Sara Cols

This is my blog for my Visual Communications course at AUB. I will be documenting my process and final outcomes for my projects.

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Final Major Project Evaluation

Beginning this project, I knew exactly what I wanted to do- but knew that that was subject of change. I’d spent months plotting and thinking about a moss book, so when the time came around, I knew the direction I wanted to go in. However, I knew that my concept would change a lot throughout, and the experimentation has really allows me to feel confident as a designer. My methodology for this project has been a continuation of my ongoing exploration of the line between design and fine art, and I think this has yielded the best result so far, truly exhibiting both sides. 

My project changed drastically. since my initial brainstorms, and part of that is due to Corona. My project was meant to be texture led- an exploration of moss through texture, but instead morphed into an exploration of media, which allowed me to mix a lot of physical making with digital, which is what I truly wanted to do for this. The physicality of making objects allowed me to explore the fine art side of things, while creating the books really allowed me to consolidate my design skills.

Because of the pandemic, it felt a bit weird to time manage, and around easter break (2 weeks after lockdown started) I made an appointment with student services to help structure and plan my time better. Since then, I think I’ve stayed pretty on top of what needed to be done and when it needed to be done. Being ill a couple times throughout the project also affected my time management, but asking for a mitigation really helped me feel confident I was on the right track!

I think I did very well responding to feedback but also setting my boundaries and leading my project, which is what I’d struggled with most before. I applied most of the general feedback that they gave me but kept my project true to myself, standing my ground when needed. I also looked for a lot of external feedback with my peers, since I feel they provided a new and useful perspective.

I am very happy with my final outcomes, and I’m really looking forward to making the actual books. I think it’s hard to judge what I would change since the books still feel so conceptual cause they’re digital. However, I think the box to contain them could definitely use some refinements and alterations to something more simple and elegant to match the rest of the books. However, I do feel that the current box provides an important contrast that prevents everything from feeling too samey. 

I need to keep practicing to develop my skills in photoshop, but this project definitely helped me consolidate my current skills in it. This unit has given me a lot of insight on how to put together a collection, curating and creating content to match yet not be the same. It’s also helped me understand that simple and traditional book forms are also important and contribute to the content.

I’m really pleased with how this project came out. It was quite ambitious and I’m really proud of the quality it came out. I have put in so much time, effort, and thought into this project and I think that’s very clearly reflected, allowing me to create what I consider my best design work to date.

I am looking forward to making these books physically and going back to AUB. I have really enjoyed my time and experiences there and am looking forward to coming back to visit!

Thank you so much!

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My Website link!

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“Small World” Display Sheets

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Small World: The Process Book

A book documenting the process, research, development, and outcomes of my Final Major Project "Small World"

Process Book for Small World

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Printed Mock Up

I decided to print out my book in order to see how it would look mocked up, since I was really struggling to find a mock up for this type of book, so I thought this would be a good indication.

I was only able to print the inside, without the reverse or the covers, but I really like how it looks.

I’m so happy with how this came out, and I can’t wait to make the final versions of them next year!

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Box Design and Experiments

Creating the Box

In order to make the box I mixed all the sponge moss colours I’d made, and then soaked them in white glue. 

I’d originally intended to have the title carved out on top of the box (you can see the outline in the second image), but I realized that the material wouldn’t allow it, so I will probably add them digitally or on the sides. 

I painted the sides of the box green as well in order to have more cohesion between elements. I added texture so it would match the top. However, I think that maybe some book cloth to match the books might look better. 

Ideally, the inside will be covered in green flock.

I took some pictures of the box in nature in order to emulate moss. These type of pictures are also what I would use for my portfolio.

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Final Bellybands

I decided to move the credits up to the front, since I feel with a bellyband most of the info needs to be at the front. Moreover, this helps indicate how they should go back on, since the credits would have to face downwards.

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Belly Bands

I think bellybands are a really effective way to keep everything together, but also to give each book more of an individual identity while staying cohesive. 

The bellybands will go over the title in the cover, which is there to identify the book after you’ve taken the belly band off. 

Each belly band uses the colour assigned to each book, and will be vertical (So the bottom of the text is facing right. 

