Typographic Gift Booklet
Introduction
This project was part of my typography class at BYU-Idaho. We were instructed pick a text that would apply to somebody special to ourselves, and wrap all the elements in the booklet to that idea. The booklet requirements were five spreads, a front and back cover that matched the theme, at least three colors, and each individual page was to be 7 inches wide by 10 inches tall. I choose to create my book for my boyfriend, Elton, and made sure it would appeal to him through the color scheme, quotes, and personal notes.
The First Stages
This was my very first attempt at discovering a theme. After multiple experimentations, I decided I wanted my booklet layout to consist of a heavier elements spanning across the top and slightly less heavier elements on the left and right sides of the middle spreads. I simply showed this in the draft by creating black rectangles to show hierarchy in my design. Visual pace was thought about first before color or theme.
Color Scheme
One of early concerns was what the color scheme would be for my project. I thought about the person I was designing for and knew best to include his favorite colors in there. Using a dark, forest green as my starting point, I looked for color schemes on the internet to inspire me. I found the one posted above for reference, but started tweaking it to make it my own and so it had a better display of high to low values. After a few changes, I decided to make my red color more marron. In the final product, this allows for less stress on the eyes and more consistency with the booklet.
Layout and Theme
Above is my first draft of the booklet. I used the color scheme from earlier and my single draft to get the layout started. My booklet is a four column grid which is shown through the typography and other visual elements. Colored shapes and words fill the heavy sides and top sections of my booklet for the typographic hierarchy I was going for. The theme of my book is based on the text I chose which is the battling sides of good vs evil and the feelings and consequences associated with each side. This can be shown in the contrasting color scheme and the enlarged, contradicting words on each of the middle pages.
The Cover and Final
I made sure my cover fit my theme by making it into a mock board game. I used the same color scheme to keep interest across the page. Large and small typography and shapes were added to create visual flow, focal points, and depth for my cover. Sometimes typography can be hard to work with. One example is with the right-aligned text for the back cover (left side pictured below). It took a lot of trial and error to make that typography beautifully aligned with the circle it is in. The rest of my final is shown below. Some last touches and changes I made were slightly changing the color scheme, adding consistency of shapes with rounded edges, and aligning my body copy in a more pleasing way.
