History of An Object Final

When we were first assigned this project I could not see what my final would look like. It sounded like one of the most difficult projects that we were to have completed this semester. But after I started working with the first test layouts, I started to feel more confident. It also didn't hurt that some of my past experience with InDesign, and book layout came back to me.

We were to choose a specific part of our history research of our assigned word from the beginning of the semester. My word was lawn and my chosen topic was the lawn mower. I decided to choose this aspect out of all of the research that was done because I wanted a bit of a creative challenge. I took a topic that I would normally associate as a dry topic; the history of the lawn mower. Through my research it became less dry, but I knew that it would be difficult to hold the audience's attention with the subject matter. So I went for a crisp and clean grid layout with creatively cut out images and illustrations. 

My main stylistic ideas that I used throughout this booklet was: analogous color scheme, same typeface, and crisply placed together grid system. The color scheme is green, yellow green, and yellow. These are colors that I closely associate with the lawn and lawn mowers. I was going for a crisp and professional without looking too corporate for my booklet visual style. I chose Trade Gothic LT Std for the typeface for my book to keep visual consistency. The typeface is elegant, but has its own personality.

I am overall pretty happy with how this booklet turned out. Once I got all of the text and images correctly following the grid lines; my confident shot up a few. Not only does the piece visually flow together on the line, but I know that it is perfectly lined up. During this project I remembered and relearned more about grid structure and efficiently using it. Due to this project I also look more closely at the specifics of keeping a consistent theme; it sounds easier than it is. When comparing different options for the text, remembering to change all of the similar pieces to be the same was difficult but definitely paid off. I also learned more about time management and taking breaks. I realized the importance of taking breaks while working on a project, not trying to finish it in a long sitting.

front cover.

introduction spread.

close up of introduction spread.

timeline spread1.

timeline spread2.

close up overview of booklet spreads.

back cover.

Final digital version of my booklet.

History of An Object: Close to Finals Take 2

In class today, with the professor, we went over our booklet.  We have another mock up, on the correct paper, in the style as directed by the professor due in class on Wednesday.  The final is due Friday, where we will do a full Sophomore level Graphic Design review.  Based off of feedback from Professor Lane I edited the image on the opening spread.  I ended up matching the color scheme of that image to the rest of the book.  I had much difficultly in finding the best way to make the image of the grass correspond with the rest of the book.  I natural bright greens were distracting and cut into the already established in the rest of the book color scheme.  After having been called out by Professor Lane for not using the grids correctly with everything aligning, I re-established the layout correctly spacing all elements on the various spreads.  

I know that grids are important and establish balance throughout the whole piece, but I felt that my gut reaction to layout was the best choice.  The little bit funny part about my "gut reaction" was that it could have impacted sooner had I have just stuck to the grids.  I should have followed my mind reliving the editing of layouts from yearbook, literary magazine and newspaper in high school as well as the work I'd done at my last college; but I chose to ignore it.

I am pretty confident that the whole booklet is just about done.  The only thing left to tweak is the possibility of changing the colors on the items on the actual timeline.  Other than that, the rest of the book flows nicely together with the test, images, and color scheme.

front cover.

introduction spread2.

 timeline spread1.

timeline spread2.

back cover.

History of An Object: Close to Finals

Below are my close to final mock up of my History of An Object Timeline.  I know that the spreads still need a bit more work with the actual timeline, but the whole book is really starting to come together visually.

front cover.

introduction spread.

timeline spread 1.

timeline spread 1 option2.

timeline spread2.

timeline spread2 option2.

back cover.

Digital Mock Up of the Lawn Mower Timeline.

History of An Object Covers, Layout 1 + 2 Take3

Back + Front cover of my History of An Object timeline.  I wanted to go with more a simplistic cover that said a lot.  I selected this color green from the image from the first inside layout of the grass.  I wanted to use a simplistic lawn mower icon on the top to represent the lawn being cut.  I have the cut grass line at the same layout as the timeline throughout the booklet.

Finalized spread 1!  After much testing of where to place the main title and what opacity to have the grass image, what you see is the final rendition.

I ended up with three different versions of what the timeline spacing would look like.  The differences lie in the placement of date, caption and image.

History of An Object Layout 1 + 2 Take2

This is the second try at completing the first and second spread of my book on the history of the lawn. The feedback that I received from the class was that they really enjoyed where I was going with my opening spread.  I played around with combining the two layouts that people really liked, but they didn't really look good together.  So I ended up trying the layout without any text at all again.  And ended up seeing how just an image could impact the spread.

This was the spread that combined two of the good spreads from round 1.  I tried the title text in a bunch of different locations on the left side, but none of them really worked. What is pictured above is the layout that looked the best of what I tried.

I was trying to work the title into the page on the left, because I thought the title helped make the spread more effective.  But all this rendition of it did was really add more white space to the spread.

There was only a small difference between this layout and the one above.  I was trying to see if I changed where the title aligned if the spread would feel more complete. It definitely added more positive white space, but it still didn't fully feel complete.

I moved the subtitle to the left page and changed the column width on the right.  I made the column width on both sides of the spread the same.  The page on the right is not just a large block of text and makes the left page look really empty.

This is my favorite of the first layout. I think the use of the bright/normal green of the grass really adds to the layout and helps to make the direct connection to the subtitle located on the next page. I had played around with adding the title and subtitle to the page on the left, but it did not look good.

