Labels

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

Characters in a typeface:

  • Small Caps
  • Numerals
  • Fractions
  • Ligatures
  • Punctuations
  • Mathematical signs
  • Symbols
  • Non-aligning figures
Fig 2.8 - Characters in typeface


Legibility

The first thing in making type legible is to choose text typefaces that are open and well-proportioned.  

Classic serif: Garamond, Bodoni, Bembo, Minion Pro, Baskerville, Jenson, Caslon

Sans-serif: Frutiger, Gill Sans, Helvetica, Myriad Pro, etc..


Fig 2.9 - Typography guidelines chart

Legibility - Special Types

1. Underlined - should be lowered so they don't touch the characters.

2. Small Caps - good for subheads / first line of paragraph

3. All Caps - never be used forlong sentences / for emphasis

4. Special-Purpose Style
5. Text-Scaling - never stretch the form horizontally / vertically, squeeze or stretch it as it distorts the original design of the font. It makes the messaging appears cheap.
6. Outline & Shadow - avoid outlining & shadow on text as much as possible

Task 1 / Exercises

Exercise 1: Mockup Book Sizes

Fig 3.1 & 3.2 - Exercise 1 - Book measurement experimenting sheet on A4, Week 2

Exercise 2: Signatures

Fig 3.3 - Exercise 2 - Signatures, Week 2

Fig 3.4 - Exercise 2 - Signatures, Week 2

Fig 3.5 - Exercise 2 - Signatures, Week 2

Fig 3.6 - Exercise 2 - Signatures, Week 2


Exercise 3: Van De Graff

Fig 3.7 - Exercise 3 - Van De Graff, Week 2

Fig 3.8 - Exercise 3 - Van De Graff, Week 2


Fig 3.9 - Exercise 3 - Van Der Graff (Digital) with grids, Week 2

Fig 3.10 - Exercise 3 - Van Der Graff (Digital) without grids, Week 2

Exercise 4: Form & Movement

Fig 3.11 - Exercise 4 - Form and Movement (1 Colour), Week 7

Fig 3.12 - Exercise 4 - Form and Movement (2 Colours), Week 7

Fig 3.13 - Exercise 4 - Form and Movement (2 Colours + image), Week 7

Fig 3.14 - Exercise 4 - Form and Movement (2 Colours + Image + Text), Week 7

Task 2 / Content Generation

Fig 3.15 - Task 2 content writing, Week 4

Fig 4.0 - References, Week 4


Fig 4.1 - Chosen Colour Palette, Week 4


Fig 4.2 - Editing progress in Adobe Photoshop, Week 6


Fig 4.3 - Edited pics, Week 6


Feedback & Check on contact sheet

Fig 4.4 - Contact sheet done checking by Ms Vitiya, Week 11

Fig 4.5 . Final Task 3 - Book (PDF), Week 12

Fig. Final Task 3 - Book (E-book), Week 12

Fig 4.6 - Final Task 3 - Promotional Poster (JPEG), Week 12

Fig. 4.7 - Final Task 3 - Promotional Poster (PDF), Week 12

Feedback

Week 1
General Feedback:
In the first week, Ms. Vitiyaa introduced the overall structure of the module, explaining the assessment breakdown, key objectives, and expectations for the semester. She also gave us time to go through the lecture videos and showcased a few outstanding senior works,  which gave us a clearer sense of what direction we might take with our own project. 

Week 2
General Feedback:
During this week’s class, Ms. Vitiyaa recapped the previous week’s pre-recorded lectures and gave us a clearer picture of what’s expected for the next assignment. She walked us through the preparation steps for Task 1, including completing all exercises and confirming our topic for the final project and content generation. Once the briefing was done, we were free to continue working independently throughout the tutorial session.

Week 3
General Feedback:
This week, Ms. Vitiyaa reminded us to go through the Publishing PDF uploaded on Microsoft Teams, as it summarizes everything we need to prepare for the upcoming task. She explained that our book title should be selected from the five given themes, such as ones related to ourselves or our family.
She also mentioned that our illustrations can be combined with photography, as long as both visuals complement each other and share a consistent tone or concept. Additionally, she reminded us that by Week 5, we are required to submit a 3,000-word draft through Google Drive. 

