Exercise 5: Reflective Practice

Begin by reflecting upon the sorts of projects, exercises and assignments you have enjoyed most:

● Do you enjoy the creative freedom of working with your own text and images from scratch, or do you prefer working with text and images that are provided to you?

● Do you prefer working in a ‘hands-on’ way, physically manipulating paper and materials, or do you prefer working digitally, laying out the pages and page elements on-screen? Which of the subjects covered in this unit have interested and engaged you?

Below are some pointers of what has been covered in this unit, as a reminder. They are very broad areas, so as you’re reading through the list, reflect upon the more extensive content of each. Consider what aspects you enjoyed the most (and the least!) and make notes in your learning log.

Contextualisation: Researching designs and designers

Typography: Principles and experimentation

Colour: Colour management and working with images

Paper: Properties and qualities

Printing and bookbinding: Processes – traditional, digital

Try to identify a specific topic within one of these subject areas that you are interested in and can look into with more detail. You might know immediately and instinctively what you want to pursue. You may want to know more about traditional methods of bookbinding, for example, or hand-making paper. You may be interested in the mathematical principles underpinning the Golden Mean and Fibonacci series, and how these principles apply to page layout. You may

want to design your own typeface. You may want to extend and adapt one of the projects and exercises you’ve already undertaken on the course. The focus of your interest may be quite specific. Identify it through this exercise by exploring each of your interests in turn and taking note of your resulting thoughts in your learning log.

Reflective Practice

Do you enjoy the creative freedom of working with your own text and images from scratch, or do you prefer working with text and images that are provided to you?

I think it depends on the project. If it were for a client with a corporate identity/branding manual, I would be limited in what I could do. If it were a project that required me to take my own photos or create images, I feel I could be more creative while adding my style and personality.

This module has been an interesting journey. At the beginning, I read through the whole course to get an idea of the type of tasks and exercises I'd be asked to do. My initial response was excitement to see a typography section. I have loved typography in my past modules (Graphic Design) and find it so interesting. For me, it was a surprise to see my interest shift to making books physically, since my comfort zone is working digitally in Adobe.

Do you prefer working in a ‘hands-on’ way, physically manipulating paper and materials, or do you prefer working digitally, laying out the pages and page elements on-screen? Which of the subjects covered in this unit have interested and engaged you?

Working hands-on as I did for assignment four, Altered Books, allowed me to be even more creative than I would previously have been. I still did the usual processes of researching, brainstorming and moodboarding, but exploring different ways of binding books, choosing the paperstock that would work and incorporating materials such as South African shweshwe and inspiration from other designers such as Coralie Bickford-Smith and Irma Boom challenged me to produce a physical book that I never thought I would produce. It was interactive, tactile and colourful.

This assignment shifted my initial idea of covering typography. Instead, I will go for the altered book option. I want to see how far I can push the boundaries of a book. I think I'm in a fortunate position, having dual nationalities, where I can experiment and create something different or with a twist, and fuse different cultural ideas together.

My interest came in the later exercises and assignments in the module. My focus from experimenting with typography and imagery on the computer, shifted to the physical book. Learning to bind my own books was something I never thought I would be able to do. Watching tutorials online with the different binding methods was so interesting. I was also interested to see the different folds I could use. Although this was covered in my graphic design module, I could explore it further in this module. I understand that paper stock is important when producing a book by hand or for professional printing. However, in saying that, I now appreciate both and can't choose a physical method over a digital method, as both are important in creating a finished project.

Contextualisation: Researching designs and designers

I found this part of the module very interesting. Looking at other designers and their designs helped inspire my work and gave me ideas to experiment with, especially for the Altered Book assignment and for my next assignment, where I can choose to alter my own book. At the beginning of the module, I didn't really understand artists' books, but as I researched further, I came to appreciate the creativity and the stories that some of the artists were communicating. I realised that using different media helped give their stories more emphasis, sometimes making them more tactile and inviting the reader to take part in the experience. Before this, I was so used to having a polished book professionally printed that I had come to respect the work of using different materials to achieve a more authentic feel and a rustic, more personal look.

Typography: Principles and experimentation

Typography has always been one of my favourite subjects in design. I like how there are different categories and how the type's look can convey different emotions and meanings instead of just communicating a message. I enjoyed the experimental typography exercise, where I could experiment with the typography, stretching, twisting and enlarging it to give it a different meaning. I learnt that typography in its own right becomes its own artwork. I learnt that it's not just images that tell a story, but also with words alone. Assignment three was a good way for me to solidify my understanding of typographic principles by presenting the books in a fun and easy way.

Colour: Colour management and working with images

Working with images challenged me to think more conceptually, taking an idea and developing it into something completely different from the original. I think of my giraffe image, where the rain washes off its patterns, because you can't judge a book by its cover. I also reflect on the Tango with Cows, where I broke the poem down into a story with images. I was particularly pleased with my river image, in which I incorporated the record player and bird into the river, using masking in Adobe Photoshop.

I think this was a useful part of the module. However, I found it less engaging than with typography or binding sections of the module. That said, I do feel it was important so I could create designs that are effective and cohesive.

Paper: Properties and qualities

I found this part of the module very interesting and I learnt so much from it. Although I knew there were different types of paperstock, it wasn't until I collected various types and had them in front of me that I could appreciate the differences and their functions. Do I use coated or uncoated paper? The GSM, size, texture and colour are all important factors to consider when choosing paper stock and the cost of the book to be printed. When binding my own book in part 4, I experimented with tracing paper and printing. This type of paper brought a different look and feel to my book that I wouldn't have thought of if I hadn't experimented with different paper stocks.

Printing and bookbinding: Processes – traditional, digital

I really started to enjoy the module when I got to part 4, because from here I could learn about and understand the importance of the different print processes and textures. It all came together from researching book designers and how they made their books interactive and tactile. I think of the two designers who influenced my altered book, Coralie Bickford-Smith and Irma Boom. In assignment 4, I could experiment with different binding methods and paper stocks to produce a tactile, interactive book.

Challenges

The parts of the module I found frustrating were researching book fairs and artists' books in exhibitions, which required me to visit physical locations to gather more information. It's a struggle to access these kinds of places when I live in a country with poor infrastructure and limited resources, or they just don't exist as they do in the UK. I tried my best to offer alternatives to these exercises where I could.

I do find that the OCA courses are written exclusively for UK students, unless one has visited South Africa, one wouldn't really understand the logistical challenges I face. Yes, there could be an awesome exhibition, but it might be on the other side of the country, 2000 km away, which means taking a plane. Libraries are scarce, and if they do exist, they are poorly resourced. It's a developing country with a collapsed postal service, limited resources and crumbling infrastructure. Visiting an exhibition or museum because the website looks good doesn't necessarily translate into reality. Often, it means it no longer exists, hasn't been updated, or is simply a no-go area.

Area for Further Exploration

The area I'm most interested in exploring further for my final assignment is making my own altered book. I want to look into how different folds can change the reading experience of a book and how the reader can interact with the book.