Brief 14 // Design Context Book // Front Cover

For the front cover of the publication, I wanted the idea of having the two different sectors of design come together in one design.

As I described before as a designer I have the digital skills of a graphic designer and like to do the normal graphic design work, but also I have a feel for print and print making and working with physical objects. I think creating a front cover which illustrates this will underpin the meaning of the publication and show the user what it is about even before they open the publication. In order to achieve this it needs to be a mix of graphic design and print making in one.

The idea
Through all the print work that I do there is always a digital counterpart, this could be along side it, but every piece of print has to be designed initially digitally. This is how I can mix the two areas together, from learning the fundamentals and skills through digital design work I can apply this to the print side of things. This could be such things as layout techniques, grids or type, it also comes down to actually printing work - I like everything to be right, in place, in line, it has to be a good print to pass and move on. Everything is underpinned by the skills of a graphic designer - just like everything in layout is underpinned by a grid.

Taking a grid I will apply this to the front cover, but it will be a grid that is visible to the eye and be apart of the design. Using the grid I can display letterforms (another fundamental element of both print and graphic design) that have been letter pressed. These letter pressed letterforms have been scanned in so they can be used digitally, but they still retain the aesthetic of a print. By doing this and bringing these two elements together it shows the idea of a graphic designer and print maker coming together in one design.

Front cover with spine margin. 

Full front cover. 

The letterforms within the front cover have no significance to the design, they are random letters which I have chosen to use within the design. The fact that they are letter pressed and have the aesthetic of print is the reason in which they are used. Keeping inline with the publication, the same colours have been used and the letters have been applied to blending modes.