Week 4
General Feedback:
I was absent this week, but I referred to the lecture materials and notes shared on Microsoft Teams to catch up on what I missed. 

Week 5
(No Class)

Week 6
(No Class)

Week 7: 

General Feedback: 

This week, Ms. Vitiyaa briefly reviewed our progress on Task 2 and Task 3. She then shared useful guidance on organising and setting up our documents for the book design. In addition, she demonstrated how to batch process and export images from Photoshop in specific formats, such as using the CMYK colour mode.

Specific Feedback: 

I shared my reference images with Ms. Vitiyaa and asked if the idea would work. She said there was no issue and allowed me to proceed to the next stage.


Week 8: 

General Feedback: 

This week, Ms. Vitiyaa checked our progress on Task 3 and offered additional suggestions on how the layout could be improved before we print the contact sheet next week.


Week 9: 

General Feedback:

This week, Ms. Vitiyaa showed us how to create a contact sheet in InDesign to better assess the overall layout, spacing, and kerning. She later reviewed our printed contact sheets and gave feedback on layout placement, while pointing out kerning issues such as orphans and rivers.


Week 10: 

General Feedback:

This week, Ms. Vitiyaa gave individual feedback on Task 3

Specific Feedback:

I showed my contact sheets to Ms. Vitiyaa and she pointed out that the alignment was inconsistent, as it alternated between left, right, and centre alignment. I then corrected the alignment across all pages to ensure consistency.


Week 11: 

General Feedback: 

This week, Ms. Vitiyaa gave individual feedback on the printed book design and outlined the final requirements of Task 3, including converting the book into an e-book and preparing a five-minute presentation.



Week 12: 

General Feedback: This week, Ms. Vitiyaa led the final presentation, followed by individual feedback sessions on how to further refine our work, and reminded us to submit the e-portfolio by next week.

Specific Feedback: Ms. Vitiyaa reviewed my printed book and pointed out that one page had been accidentally hyphenated. I also informed her that I had overlooked removing the page numbers from the prologue and the opening pages. As a result, I plan to reprint the book before submitting it again.

Reflection

Experience
During this whole project, I went through the entire process from generating ideas to executing them. It took quite a lot of time, but I really enjoyed every step. I’ve always liked experimenting with bitmap effects, and I was surprised to discover that I could apply them in this project. Editing the images to achieve the look I wanted, and pairing them with my own text, was a very enjoyable experience. I also became much more confident using InDesign, especially in the layout and composition process.
Observation
While working on the project, I noticed how unique everyone’s approach to layout was. Each person had their own style and way of presenting images and text, which made me appreciate the diversity of creative thinking. I also realized how much thought goes into seemingly small design choices, from image adjustments to spacing and typography.  

Findings
Through this project, I found that the publishing process can be both technically challenging and creatively fulfilling. By carefully editing each photo and experimenting with layout, I learned how to better express my ideas visually. The combination of image manipulation, text integration, and layout design allowed me to create a publication that reflects my personal aesthetic. Overall, this project strengthened my design skills and gave me confidence to explore more advanced techniques in the future.

Further Reading

Fig 5.0 - Editorial Design: Digital And Print by Cath Caldwell & Yolanda Zappaterra

Editorial Design: Digital And Print

  • Editorial design is about storytelling, not decoration
    Layout, typography, images, and pacing all work together to guide readers through content and enhance meaning, rather than just making pages look visually appealing.

  • Print and digital require different design thinking
    The book clearly explains how editorial design changes across platforms—print focuses on physical structure and sequencing, while digital prioritises interaction, screen behaviour, and user navigation.

  • Strong hierarchy improves readability and engagement
    Clear typographic hierarchy (headlines, subheads, body text, captions) helps readers understand content quickly and decide what to read first.

  • Grids provide structure but allow flexibility
    Grid systems are essential for consistency in editorial design, but designers should also know when and how to break the grid to create emphasis or visual interest.

  • Editorial design balances content, audience, and context
    Successful publishing design considers who the audience is, what the content communicates, and where it will be read—magazine, book, website, or digital publication.

    •
    Labels:

    Comments

    Post a Comment