Task: Conventions of the book

Task: Conventions of the book
1. Working with your assigned partner analyse the books you have brought to todays session. Identify and list the properties/conventions of your books. (Layout, Bind...)
2. Acknowledge the subject matter of each of your books. Referring back to your initial list, discuss ways you could tailor/add/manipulate these conventions to communicate the subjects more effectively.

My book: Freedom Isa Bonfire by Suzanna Zak

What's it about/what is its purpose?

This book is a collection of ephemera and reference materials that Suzanna Zak used or enjoyed while creating her sculpture "Freedom Isa Bonfire." The book is meant to accompany the sculpture but she describes that it also acts as "an extension and spirit of the original project."

• Follows a conventional size 5:6 (20x26cm)
• Perfect bound - very typical of a book however this book follows more of a zine's conventions which allows for an interesting contrast however the perfect bound is useful for the amount of pages.
• Has a title, spine, and a blurb HOWEVER it's unconventional as the spine doesn't include the title and author name but instead includes an offset thank you for purchasing. This conveys its personal elements - it conveys that Zak did not want this to act purely as a functional book but more an accompaniment to her project. The blurb is also unconventional as instead of giving insight to the book it references a quote she focuses in on in her project.

• Conventionally, the book cover is a different paper stock to the inside (yellow card), however the inside has a varying amount of paper stocks to reflect the different methods of printing and information. For example, her scans, risographs and drawings (which are the mass of her book) are collated and printed on a low gsm uncoated paper which allows her to keep the book costs low but also represent this idea of a sketchbook. The more professional and only colour printed photos are printed on a glossy white paper stock which is conventional of photography books as it allows for high quality, detailed prints and representation of the information within the image.

• The information that should be in her blurb is instead within a pink, low gsm paper stock 2:6 insert thats just inserted between the front cover and best book. This insert provides the content and reasoning of the book, and the only text written by Suzanna Zak within the whole book. 

What I would do: 

• Change the binding - the perfect bound throws off the idea of a very personal, sketchbook-like book that explores the author's references and processes. The contrast of this perfect bound that's very plain and conventional to her unconventional risograph yellow card cover creates a disharmony. I understand that it's simple and effective for the amount of pages (124) but approaching it using a stabbed stitch, a tape bound or a wire bound would've reflected the idea of this being a personal journey and would have looked more like a sketchbook/development of ideas.
• The insert - it's very flimsy and easy to lose yet provides the content of the book. I would have bound it and since it's like a zine even stapling it in would have been effective. The binding of the book is really limiting to the function of it overall.

Mehroosa's book

Conventions/unconventions

• This book is unconventional for an alphabet book but conventional for a pop up book as each page is french folded to allow for the pop ups and the design is centred around each pop up. However the issue with this book is that its targeted to children but lacks the conventional but effective approaches to children's books such as bright primary colours, textures and explanations as kids may not understand the references to type specifics.
• The paper stock is generally consistent, using card paper, which is conventional for pop ups as it's supportive and allows the paper to stay upright. The only unconventional and interesting paperstock used is the reflective silver paper to allow the "v" to also look like a "w".
• The size is unconventional for a children's book, it needs to be larger rather than an almost square a5 size.

What I would change: 

As this book is targeted for children, I would keep the simplistic style as its easy for children to absorb the information but be a lot more playful with paper stocks and colours. The minimalist, neutral colours with red is very serious and quite dull and wouldn't be interesting for kids. The lack of information also makes it useless as a learning tool so I would include some short bold text on each page to explain what is being displayed. Lastly, I would make the book larger and possibly square as a fixed geometric shape is more approachable and interesting for kids.