COFFEE TABLE BOOK
CHALLENGE:
I had to come up with a topic, create a title, subtitle, author, cover page with flaps, table of contents, a chapter intro, a spread,
and a gallery spread.
SOLUTION:
I engaged in brainstorming sessions, curated a mood board, and devised three distinct approaches that harmonized with three different topics. This involved selecting font pairings and establishing a cohesive style that seamlessly flows across all pages.
Through consultations, I decided to focus on the topic of "Strong Canadian Women", aiming to tap into the remarkable energy of these inspiring figures who I admire and who influenced my own journey. Margaret Atwood, in particular, stands out as one of my favourite authors. Her literary works, including the gripping series "The Handmaid's Tale," have left a profound impact on me.
*Images obtained solely for educational purposes. Please refrain from copying, redistributing, or utilizing them.
I had to come up with a topic, create a title, subtitle, author, cover page with flaps, table of contents, a chapter intro, a spread,
and a gallery spread.
SOLUTION:
I engaged in brainstorming sessions, curated a mood board, and devised three distinct approaches that harmonized with three different topics. This involved selecting font pairings and establishing a cohesive style that seamlessly flows across all pages.
Through consultations, I decided to focus on the topic of "Strong Canadian Women", aiming to tap into the remarkable energy of these inspiring figures who I admire and who influenced my own journey. Margaret Atwood, in particular, stands out as one of my favourite authors. Her literary works, including the gripping series "The Handmaid's Tale," have left a profound impact on me.
*Images obtained solely for educational purposes. Please refrain from copying, redistributing, or utilizing them.
DESIGN DIRECTION:
For the book cover, I chose a rich red for the colour to mimic the Canadian flag in the centre of the cover page with the typography in white on top in a glossy finish. This red colour can be seen throughout the pages. I chose a modern, sans-serif font and a classic serif font in the title and subtitle. I placed rectangular images of historical and current Canadian women with a variety of black and white and colour photos around the red triangle. The back of the cover and the spine are also in the same red and the flaps have a white background. I used a maple leaf outlined with a white stroke, with the authors initials hand rendered in white, and the title and authors name are in white. On the back of the book there is half a maple leaf offset to the left, in a lighter red which is intended to be in a glossy finish on top of a matte finish. I placed a QR code with a special incentive to buy the book, which would give whoever bought the book a free entry into a museum of choice out of several in Canada with the proof of purchase. I used the sans serif font for the authors name in red, spanning across the body copy and the serif font for the body copy of the authors description. For the book description on the opposite flap, I made STRONG span across the text in red and CANADIAN WOMEN got the same typography treatment as the front cover in red, with the body copy in black in a serif font.
For the book cover, I chose a rich red for the colour to mimic the Canadian flag in the centre of the cover page with the typography in white on top in a glossy finish. This red colour can be seen throughout the pages. I chose a modern, sans-serif font and a classic serif font in the title and subtitle. I placed rectangular images of historical and current Canadian women with a variety of black and white and colour photos around the red triangle. The back of the cover and the spine are also in the same red and the flaps have a white background. I used a maple leaf outlined with a white stroke, with the authors initials hand rendered in white, and the title and authors name are in white. On the back of the book there is half a maple leaf offset to the left, in a lighter red which is intended to be in a glossy finish on top of a matte finish. I placed a QR code with a special incentive to buy the book, which would give whoever bought the book a free entry into a museum of choice out of several in Canada with the proof of purchase. I used the sans serif font for the authors name in red, spanning across the body copy and the serif font for the body copy of the authors description. For the book description on the opposite flap, I made STRONG span across the text in red and CANADIAN WOMEN got the same typography treatment as the front cover in red, with the body copy in black in a serif font.
DESIGN DIRECTION:
For the table of contents spread, I used a royal blue colour to complement the red. The rich red colour was also influenced by the jewelry Margaret Atwood is wearing and the blue from her outfit in one of the images I used. I used a blue rectangle a third of the way up from the bottom left, with TABLE of CONTENTS in a sans serif font and the "of" in a cursive font. I worked with red polk-a-dots to anchor all the different chapters from the table of contents rectangle in a pattern where every other line of red polk-a-dots were big and then small. I used square thumb nails for the images and zig zagged the placement of each chapter. I matched a blue rectangle across to the right of each image with a large chapter number in red at the end and the page number in white on the blue rectangle. The name of each chapter is in black all upper case sans serif font below the image.
