OUGD504 - Production of the Book

Production of the Final Publication

Printing the booklet

The book pages were printed on to the bulky newsprint using an inkjet printer. The use of crop marks on each spread meant that it was easier to cut the text block down when bound. If printed in industry the book would have used offset lithography as it would be cost effective to create plates to print the design, however for a small run, using digital print is cheaper.

Making the Text block

To create the text block the pages were bound using fishing wire to create a strong bind and a piece of paper was used as a template to create all the holes.

Creating the cover and folding

To create the cover the gold and black stocks were glued together to create a duplexed page. Originally as testers these were stuck with PVA however this made the slightly thinner black paper ripple which didn't create a clean finish. Using a Glue Stick was also considered however it was thought that this might not be very strong and long lasting. Instead double sided sticky tape was used as this created a strong bond as well as letting the card lay flat creating a more professional finish.

Applying the Vinyl

To apply the vinyl it was fist considered drawing lines on the cover so that it would be applied straight, however it was hard to get rid of these after they had been drawn. As an alternative one of the lasercut cover designs with a box was laid out over the front cover, this provided a frame for where the title could be placed. Applying the vinyl using this technique meant that the title followed the grid and was straight. Using vinyl was much easier than having to stick the letters on individually and was more accurate. However the use of vinyl for the book, although precise is not very hard wearing as the letters can be removed and adjusted, making it not very suitable for a commercial travel guide which would be carried around. Instead, if manufactured this would probably be foiled however the facilities available in the print room have had mixed results so vinyl was chosen as an alternative. 

Gluing the book

Once all the pages were bound the text block was glued with PVA along the edge to secure all the signatures together. After this had dried the spine fold on the cover was glued so that the text block could be stuck in. It was found that if the book was to be produced on a large scale then a heated glue would be used as a way of sticking the spine to the cover, which would dry quickly and would avoid the card becoming wet. Applying a little bit of glue to the area between the spine and cover fold, meant that the cover and first and back pages would join slightly to hide the join between the cover and spine.

Cutting the book down

Using the crop marks on the text block mean the top and bottom of the block could be cut down. The cover was already lasercut to size so did not need altering. When the whole design was bound and glued together it was considered cutting the cover and pages inside at the same time like in the mock up. However in the previous mock up the edge had been cut at a slight angle meaning the pages could be slightly seen from the front cover. To avoid this in the final design the cover was left as its original size and the pages were cut down separately so that the text block was smaller than the cover creating overlap and hiding the pages inside. Within industry this would be done using an industrial guilotine which would be more precise and able to cut through the whole text block in one.