The type is quite big (30 pt.) but I feel that works well in the constrained space. 

I also included credits, but will play around with their placement more. 

I made additional covers and belly bands for my notebook/sketchbook and my process book so there would be cohesion with the collection. I am still unsure of what colours to use for these though. 

Even though the process book is the same size as the rest of the books, it is in portrait mode, so the bellyband is longer in order to fit vertically and still cover the title of the book.

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“Stephan Vanfleteren (1969) is mainly known to the general public for his penetrating black & white portrait photography, but over the past decades his work has ranged to documentary, artistic and personal pictures. From street photography in world cities like New York to the genocide of Ruanda, from storefront façades to the mystical landscapes of the Atlantic wall, from still lifes to intense portraits. The iconic images sit side by side with unknown treasures in this heavy tome containing no less than 505 photographs.”

The layout for the book is one of the more experimental ones I’ve seen for photobooks. Varying spreads with texts, imagery, and captions(using some in one, and others in the next, and all of them in some), the book demonstrates high editorial knowledge. 

The cover design is typography led and quite simple, but fits the content very well. I am leaning to create a cover similar to this but more delicate. It’s straight forward and leaves a bit of mystery. 

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Cover Trials

I decided to shrink down everything significantly and played around with the colour of the book. I knew I wanted something very simple and sophisticated. I looked at different types of book cloths and decided on a “grass green”. The textured surface really ads an important element to the book. 

I experimented with having the type on both front and back or just front.

The credits on the back would work well with the reverse of the book, since they would follow the same structure. However, having it on the front it would also be covered by the bellyband, which I think I want to be consistent for both the title and the credits.

I settled on having text spread out between front and back to provide a cleaner look.

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2000G04 - Grass Green - Plain Cotton Fabric

Price is per 50cm long x width of fabric

Cover Fabric

This is the fabric style that all my books are going to use. The cover will all be the same except for the titles. There will also be differentiation of the book with bellybands, which are all going to be in the colour assigned to the book.

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Cover Trials

I experimented around with different types of cover. I knew I definitely wanted a hardcover book to give everything more structure and it feels appropriate with the project. 

I also knew I wanted the cover to be type led instead of image led, letting you discover the wonderful world of moss as you enter into the book journey.

i experimented with using images of the content as the text, but I didn’t really like how that looked.

I also thought about using a stencil and flock to make the covers fuzzy. In order to trial this I used an image of flock and overlayed the text.

I didn’t like any of these trials and I think that has to do with the size of the type

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Laura Bennet

“The brief for this project was just a smell, which acted as a starting point for a project that we could take any way we wanted. I created a series of books that each reflect on the smells of different gardens. Each circle has been embossed to create a braille texture.”

I looked at this to see how artists put together a collection and how they created their covers to be cohesive. 

The covers for this series all use the exact same format and layout, with the images varying. 

I think that is a very smart way to approach the covers in order to make everything cohesive.

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Chloe Morris

“The purpose of this was to illustrate something using only imagery and no words.  I chose a concertina book as my format, so that it would ‘open’ and ‘expand’ like the universe.  As each stage is revealed, it can also be displayed as one banner image.”

I really liked the use of a bellyband as the cover for this book. The design for it is already telling you the entire story! The colours are bright and compliment the content within very well. Moreover, the dynamic, exaggerated shape of the explosion works very well within that context and sets the tone for the inside.

Much like me, Morris chose to create this piece without text, letting the imagery narrate the story itself.

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Thomas Cian

This project is a 3 meter accordion book composed of a single drawing throughout the entirety of it. 

I think this is a very beautiful and meticulous example of an illustration based artist book. Unlike my book, this one looks to fill up most of the space with the illustrations. However, our content and styles is very different. 

Even though different, I think this is a beautiful, intricate piece that took hours of labor.

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Anisa Holmes

I really enjoy this book. Even though there was no outline to the project, the design immediately answers that for you.

The cover design/binding is simply fabulous! The book, sahped like a bed with a pillow, uses a bellyband to appear like the bed covers as well as holding the book closed. Moreover, the repetition in paper between the bellyband and the wave section of the book really ties it all together. 

Moreover, the added fold to make it look like a pillow is just exquisite!