OUGD401: Context of Practice - Semester Two: A Brief History Of.. (Post Crit)

In order to make any final developments before we began the production of our 'Brief History Of..' books, we were asked to present at the very least, a digital mock-up of the final book and explain the content of the book in relation to context, synthesis and analysis in a formal style powerpoint presentation.

Although my idea on how to display the different terminology and anatomy of type by cutting the word 'typography' through the whole book with each page explaining a different anatomy was well recieved and believed to be an engaging concept, it was pointed out that the designs in which I had produced showed no link to the 'medical textbook' aesthetic in which I had chosen and therefore showed no synthesis between the contextual and the practical.

In order to evidence a synthesis in my publication I began to research into Leonardo Da Vinci, who produced many studies into the human skeleton and it's anatomy to inform the aesthetic of my design.

Final Design

One of the pieces of feedback I received in the interim crit was that the pure white stock which I initially chose for the publication would not be appropriate to communicate the 'old-fashioned medical textbook' which I sought inspiration from for the concept. I therefore chose to use an 'antique' stock which I believe portrayed this more effectively.

In order to communicate the hand-rendered style in which Leonardo Da Vinci had within his many anatomy sketches I kept the layout within my publication unstructured by using hand-rendered techniques.

I also included sketches and diagrams within the publication to not only inform the audience but also mimic the sketches made by Da Vinci in his works.

For the concept of my publication I had taken particular inspiration from medical textbooks which I believed would be an appropriate way to communicate the anatomy of type.

To communicate this style I used the style of diagrams which would be used within old-fashioned medical textbooks, using the idea of a diagram also enable me to present the vast amount of information of the anatomy of type in a more appealing format, which was vital for the target audience of young (16-18) Graphic Design students.

When binding the publication, I felt it was important to keep the old-fashioned aesthetic with had informed the design decisions I had made inside of the publication, I therefore decided to use a simple thread binding rather than a more modern technique such as staple binding.