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Publishing Design | Project 1

22/09/25 - 24/1/25 [ Week 1 - Week 14 ]

Nicco Chew Jin Xun (0366563)

Publishing Design | Bachelor of Design (Hons) In Creative Media | Taylor's University

Tutor: Ms.Vitiyaa

Table of contents

Instructions

Task 1: Exercises (20% - Individual) 
[ Deadline: Week 08 ]

Description

Complete a series of exercises to build both theoretical and practical knowledge in book design. All exercises must be completed, documented, and uploaded in your eportfolio.

Exercises: Text formatting  

  1. Mock-up making
  2. Signature folding systems (8 + 8 = 16)
  3. Classical Grid structure
  4. Determining Grids
  5. Form & Movement (Thumbnail)
  6. Colour applications:
    • 1 Colour
    • 2 Colours
    • 2 Colours + Image
    • Colour + Image + Text

Requirements

  • Laptop
  • Adobe Creative Suite
  • Eportfolio (Blogspot)
  • Gmail account
  • Other materials as required
Submission Guidelines

  1. Eportfolio Post
    • Document all progress: failures, successes, sketches, research, printouts, images, etc.
    • Must be chronological, labelled, clear, and concise.
  2. Image Quality
    • Good, natural lighting (no bulb/flash shadows).
    • Label images properly (e.g., Fig. 1), with descriptions and dates.
    • Final submission must be distinguishable from process work.
    • Upload as PDF + JPEG (no PNG) unless told otherwise.
  3. Printed Copy (if required)
    • A4 size, enclosed in Clear Sheet.
    • Logical + chronological order.
    • Labelled + dated in pencil, neatly written.  

Lectures

Publishing Design: Formats

[ The Book / Historical Formats ]

1.Iran-Iraq = Mesopotamian civilization
- Set the stage for the early forms of pictographic writing on clay tablets.

Fig 1.0 - Examples of Mesopotamian civilisation writings, week 1

2.Egypt = Ancient Egyptian civilization
- Oldest civilisation in the world & no longer living.
- Scribes were only people in Egypt that can read & write Hieroglyphics
- They wrote on papyrus (paper)
- Papyrus [ thick type of paper made from pith of papyrus plant ]

Fig 1.1 - Examples of Egyptian papyrus writings, week 1

Hieroglyphics (eerie attic type)
Fig 1.2 - Hieroglyphics

3.India-Pakistan-Afghanistan = Indus Valley civilization
- Cuneiform [ basically symbolic representations of certain meaning ]
- Cuneiform writing was one of the earliest systems of writing.
- They wrote records about their government, religion & trade.
- Cuneiform was written on soft clay tablets by using sharp pointed tools.
Fig 1.3 - Examples of Indus Vallet civilization writings, week 1


4.China = Han Chinese civilization
- Written in vertical columns in the early period so a thin strip of bamboo is ideal for a single column.
- 2 lines of thread link each bamboo strip to its neighbour to create a longer document.
- The modern Chinese character for a book evolves from a pictogram of bamboo strips threaded together.

Fig 1.4 - Examples of Chinese civilization bamboo writings, week 1


The first printed book: Diamond Sutra 868 CE
- The earliest known printed book, from the end of the T'ang dynasty.
- Discovered in a cave at Dunhuang in 1899, a precisely dated document.
- It's in a scroll format using paper.
- Provided illustrations from wood carving & printed on scroll.

Fig 1.5 - 868 CE, Diamond Sutra (first printed book), week 1

5.Europe (Turkey & beyond) = European civilization
- Parchment was first invented in Turkey, 197-159 BC, which later spread to Europe.
- Made from animal hide
- Paper became widely available in Europe during 1400-1500 CE.
- The ingredient to make paper changed until 1860s when wood pulp is first used to print the Boston Weekly Journal
Fig 1.6 - 197-159 BC, parchment made from animal skin, week 1

Publishing Design: History of Print

AD: old classification, after the death of Christ.
BC: before Christ.
BCE: before common era, year & before
CE: zero year & after

2nd - 8th century AD
- The Emperor of China commanded in AD 175 that the six main classics of Confucianism be carved in stone.
- Confucian scholars simply lay sheets of paper on engraved slabs & rub all over it with charcoal / graphite taking away text in white letters on a black ground to own those important texts.

 
Fig 2.1 & 2.2 & 2.3 - Stone carved writings & brass - rubbing


Korea & Japan: AD 750 - 768
- The invention of printing is a striking achievement of Buddhists in East Asia.
- The world's earliest known printed document is a sutra printed on a single sheet of paper.
Fig 2.4 - Dharani sutra exhibited at the National Museum of Korea

- Japan having a bold experiment in mass circulation.
- In AD 768, in Buddhist Nara, the Empress commissioned a huge addition of a lucky charm / prayer.
- The project takes 6 years to complete & the numbers of copies printed  for distribution to pilgrims is a million.

Fig 2.5 - First mass printed document ( Clear Stupa & scroll )

- The Hyanakumanto Darani ( The One Million Pagodas & Dharani Prayers )
is a famous large-scale woodblock printing & the earliest recorded uses of woodblock printing in Japan.

Fig 2.6 - One million small wooden pagodas


The first printed book: AD 868
- The earliest known printed book is Chinese, from the end of the T'ang
Dynasty.
- Discovered in a cave at Dunhuang in 1899.
- A precisely dated document which brings the circumstances of its creation vividly to life.
- A scroll of 16 feet long & a foot high, forms of sheets of paper glued together at their edges.
- Text is Diamond Sutra
- First sheet in scroll written: 'It is the world's first printed book', depicting an enthroned Buddha surrounded by holy attendants.

Fig 2.7 - The first printed book: AD 868

Type foundry in Korea: c.1380

- The Koreans establish a foundry to cast movable type in bronze.
- Bronze is sufficiently strong for repeated printing, dismantling & resetting for new text.
- Koreans use the Chinese Script so they have the problem of an unwieldy number of characters.
- They solved this in 1443 by inventing their own national alphabet, known as ashan'gul.

Saints & Playing Cards: AD C.1400
- The technique of printing from wood blocks was introduced in Europe.
- In the East, the main market is holy images for sale to pilgrims.
- Playing Cards are another early part of the Western trade.

Fig 2.8 - Chinese playing card & ' Queen of Wild Men ', ca.1440.


Gutenberg & Western Printing: AD 1439 - 1457
- The name of Gutenberg first appears in connection with printing in a law case in Strasbourg in 1439.
- Gutenberg was capable of printing small items of text from movable type.
- He eventually single - handedly creates the printing press that disseminates a whole bunch of knowledge across Europe.
- The Father 150 press in Europe.

Publishing Design: Typo Redux




Task 1 / Exercises








Reflection





Further Reading


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