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Final FMP hand in.. (PDF book)

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Final FMP statement

On the 23rd March 2020 we were all plunged into the unknown. The so called ‘Lockdown’ began and the world as we knew it changed. Or in fact shrunk. We were frozen in time, stuck where we were, with those we were with, and with ourselves, (whoever we might have been at the moment). To an extent, we are all used to our freedom, freedom to go where we wish, see what and who we please, or even not see at all. Pretty quickly, I had to get used to the idea that; what ever world I was in, was going to be a constant for the unforeseeable future, It was out of my control. I would get frustrated, bored and depressed thinking to myself; “If I cant see and do new things, how am I living? What is there to look forward too?” I knew at the time this was one of the the biggest tests I had faced within myself, I knew I was the only one who could control my outlook, my emotional state, I would be the difference between happy and sad, living and wasting time. Then and there I made a choice to stop expecting more form the world because it had become ‘smaller’, but to observe deeper, wait longer and question harder. Acknowledge that the world is only as big as I make it.

In many ways I felt like a child again, stopped from going out, having fun and feeling independent. How does a child cope with this kind of restriction? And how on earth are they all the more excited and free because of it? The answer was right in front of me, although it took me some time to see its obviousness… Imagination! The act of making more out of what is there, inventing ‘things’ and emotions, an unbiased questioning of everything they see, touch and smell. I had lost my sympathy for the modest, my time for the slow and my interest in the ordinary. Slowly I started to see things, thinking to myself “what would you see, if you had never seen this before?” How lucky am I to have this as my constant, as my ‘normal’. 

Above everything, I saw my environment, my house and my garden, as the magical wonderland it is and has always been. Things and places both obvious and hidden. How different angles, light and my own mood could create completely different storylines within my mind. In many ways, I was forced to go places I hadn't been since I was a child, reading books I hadn't touched in over a decade and having conversations I once thought of as trivial. I found beautiful poetry written by my late grandpa and stories from my own childhood imagination, teleporting me right back to being a six year old; A time where my miniature world was infinite! 

I was so consumed by these discoveries and their effect on me, I saw no option but to dedicate my FMP to what my mind was constantly pondering. It became a passion of mine, to discover new places, take time to look and illustrate them form my mind’s eye and write stories about them form the depths of my childish imagination. The more I saw, drew and wrote, the more I found myself speaking about them, sharing them with my family and my friends. Unwittingly, I was creating a kind of dialogue, a pastime that documented snapshots of emotion and narrative. 

Though out the third year I had been hesitant to set my intentions for my FMP in stone, I didn't really know how I could climax my degree and still be true to myself as a designer. I’m not by any means big and bold when it comes to my work, I love the adrenaline rush of new ideas, inquisitively observing what I see and ‘know’, meticulously researching the obscurities that surround us, and above all cleaning up, finishing and making ‘beautiful’. What I have produced allowed me, in my own time and within my own space, to indulge in all of the above!

I have produced a book for my FMP, handing in a mock-up of the final printed, A5 hardcover. Which I intend to add too though out my time in lockdown and beyond. So that when, once again I have access to a high quality printer and binder, I can (in person) work closely with the printers to produce a series of impeccable physical copies. 

From the beginning, I was sure of what I was making, and that I was making it for me and my future self. However as time went on, the book has become something of a talking point for all who know me. I have found myself promising people updates on its progress, telling them the stories I have written, and somehow promising them their own personal copy. My book and what I have produced has become more than a personal indulgence, it has acted as a therapy, a narrative when there wasn't one. It represents a little bit of everyone and everything involved in my life, fragments of their own stories, helping them see, escape and appreciate as much as me.

It’s beauty is that it can mean nothing to someone in a hectic ‘normal’ world, but everything to those who have learnt to slow down and see.            

Lucy Alexander

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Cover ‘MOCK-UPs’

Experimenting with my line drawing, to see what it would look like in place on the cover of my book. Editing the black line to a golden hue, I wanted to resemble the golf leaf input four doc vintage hard cover books. 

I would ideally like my book cover to be a green/grey colour, stretched canvas texture as in the stock image examples I have used. 

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FRONT COVER

For the front cover of my book I really want a simple symbol or image that signifies my house, its character and its style. 

To me one of the most significant pieces of design/architecture is my windows and door frames found all though-out my house, indoor and out. They are so symbolic or my houses’ character, I can't think of anything that would sum it but better- more ‘poetically’ if you like.

Fine Liner drawing:

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More Compositional inspiration

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(Some) Final Drawings

Bellow are my final shaded, scanned and photoshopped drawings.

I adjusted the contrast, Levels, curves and colour balance to achieve a completely monochrome finish. I am weary of increasing the contrast of the images too much as when they are scaled down, the contrast will increase and drawings marks (cross hatching) will be less visual. (I really like to be able to see the lines and marks of the pen - Reminiscence to the old books I have referenced).  

