OUGD603 - Brief 8 - Scrap Paper Notebook / Journal - Development - Cover

Cover Development

- Potentially the cover could be a printed design on one piece of card to make it sturdy enough to protect the pages within or a combination of a printed design and a layered offcut of paper which would retain a sense of the physical layering of pages within the notebook
- Lines would be printed onto pages within the book, with the geometric shapes of the pages restricting the lines to certain shapes and the placement of the pages within the book determining the angle that the lines will be within the book. Depending on the shape of the paper negative space from blank pages will be created behind smaller pieces of paper. Alternatively blocks of lines could be rotated and applied to A5 pages so that they covered only a section of the paper leaving negative space on the page. With this in mind both blank geometric shapes and rotated lines were layered up to create a cover designs that would reflect the physical layering of the pages within the notebook
- For a fully printed design, to create the impression of a piece of paper over the lined page an outline was used around the shape to better define it.
- Allowing the block of lines to have negative space around three sides with the layered shape on top created more balance within the design which looked less cluttered.
- Placing the text on the 'top' layer makes the text more noticeable without having to make it really big
- Rotating the text allows it to follow the page shape however is potentially harder to read than having it horizontal within the design.
- It was considered that potentially the cover could just reflect the use of the lined pages within the book by applying a block of lines so that they expand off the page leaving some negative space around this, however perhaps this simplified the idea too much and didn't reflect the contents of the book as effectively as some of the other designs.

- If the book was to be perfect bound its was considered a piece of card could be used as the cover. Cutting the card so that it creates the edge of a rectangle (as if the rest of the rectangle has been expanded past the page) would reflect how many of the pages within the book are cut off to fit within the format of the book, creating the impression they are larger than the books format. Sizing this so that it covers a large proportion of the book but not all, would allow the cut off sections on the cover to reveal the layers of the paper pages within whilst still protecting them. This shape would act as a flap for the front cover.
- Alternatively it was considered that just the corner of the cover could be cut off, allowing the pages underneath to show through s this will potentially protect the notebook more and is less likely to get snagged in use.
- It was thought that if the book was to be perfect bound only a small strip of cover would be needed around the spine and front and back covers, which would then allow the pages within to be seen.
- Angling the title text any less than about 45 degrees makes it off to look at within the design as there are no horizontal aspects within the rest of the design.
- Keeping the cover text small allows the shapes, textures and colours of the papers to be the centre of the design and allows it to have a refined and minimalist feel.