Brief 7 - Modernism look book - Outcome and Evaluation, Production and Distribution

Outcome and Evaluation:

When redesigning this piece I found that production flowed a lot easier as this project was informed by the research I had already done previously for the original brief. The look book redesign was more successful than the original as it has been developed further and a more fitting and sophisticated cover has been added. The look book is now more successful in terms of distribution as it is now part of a collection, similar to other magazines and publications, this lends itself to the look books content as there is only a limited amount of designers featured in each volume. 

If I was to print the cover again I would now choose a satin finish as the matte shows up a lot of marks which will eventual make the publication look dirtier over time. These materials were appropriate as they were cheap but the added thicker cover added a little bit of support as well as upping the overall feel of the finished publication. As the original cover used navy blue I choose to keep this consistent with the redesign to keep the connection between the original and the redesign. 

For volume 2 of the look book I opted for the same style of cover but in red. I chose red as it is a classic colour similar to navy blue but also they have a subtle contrast that complements each other. The most successful part of this redesign was the front cover, as it was simplistic yet had a greater meaning behind it, compared to the original which was a product of development and feedback. I found this project to be successful as it was a continuation of a brief that I had previously enjoy for cop in second year. This benefited the project as it is a interest of mine, as well as lending itself to myself style of design. 

Production:

The whole book was designed around it been cheap to mass produce but at a good quality, my way of achieving this was by designing an a5 sized look book. By printing on a4 paper it drastically reduced the amount of paper that would be used producing a larger sized look book. Having the outer cover was printed on higher gsm paper, which improved the overall ascetic with the publication and made it more appealing to the consumer compared to if the cover was printed on the lower gsm paper because the colours wouldn’t look as vibrant.  Also having standard 90gsm paper for the content pages within the look book also reduces the cost overall because the use of higher gsm paper would increase the cost dramatically. The perfect magazine bind uses pva glue along the bind to attach all the single sheet together, giving a seamless bind and edge for the cover to be glued onto.  With the look book being cheap to mass produce it will allow for it to be easy to distribute to a larger audience as people are more likely to purchase an impulse buy produce if the price is low, this will allow more people to interact with the publication as most people will be able to afford to buy it. 

Distribution:

When considering where my look book will be distributed I had to consider who my target audience was so that I could determine the best placements so that it would be seen. A key location to distribute my look books would be in art book sorts, or general book stores as this will allow the look books to be seen by the appropriate audience. I also found that a good place for me to distribute my look books to was the Salford zine library as it specialises in zines, and is featured on their website. As well as universities and the zine library the look book could be distributed to art galleries as well as distributed through social media by the website Issuu. Having the look book published on Issuu allows there to be no limitation of were the look book can be seen, although the overall aesthetics are not the same as the original the automated turning of the pages allows the experience to be as close to the real thing as possible.