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​ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS

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It was important to evaluate ethical considerations right from the beginning of this project as the content to be presented within the mini books contains photographs taken in the intimate setting of each interviewee's bedroom. For this reason, consent forms were filled out by each interviewee giving permission for their respective content to be used. The anonymity of each interviewee was also maintained before Mila handed it over to the One Thing Collection team, by changing the names of those involved. The content was then only transferred after each team member signed the ethics forms.

As designers, we ensured that the work was done methodically whilst protecting the ethical integrity of the research . We did this by downloading each book's content onto the university storage to work from and ensuring that no images or content from Mila's interviews were saved onto personal devices. Each book's content was transferred between the design team and Mila via WeTransfer, a file sharing platform that deletes the content after two weeks to ensure that it remains secure. 

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SOCIALLY CONSCIOUS DESIGN

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Socially Conscious design or 'Socially responsible design [...] is generally characterized by attitudes that value justice, equality, participation, sharing, sustainability, and practices that intentionally engage social issues and recognize the consequences of decisions and actions.' - (Mangold, n.d.) 

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Once the design process had begun, the idea was introduced that the mini books should be as socially conscious as the design concept for the 'One Thing Collection' and we jumped at the chance to be able to marry the two together. In this instance, when mentioning socially conscious design, we are referring to the consideration of design choices to ensure that the books are visually accessible to a wide audience.

With this in mind, the design team thought very carefully about the choices made within different aspects of the book. Examples of considered aspects include easily readable font size and type, the contrast between the background and the text, and paper colour and density. 

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BOOK SIZE

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One thing that was heavily discussed throughout the design process was the book size, this really developed as the project progressed.

When first brainstorming ideas, we looked at a few examples of photo books to gauge what sort of size we could see our books being printed in. After a couple of workshops, the team initially decided that it would be most aesthetically appealing and unique to design a book that was slightly smaller than A5 size. The reason behind this was that we believed that the pictures would look more pleasing formatted onto pages of this size, also when discussed with the print bureau we were advised that this would be easily achievable.

However, as the project progressed we reconsidered this decision due to concerns over how this would affect readability with font sizing.

If we were to create a book this size along with a font size 12 - a size used universally due to its clear readability when printed, the text would take up a lot more of the page and would not flow as well aesthetically. With that in mind, it was decided that an A5 book would be a more suitable size to allow for a clear layout with photographs and text.

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THE TEXT

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Each book contains images of garments within each interviewee's wardrobe, alongside this is a transcript of the conversation between Mila and each woman to illustrate the emotions and memories related to the respective garment. When considering adding text into the books, each designer presented a typeface that we felt suitable for the book. Once again, as we shared design influences, we all agreed upon the inclusion of a simple, minimal typeface. Through trial and error, we decided upon the following: 

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• The font should be a consistent size 12 throughout the books as this size is used universally in print. It is easy to read, aesthetically pleasing and allows enough space for images alongside text, even if the books are printed in A5.

• As there is a difference between viewing text on a screen and viewing printed text, the typeface should be serif  (recommended for print) as a pose to sans-serif (recommended for on-screen), as this will be easier to read. Originally, we had trialled a few varieties of sans-serif fonts as we were viewing on-screen, favouring Futura light or Helvetica due to their simple, modern aesthetic. However, we then decided upon serif font 'Garamond' as the majority of our focus would be upon the mini books, which are destined for print. (We have now decided to use a version of the same typeface for this website to allow consistency within the branding, it is the overall consensus that it works within this format.)

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SPACING

 

The amount of text and images within each book will vary depending upon what was retrieved during Mila's interviews.

With this in mind, we knew that spacing things out well would add greatly to the overall flow of the book. As with many of the images pinned to our pinterest board, we wanted to format each page with a lot of white space so that the images and text could speak for themselves in a true 'photobook style'. Many of the books and magazines we looked at for inspiration utilised this technique and we felt it would be appropriate to apply it to our own project.

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In terms of spacing the text within the books, we discussed a few options and determined that in order to continue with the theme of socially conscious design and enhancing readability, it would work well to increase the spacing between the lines of text within the books and to lay the text out in one block per page rather than complicating it with columns. By doing this, the aim is to allow the reader's eyes to follow the text so that it would flow naturally making it very user-friendly. 