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More Water colour experiments

These two not unlike the rest I feel just look amateur, like kids drawings, and not that colouring them in differently or shading them using as different technique (cross hatching for example) will change that, but I do think adding dimension in a different way will ad quality to these quite basic drawings. Pay homage to the vintage books I am looking to for inspiration. 

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Playing with composition

This is early stages but I wanted to show how I have been separating out lines of text in order to animate it, much like that in the before mentioned books. (A.I.W and W.T.P)

I like the idea of playing with text composition, animating words scouring to their reading, Hopefully giving the reader a visual (dyslexic friendly) guide to the flow of the words off the tongue. 

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My Grandpa’s Poems

As I was growing up I never really had time, or was old enough to read or appreciate my grandpa’s poems. I read one at his funeral when I was 13, and the only thing I can remember is crying because It was so bluffly written. This is what I truly love about poetry; it flows up and down making less and less sense, until it all meets needly at the end and makes perfect sense in your head. He is so much a part of my inspiration behind this book, he would always stop and look, listen and want to know more about something - (being a biologist). 

My granny told me that he used to write poems and leave them around the house, in books, under the bed etc.. where she would find them, to this day almost 10 years after he passed away she finds them in the strangest places. It’s such a lovely thing.

Here are some that she found for me:

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Typeface

1) Mrs Eaves

I like the slightly ornamented look of this typeface, I used it in my penguin deck, as it is the typeface predominately used in classic Penguin books.

2) Adorbe Garamond

This is more of generic looking typeface I think, It is less theatrical, and perhaps special, maybe more suited to bodies of texts rather than pros.

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Interior: Layout Design ideas (Image and Text)

Winnie The Poo

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Interior: Layout Design ideas (Image and Text)

Alice In Wonderland

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Cover design inspiration

I am taking a lot of inspiration from the covers of 18th and 19th century books, I can imagine my new book getting lost within the paraphernalia of an old library. 

1) Simplistic boarder deigns in gold (metal) embossing, Potentially without title:

2) More complex, illustrative styles of cover, image and text, colour and pattern:

(Love this one! the cheque pattern is very A.I.W!)...

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Book cover/style options

I am thinking A5 in terms of size, this is because I want the book to feel miniature, personal and ‘cute’. - The theme and message behind the book itself is secret ‘stories’ after all... 

HARD BACK as I have mentioned before.

Heavy weight paper (good quality)

Black and white illustrations and animated text

Gold embossed text + ornamentation on cover 

Bellow is the quote form the before mentioned company (Doxzoo), WITH ALL OF THESE OPTIONS SELECTED:

Cover: with gold/ foil is slightly more expensive but worth it for me!

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Book Design + Printing

I have been on the hunt over the past week ro so for an online book printing and binding service. 

What I need:

quality pages and covers (hard covers with gold foil imprinting)

hard covers that don't require too many pages (some may need to be blank...)

black and white printing on heavy (old style paper)

fast delivery and tern around 

Coming form the UK

I found this one that looks quite good! - 

https://doxzoo.com/documents/book-printing

Bellow are the three cover options on their website, Idealy I would like the book to be hard cover, the tactility and weight of a hard cover book is just must more professional and nicer in ever way basically!... the only rpblem is the minimum page count for a hard cover book on this website, and I'm sure many printer websites is 48 pages, If i want to have less pages it looks like Ill have to choose a ‘leaflet’ or slightly better- ‘paper back’. Its a big compromise and shame for me to have to opt for one of these but well see how it goes... 

Option 1 (preferred) : HARD BACK

Option 2 (second best) : PAPER BACK

Option 3 (last resort) : LEAFLET

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Topsy-Turby, Wibberly-Wobbly

THE ’BROKEN PATH’

It dosesn’t really do it justice in these photos but this path is so topsy-turby, wibberly-wobbly, it is almost impossible to walk on! It always grabs my attention when walking through the garden because of how bloody impossible it is to walk over, It must be either very old or there must have been an earthquake! 

It reminds me most though, of the sort of paths I used to hop over and skip form stone to stone, thinking If I stepped on a crack something terrible would happen! Like being eaten by a goblin or troll, or have bad luck for 10 years!

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Idea of Presentation Format

Although I know that the physical format of my FMP will be a book, in terms of handing in said book, I want to be able to showcase it in the best way possible. My problem lies in the fact that the outcome itself is a physically tangible object, its physicality is part of its charm and personality. Furthermore, the hand in has to be a digital submission... So, I want to figure out a way of adding to the book by digitising it, and not taking away from its experience. 

I thought that one possibility could be making the book into an almost animated object and experience, A SHORT FILM. So that the book remains what has always been to me, a physical record, possession of personal importance, but the FMP becomes the film in which I design, edit and present it. 

Speaking of sleeping Beauty (as in my last post), I remembered the opening scene of that film. Reproduced many times in various films, I have always loved the way the audience is presented with a beautiful old book. You, the audience are on the ‘outside’, you are looking at a physical story. As the book is opened and the paged are turned, you see pictures and colours as the narrator brings you further and further into a new reality...  the story itself.  

Screen shots of film opening:

Film Opening: