves

As I was very inspired by Tomasz Gudzowaty's work who uses a selective focusing technique I decided to play with blur filters and aplly them around the corners of an image giving a little bit more plasticity.

My final stage was to add some grain to emulate the film grain.

To get the best resoult I used a 'linear light' blend mode to apply the grain texture to my image.

Front Cover- reverse side

During working on my book, most of the time I was sure to leave the front cover reverse sides blank and pure white. However, some day I got a great idea to use one of my images as a double-page spread and create nice reverse of the front cover, inviting and encouraging the reader to flick through the next pages.

Book layout & Back Cover

This is a quick explanation of my book layout. As it is supposed to be a monograph type of book I decided to keep it quite clear by putting single image and text on separate pages. Most of the pages in my book will keep to this layout.

* In my book I also may include some double-page spreads containing more than one image per page.

BACK COVER

The back cover will contain a text about what the book is about and short explanation of my intentions and the purpose of this book.

Book Cover- my decision

This is my final idea for the book cover. I decided to keep the font quite simple and clear. I chose this font (stereofildic) as it has those interesting arrows pointing down which in the case of my book may represent the economic decline. I think that the overall design works quite well as the bacground does not distract and does no dominate the title but functions as the visual introduction and guide about what the book is going to be about.

Final book cover

Book Cover- type experimentation

Here I'd like to show some experimentation with different fonts on my book cover. I was searching for a font which will visualy match the word 'stasis'

Fonts

dafont is a great website containing variety of great fonts. I am sure this website is extremely useful for those who search for unconventional solutions in terms of typography and design.


http://www.dafont.com/

Serif and Sans Serif is the main division in terms of font types.

Consider the following characters. The first is set in Georgia, a lovely serif font. The second is set in Verdana, an easy- to-read sans-serif font.
Notice the small decorative flourishes at the ends of the strokes in the left character. These are called serif. The right character does not have these strokes and is said to be in a sans-serif font. ( Sans is the French word for without.)
Times New Roman is a commonly used serif font. Arial is a commonly used sans-serif font.


d- serif

d- sans serif

Book Covers- my designs

For my book cover I decided to use some of my images that will be included in the book. I experimented in different ways by cropping them exposing just some interesting parts of an image or by creating a photographic collage.

My Book Description

My book is going to be in a landscape format as it will give me more space to present both landscape and portrait formats. My plan is to keep my book design quite simple, minimalist and functional as it will reflect the idea of communist tawdriness, (bauhaus) simplicity and functionality as the main priority in those days.

my book template

Right side of the template will be dedicated just for images. On the left side I am goin to write short captions or quotes regarding the image. Also I might add some decorative graphics that will link to a text.


e.g. (drops going down the page reflecting 'drying clothes')

InDesign Research

As I have never used InDesign  Before I started working on my actual book on the computer I decided to search for some tutorials  and guides in the internet. They realy help me to understand the interface and basic functions of this sofware. Actually It turned out that it's very simmilar to the Adobe Illustrator which I used a little bit in college.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8Va6Ppcqb8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cbGwGWTgqs&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCxb7-KPNOE
http://designm.ag/tutorials/indesign/
http://layersmagazine.com/category/tutorials/indesign

Book Designs

Here are some examples of different book layouts and cover designs.

Book title- 'The Stasis'

My idea for the title is 'The Stasis' reflectingthe economic, (in some cases also mental) stagnation and aesthetic negligence of photographed locations.

Also convergence of letters in word 'Stasis' create visually strong graphics which  will allow me to use some creativity at the stage of designing the actual book cover.

'The Stasis'

Images

These are my initial images. My aim was to focus on architectual aspects of neglected buildings as well as on strong ephasized textures and atmospheric dark tones.

Nicolas Grospierre - research

Nicolas Grospierre is a photographer from Geneva currently living in Warsaw. In his work he is mainly interested in architecture in its socialist and modernist form. I looked at his work and I found some similarity in terms of theme. In one of his projects He photographed post-communist buildings in very simple form by standing with the camera right opposite them and capturing flat front wall.

(http://www.grospierre.art.pl/portfolio/kolorobloki/#/1)

Nicolas Grospierre

My photograph

*Throughout my series I also want to show the post-communist remains and the economical stagnacy in the city.