I still had a bit of problems trying to figure out a good way to display the timeline would it just being another textbook timeline.  My main difficultly is making the assets work with the columns.

I just refined the line up details of all of the pieces on this spread.  I kept all the text at 8.5/13.  I made the dates - bold oblique and lined them along the timeline with the line dropping down from the date to the caption to the image.  I wanted to keep the eyes moving and keep the important information sectioned together.

I used the same layout as above, but experimented with pt. size and physical characteristics.  I made the date size correspond with the subtitle size on the first spread.  And have the date caption character appearance to be the same as the main text as the introduction.

History of An Object Initial Layout 1 + 2

Based off of three and five column grid layouts we were to create three iterations for class of the opening spread and first timeline spread of our books.  Back when we were assigned the leading exercises I knew how I wanted my opening introduction to be displayed in the book.  I wanted it to be one page with all my introduction text without multiple columns.  I did still experimented with using columns for this layout, but was unhappy with the outcome.

This was the first layout that I created, what I wanted to do was have a full bleed image that caught the attention of the viewer.  Then I pulled one of the darker green to use for the subtitle above the introduction paragraphs.  I gave the image an opacity so that it did not pull all of the attention from the page, merely my intent was to guide the eyes to the text.

This layout was based off of the previous one, except I got rid of the major image and instead combined the image of grass with the title.  I wanted to pull in my word/object "lawn" into the beginning spread.

For this layout I wanted a crisp and clean looking close up of grass that was the main focus.  I wanted to experiment with columns, even though I was not initially picturing them in the final.

For this layout my focus was on text.  I wanted to see how I could make a layout visually appealing without the incorporation of image.  I also wanted to incorporate symmetry in this layout.  I did so by using the same number of columns on each page in the spread.

I really struggled with the timeline layouts.  I did not want to do a traditional timeline, but did not want to create a design that was too out there either.  One of the biggest challenges that I had was the incorporation of my assets in the grids, as none of my assets are squares; they're all organic shapes.

My thought on this was to have the viewer look up down, left page, then right.

I chose a higher placement for the timeline line.  The line was green to pull attention from the timeline to the assets.  I added smaller lines off of the timeline to the captions.

My thought was similar to the previous layout of using the green as well as the timeline line.  I changed the placement of the timeline to be more centralized, pushing the text up to the top of the page and dropping the assets to near the bottom of the spread.

History Of An Object Introduction Leading Exercises

We did a total of 25 leading exercises dealing with our introduction paragraph for Project 7: History of an Object.  The assignment was to choose fives typefaces that we felt embodied our topic.  With each typeface we were to play around with point and leading size; a total of five options per typeface.  In class today with a partner we narrowed down to the top four of twenty-five.  From there, each person spoke with Professor Lane to talk more about other point and leading sizes to try to make it perfect.

The image above is the top four of the twenty five.  They were: 

Trade Gothic LT Std, light 8.5pt. /13.5 leading,

News Gothic MT, roman 9pt. /13 leading,

Avenir LT Std, light 8pt. /14 leading,

Avenir LT Std, light 9pt./13 leading.

The image above is the different size and leading that I tried after Trade Gothic LT Std, light was chosen as my typeface.  They were:

pt.8/14 leading,

pt.8/13 leading,

pt.8.5/13 leading,

pt.8.5/13.5 leading.

And the winner was Trade Gothic LT Std, light pt.8.5/13 leading.

History Of An Object Initial Introduction + Timeline

Green Pasture from Past to Present
The Evolution of Lawn Mower

Lawns were originally seen as beautiful when they were full of weeds, tall, uncut grass and full of flowers. The first time that lawns started to become trimmed for a purpose was when aristocrats needed the lawn cut short in order to play lawn sports. It was a luxury that only the wealthy aristocrats could afford due to the need for labor and wet scythes to cut the lawn. It was the creation and evolution of the lawn mower that really opened up a need to keep one’s lawn well trimmed and groomed.

In the mid-19th century, as cities grew and became increasingly industrialized, city beautification campaigns became common, and the “park” was born. This term had originally referred to the acres of lawn with carefully tended trees around wealthy English homes. Edwin Budding developed the first lawnmower in 1830, and by the 1890s, lawn mowers were a fixture of the American landscape. The development and mass-production of lawn mowers made possible the development of lawns, providing an affordable alternative to a fleet of servants.

The history of the lawn mower in America has continued to expand since Budding’s invention of the first lawn mower.  Due to this growth in lawn mower technology, the lawn has developed a new meaning in modern day America and has become a public area characterized by landscaped lawns, trees, shrubbery, and water (fountains, streams, ponds, and lakes). Often, these pieces of lawn are better known as parks, and they still serve the purpose of bringing together the community. Redefined and democratized, the park became ample in North America. Anyone who has driven across the United States or southern Canada knows that even the smallest town has its park: a block or two devoted to grass, trees, a sandbox and swing set, a few benches, a picnic table, and a water fountain. If all of those items were removed save the first, grass, then it would still be recognizable as a community lawn or park. 

Over the years, the lawn has evolved from an open piece of land with no maintenance to a heavily maintained and manufactured gem.  The lawn is currently used as a way to bring individuals together to appreciate each other’s company as well as to visually symbolize their social status.

Below is the timeline with assets that I have created thus far.  I think I still need to do some work with the images, but this is it so far.