Study Task 2 - Conventions of the book

The Book as a tool to communicate – Exploring/ Disrupting Conventions. 

Know Your Onions: Graphic Design: How to Think Like a Creative, Act Like a Businessman and Design Like a God by Drew De Soto

1. Working with your assigned partner analyse the books you have brought to todays session. Identify and list the properties/conventions of your books. (Layout, Bind...)

Paperback book (thicker cover made from card). The cover is plain card beige/grey in colour with a bright orange buckram spine. The front cover features a debossed circle in which the title sits, which adds to the texture and makes the book more dimensional.

Has an elastic band fastening to keep pages together when not being read, similar to a journal or notebook.

Type: Sans serif titles, serif body text

Dimensions: 0.6 x 14.6 x 19.7 cm

Pages: 185

Binding: perfect.

The book has its own grid. Text and photos are aligned to this, with the odd element breaking the grid.

2. Acknowledge the subject matter of each of your books. Referring back to your initial list, discuss ways you could tailor/add/manipulate these conventions to communicate the subjects more effectively.  

Graphic Design (guide/self help).
The grid structure of the pages reflects the content in the book as the subject is about design.

3. Following this mornings pitch, think about how your 'clients' subject matter could be communicated through at least one of the conventions you have identified.

Subject matter for the book: Vinyl records and maintenance of them, aimed at upper class readers.
Dimensions of a vinyl record: 12 in/30cm, 10 in/25cm

Speed played at: 33 1/3 rpm (could use this for number of pages)

Record players play using on the grooves in the record, this an element I could incorporate into the book by using embossing/debossing.