For the table of contents spread, I used a royal blue colour to complement the red. The rich red colour was also influenced by the jewelry Margaret Atwood is wearing and the blue from her outfit in one of the images I used. I used a blue rectangle a third of the way up from the bottom left, with TABLE of CONTENTS in a sans serif font and the "of" in a cursive font. I worked with red polk-a-dots to anchor all the different chapters from the table of contents rectangle in a pattern where every other line of red polk-a-dots were big and then small. I used square thumb nails for the images and zig zagged the placement of each chapter. I matched a blue rectangle across to the right of each image with a large chapter number in red at the end and the page number in white on the blue rectangle. The name of each chapter is in black all upper case sans serif font below the image.
DESIGN DIRECTION:
For the chapter opener I used an image of one of Margaret Atwood's book covers for "The Hands Maid Tale" to the left and a blue rectangle coming down from the middle of the right page with Chapter One written out in a white serif font and white polk-a-dots above and below MARGARET ATWOOD in sans serif white font, and at the bottom centre of the book is the number 1 in red, to match the table of contents. I used 2 smaller columns in rectangles for the intro text and under the body copy is a large line of red polk-a-dots with the folio centred underneath with the book title.
For the chapter opener I used an image of one of Margaret Atwood's book covers for "The Hands Maid Tale" to the left and a blue rectangle coming down from the middle of the right page with Chapter One written out in a white serif font and white polk-a-dots above and below MARGARET ATWOOD in sans serif white font, and at the bottom centre of the book is the number 1 in red, to match the table of contents. I used 2 smaller columns in rectangles for the intro text and under the body copy is a large line of red polk-a-dots with the folio centred underneath with the book title.
DESIGN DIRECTION:
For the spread I started off the first page with a pull quote from Margaret Atwood in a larger white sans serif font, with her name in a serif font and the quotation marks in red on a cyan rectangular background to match highlighted accents from her royal blue outfit top and her eyes. I used white space before leading with ATWOOD in a sans serif black font and the body copy in two columns with smaller red polk-a-dots at the bottom and the folios of Margaret Atwood, centered at the bottom of the page. This image helped influence the polk-a-dots with there red, beaded necklace and royal blue top.
For the spread I started off the first page with a pull quote from Margaret Atwood in a larger white sans serif font, with her name in a serif font and the quotation marks in red on a cyan rectangular background to match highlighted accents from her royal blue outfit top and her eyes. I used white space before leading with ATWOOD in a sans serif black font and the body copy in two columns with smaller red polk-a-dots at the bottom and the folios of Margaret Atwood, centered at the bottom of the page. This image helped influence the polk-a-dots with there red, beaded necklace and royal blue top.
DESIGN DIRECTION:
For the gallery spread, I used a rectangular image of Margaret Atwood to the left of the first page from top to bottom, 2 images of her in squares from the top beside it followed by a line of red polk-a-dots below with a small quote in italic sans-serif font and the image credits for all the images at the bottom beside the larger image of her. I mirrored the design with the large image to the right of the next page and flipped the 2 square images and placed them coming from the bottom with the polk-a-dots above the images and Margaret Atwood's signature above in black, which is fitting as it matches the image of Margaret Atwood beside it, holding a pen with a smile.
I enjoyed working on this project and really loved how it all came together cohesively. I look forward to designing books in the future with the knowledge and skills I learned in my program.
For the gallery spread, I used a rectangular image of Margaret Atwood to the left of the first page from top to bottom, 2 images of her in squares from the top beside it followed by a line of red polk-a-dots below with a small quote in italic sans-serif font and the image credits for all the images at the bottom beside the larger image of her. I mirrored the design with the large image to the right of the next page and flipped the 2 square images and placed them coming from the bottom with the polk-a-dots above the images and Margaret Atwood's signature above in black, which is fitting as it matches the image of Margaret Atwood beside it, holding a pen with a smile.
I enjoyed working on this project and really loved how it all came together cohesively. I look forward to designing books in the future with the knowledge and skills I learned in my program.