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PAPER CHOICE

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To add texture and interest to the mini books, we discussed the option of including a variety of different paper types and weights. These included tracing paper (perhaps to lay illustrations over photos outlining areas of detail and wear of the garments), card, recycled paper and coloured paper for title pages (perhaps a different colour for each book).

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We also thought about how the aesthetic would differ between the use of white and off white paper. The thought process behind this was that black text on white paper can be quite harsh on the eyes, which some people may struggle to read i.e. dyslexia sufferers or elderly readers. However, black text on off-white paper or a dark grey text on white paper is much easier on the eyes. More information regarding this concept can be found here and here. With this in mind, we have now tested this idea through print samples. 

We chose that the place most suited to our printing needs was the print bureau due to the wide selection of papers available and ease of access for edits throughout the printing process. Whilst in the print bureau, we also queried about the paper available for the book. As a group, we favoured the recycled paper (20p) and the grey paper (5p) in the sample book. The recycled paper obviously holds the most resonance with the project as it is sustainable and it also has a nice off-white shade to it. However, when looking at the test sample, we noticed that when there was an image printed on it, the paper was slightly see through. We decided that we would definitely benefit from a heavier weighted paper, this one was 80gsm so we would be looking at one around 120-150gsm. A heavier weighted paper would have a more high quality feel, be more durable to be used within Mila's exhibition and would hold the fabric samples better. The only problem was that the print bureau did not have any in stock, they said that they would enquire for us, but if that doesn't work out, we may have to use the grey paper. 

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ADDING TEXTILES

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We also decided that as this project was focused upon the garments, it would add interest to create a tangible aspect of fabric samples within the book. Although the garments themselves could not be taken apart and added to the book, it would be interesting to crop sections of patterned fabric within the research photos and sublimation print them onto fabric to give the reader an insight into what that fabric might look or feel like to it's owner. You can read about and watch this process here.

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PRINTING & BINDING CONSIDERATIONS

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Another thing we thought about was the process of printing and binding the mini books. We looked at lots of examples of photo books and magazines and thought about how different methods could apply to our project. We knew that we wanted something that had a clean, organic feel to it but as the mini books do not contain many pages, it could potentially limit our options. 

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The binding options we discussed were:

• Single leaf binding with glue - the advantage of this being that we would not have to work out where pages fell if we used a variety of different papers, the disadvantage being that the minimum number of pages is 20 and pages can fall out, possibly not suitable for use in the exhibition.

• Stapling - this would hold the pages well but would be quite harsh aesthetically, not so 'on brand' with the look we are going for.

• A single white line of stitching down the middle using an industrial sewing machine - this would be aesthetically pleasing and fit in nicely with the textile aspect of the book, but may tear easily if lots of people were to look through the books at the exhibition and would not allow for much editing.

• Leaving the pages loose / using a loop of elastic to pull around the 'spine' - this would mean that the book remained live and editable so it would be possible to keep adding to it, fitting in well with the branding of the 'One Thing Collection', however pages may be lost.

 

For printing, we decided upon using the print bureau as it is easily accessible to us and could be done fairly quickly as long as there were no queues. It would also allow for any possible problems to be addressed during the printing process, so possibly saving time and money where mistakes may be made. 

Mila also mentioned www.blurb.com and www.artefactuprising.com as book printing websites. They may have produced a more professional looking outcome, however they would not have allowed for a variety of papers to be used.

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We also decided upon leaving the pages loose rather than binding the book as the concept of a 'live book' fit in much better with the One Thing Collection design concept.

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DIGITAL PUBLISHING

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Due to costing and time constraints, it was decided that we would not be able to hand in physical copies of every single book. Because of this, we will print between one and three minibooks and then submit the remaining copies virtually. As we are not keen on the idea of submitting a separate link with the module hand in, Mila suggested that we upload all minibooks digitally to issuu.com so that we can self publish our work and add it on to the website. This will allow us to submit everything in an organised manner, with every aspect of the project easily accessible.

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THE PROCESS

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