Booklet Project
16 page booklet about design hero Lotta Nieminen
Brainstorming
To start designing the booklet, I made thumbnail sketches of spreads for the different sections that created in my essay. These could be background- for giving an overview of Lotta Nieminen’s early life, then style and aesthetics where I talk about her work process and the influences that have shaped her work. To give an overview of her works and awards, another spread could take up content, and I thought about having there be a visual focal point with an interesting image blown up. For the pull quote, I could layer white text on top of an image of her that has a fade or grey opacity. As a conclusion, I thought about having it be meaningful and use bright page colors.
Using Color
In planning the order of my pages, I thought carefully about color combinations, how colors from one page leads into another, and how certain background colors can enhance the images on a page. Additionally, I needed to think about having a front and back cover, and a table of contents that went along with the rest of the inside pages thematically. In my notes I wrote down priorities of what I needed so it would help me remember to go back and include things missing.
Process
While working, I tried cutting up images and layering them, figuring out what parts made sense to be deleted, and what looks odd. In the image of Lotta reclining in a chair, I felt the crop of the original image made having the plant in the spread not look clean. To the final version I ended up removing the plant.
Additionally I used Procreate and Illustrator to work out certain create blocks by sketching where lines of text or elements would be layed out. However, what I realized was going into InDesign to implement those ideas sometimes caused me to think of new ways of orienting the information.
With the title of “Style and Aesthetic”, I experimented a while with having the letters in different fashions like horizontally linear, then vertical, then scrambled, with varied weights and point size, and different color combinations.
Improvements to Be Made
- Make columns of text uniform and keep the grid consistent across pages
- Finish all booklet pages to be able to see the overview of the complete story- this is important because you realize and catch mistakes early on
- Lotta’s image centered across the spread will get cut in half and possibly a staple can cut her face- consider using a different placement or different image
- Try smaller type because it allows more room for negative space to be more interesting. On printed sheets the type may be too large
- Be more creative with “Style and Aesthetic”, and not just include the text in between a freed up space. The choices should feel intentional.
Challenges
One of the main challenged of this project as well as with the other projects was using Photoshop and illustrator to fix up parts of food illustrations that were cut. Because I wanted to edit images by maybe adding a few more olives or sprinkles, or other elements to areas I felt needed it, I needed to make sure it was not noticeable different to the work that she had photographed. This was tricky because she used cut paper that is very hard to replicate some of the paper grain and shadows, but I was able to make these edits to on a small scale to be believable. It did take a while however because of the carefulness needed around paying attention to edges.
Additionally I debated a lot between background colors, mainly because I drew inspiration for color palettes form images, and sometimes I got really into it that so many options seemed good and I needed to pick a favorite. I asked some of my peers and also went with my intuition for colors that made the page have a bit of contrast.
Another challenge I had was leaving minor details like folios and page numbers to do later on so I could focus more on the core spread issues. While timing wise it helped me prioritize what to get done, it is always helpful to have everything in, even in the most basic stages so you can see how the overall look will be affected. For my table of contents and cover pages, critiques were that they were too simplistic, and almost giving the reader a “freebie” with the information. Instead, I chose to be more thoughtful by hiding page numbers and section titles within an illustrated image so it makes it more fun to find and read.
Final Spreads
For my final spreads, I chose to update my table of contents, and add lettering over a world map image that highlights certain shapes or icons. For example the O in lotta zooms like a lens over a mountainous region of the world, and the A is right next to Australia and acts as little hidden symbols
With the table of contents credits page, I used an image of colored pencils and the cards Lotta designed with her signature scribbles so the pencils point and lead towards titles and text.
I also edited the columns and resolved type issues like weird rags, line spacing, hanging quotes, and eliminating orphans.
Final Mockups
Reflection
I thought this project was one of the more time consuming and tedious ones, but it was worth it in the end to be able to see something holistically come together. I feel my transitions with use of color form page to page helped highlight the specialty of Lotta’s work and make it look eye-catching. Areas for improvement could be experimenting more, and trying to set goals for working quicker but with efficiently, like how I did towards the end of the process. Overall I loved being able to see everyone’s work too and how things evolved. The biggest motivating factor is knowing everyone struggles at different stages but that everyone eventually makes it through, and that gave me more confidence.
