Characteristics / Choices

My book : Ideas is a simple book on just various ideas and information that can be incorporated in our lives to live greener futures. The size of the book 5.5 X 8.5 inches (half a letter size) so it can be carried around as a reference as well. The design of the book is very clean and elegant so as that the reader is not distracted and can get right into the actual subject and engage with the book. The book will be a softcover and not have a sleeve or anything fancy.

The images used in the book are very eye catching and attention grabbing. The images of the book were scanned in from various sources. I felt that my photography skills would have not done justice to what I wanted to do. The images are strong to get the reader wondering what are issues that are being discussed. Ideas of going green are generally in not many readers leisure reading category and by using such images my intent was to get the readers excited to read the book.I tried not to use green cause i feel green has been overly used and I instead went with a teal color as an accent to the black/grey text.

The layout of the book is simple and book is set in Meta Book Std and Bembo Std. I used Meta for heading and for chapter introductions and image text. I used Bembo for body copy. I tried various combination of typefaces and felt that both Meta and Bembo complement each other and help in enhancing the type in the book.

Compromises

The have not made any significant compromises when creating this book. Since most of the work done was still in pdf format and printing has not yet started I have held my ground and not changed any thing significantly. I am still looking for paper that recyclable that can add accent to my book as a whole.

Fun

All in all I am really enjoying making the book. I just have to do some more tweaking but I feel every student taking a book design course will enjoy it. There are problems such as how to organize the glossary and the page numbers but the big picture of creating a book is fun. I feel that it is just a matter of getting the structure down and that is right at the start and rest falls in place.

Text Setting - with image

parts9, originally uploaded by onemanstudio.

This is a page with an image. The text on the image is set in Meta Book Std.

Full Title

Full Title, originally uploaded by onemanstudio.

Here is a spread of the full title page.

Text Setting

parts10, originally uploaded by onemanstudio.

The image is a page of the book with just text setting. The font used is Bembo Std.

Basis of Book

The book was mainly based on reading World Changing. Here is the website. http://www.worldchanging.com/

Chapter Spread - Clothes

Chapter Spread - Clothes, originally uploaded by onemanstudio.

A spread of an opening chapter. Every chapter in the book has a opening spread resembling something like this with a very strong image and then the chapter itself. I think it works in it gets the reader involved into the subject matter.

Contents Page

Contents Page, originally uploaded by onemanstudio.

Contents Page. It is simple. Please post any suggestions thanks

Cover

Cover, originally uploaded by onemanstudio.

I finally figured out the image posting and am using flickr. Here is the cover of my book.

problems

Some of problems I am still facing is categorization of the information I want to make it to sections and am working on it but have no come up with a successful solution. I will post some of my work in the days to come once I have figured out a solution. The other problem that I am having that was pointed out by Reg is that the book is very elegant and it takes away a bit from the problem of going green the images are clean and text is layed out very well. I am battling it in my head cause i feel that a clean solution would help just focus on the reading and understanding but have to come up with a way to let the reader interact. A glossary is in the making as well which will be incorporated on each page and has not been figure out as well.

Changes

As everyone in the class remembers I was doing a book on green solutions for the average joe in Canada. Over the period of the strike thinking it over I found there are many solutions out there and many interesting projects but not particularly in Canada. So instead I decided to make book on idea for green living. I was reading World Changing which is a great book by the way. And it changed a lot of my basic idea of the book. So now my book is on Ideas of green living any where and everywhere in the world. It is just pointers and directions and a basic guide of what a person can do to become a greener.

I am alive

I have not updated the blog in a while but I was still working on my book. I am having trouble uploading pictures thru blogger cause I can't see the tool bar for loading the images can any one help me.Once I figure it out will show you some of my layouts.

As of now

I have changed the book to an idea book on green living. I have been researching various blogs and country websites as well as organizations on what is being done and I found an icon set that I am going to try to incorporate in my book layout. http://www.greenmap.org/

Photography

Photography is on its way I will upload some samples soon.

Found it

I have finally got things sorted out and on the verge of finishing the copy for my book it has been a crazy ride but I have finally close :).

As of now I am working in this order please leave any suggestion

1. Why are people not going green
2. What is stopping them
3. What can they do to be green
a)various sub categories
4. What is being done at the frontier

To do List

The substance

This book will try to answer a few questions such as What can I do to help the environment and how do I live a green lifestyle? What kind of obstacles do they face and what can be done to overcome them? Why are people not going green what is stop them? It will consist of various environmental notions that we face today. It will look into questions such as Is the product that we are buying really green even though it has a label? What is our carbon footprint and how much are we reducing it by incorporating new methods into our lifestyle. Why is green more expensive? Does organic really mean organic?

The audience

This book is catered to average Joe and Jane. It is created to help them understand and implement the various practices involved in living greener lives.

Printing

I want the book to be small so that it can be carried easily for reference. It will consist of illustrations and photographs. The photographs will be mainly of materials. I would like to print the book on some sort of biodegradable paper which will have a smaller carbon footprint. The binding will focus on the aesthetic nature of environmentally friendly materials so that the book’s structure acts as an accent to the matter inside it.

To Do List

· Research more on various green techniques that are involved in different processes.
· Look for biodegradable paper.
· Create a mood board that sets the tone for the book.
· Start narrowing down the colors and font selections.
· Researching how various disciplines are merging and creating new solutions.
· Deciding on the size of the book.
· Setting up a style guide and organizing the grid for various layouts.
· Come up with names for the book and chapters in the book.
· Find out more about the printing techniques that is most environmentally friendly.
· Write the book.
· Take pictures of various materials.
· Testing various binding methods.
· Looking for various binders around the city.
· Finding a charity.