How does it look?
Next week we will be discussing your final printed products. Everyone should coordinate with their group to get a look at the project before class on Friday. You should all have a good understanding of any issues or problems before class. Again, the format of next week’s class will be similar to this week, so bring your printed project and be ready to talk about it.
To prepare for this discussion, write the equivalent of one typed page and post it to the class website. Some of the things that you might think about include: How does it feel to see the finished product? Is it everything that you expected it to be? Do any aspects of the object fall short of your expectations? How bright is the white of the paper? How brilliant are the colors of the ink? How do they compare to the colors on your screen?
How does it feel to hold this thing? How does the texture of the paper, it’s weight, it’s thickness, effect your viewing experience? Does the way that you navigate through the pages, or the way that you view the work, change when you are holding it in your hands? Do you feel like this object you are holding is essentially something different than the file you’ve been working on?
If you think back to the first day of class, and our first reading, do you have any new thoughts on the question “What is a book?”
As I said in class today, you will be responsible for giving me a digital file of your final project. If you would like to bring the PDF to class next week, that is great. If one member of your group can email it to me before then, that would be even better. Or if the file is too large to email, WeTransfer.com is a great service for sending large files.
See you next week!
Fall2012 PRINT PRODUCTION 
I am very satisfied to see my books and it is exactly same as I expected. As a graphic designer, I have to deal with printer all the time, the first thing that I do when I see a book is to feel the paper. I think I picked the right paper for our project. The white is very bright on the paper, but it is not pure white. The color is very saturated, and it looks different from my screen. The color was not my biggest concern in this project. I know every printer have their very own color profile, therefore, no matter which printer I choose, the result of book will be the same.
Honestly, I was very excited to see me at beginning. The surface of the paper is very smooth. It could be thicker if we dedicate more time into it. In our group meeting, we all agreed that we are making a book, not a booklet. That’s reason why we have 44 pages. There is a difference between the original file and the real object, because whenever I present it, I always zoom in or make the page fit to the monitor. Therefore, I wish if I could, I would like to revise the size of it.
Personally, I believe a book should be printed, an object that we can hold it in our hand.
Our book project “I See New York” is a big success. Once I got to hold finished product in my hands it was amazing. It was more than I have expected but as a group we have put a lot of work in to it, so not much of a surprise that it came out better than anticipated. The size is just right, the soft cover came out perfect, and the perfect binding is excellent for our book design. Personally I am very satisfied how the colors of watercolor paintings came out to be. That was my most concern but I have put a lot of work in preprints to have them come out just right. This project is a base for my future book projects. Looking back at the beginning, it took us longer than others to start working on the actual book. We have spent a lot of time on concept and discussions. But then it all came together. You can always find some small things that could be changed but its only small details. The digital format of our book is not a book, holding the physical form of it is a book, it feels like a book, you can touch it, you can smell it, you can feel it, you can even eat it if you like but that is what a real book is. Overall, I am very satisfied.
I am surprised that the final product comes out successful with a limit time and budget. I like the cover, and it is comes out good, it looks more yellow and dark when I saw the color poor of the cover at the first time. Before the printing, I was worry about some yellow color and gradient won’t come out good, but it looks fine in the paper. However, the background color of my pieces art doesn’t very match the digital file; it comes out more yellow instead of greenish. I may not to use full bleed in out art works. They cut out more when I expected. Because we need to worry about the bleed and border, adding a frame can keep the original art. When I hold the book, I feel the texture and weight of a book. It is a book you can interact and touch with it. While we show different books on the table, I find that different texture, paper, or sizes affect the feeling of a book. To the question, “What is a book?” it is a book not only designing, it is also about laying out, managing and budgeting. Beside the design, we also need to think about the paper choices, color match, binding and so on, there are lots of detail needs to think about it. Making a book is not easy.
Seeing the finished product and holding it in my hands feels really great.. It has been a lot of work and a lot of frustration along the way, but it was worth it. I have never before thought that getting a book printed for such a small budget and quantity was possible. I’m actually thinking of doing more personal projects that would include printing a book.
The book itself is better than what I was expecting. The artwork has some to do with the outcome of the book, but the outcome of the printing just puts it over the top. We were all pretty confident about of artwork, but the process of getting it printed and being judged on it had me a bit worried on the final product. That being said, there are a couple of things I would have done differently. The size I would have made bigger so that the images had more room and not looked confined to such a small space. I do like the full bleed on some images, but framing the image of the Chrysler Building would have prevented the top from getting cut off. Also the uniformed layout is not my style. I prefer to have each page be influenced by the artwork.
As for the question “What is a Book?” Well I think each group has shown that a book is whatever that person’s definition encompasses. A book is defined by the layout, the printing process itself, the binding and even the materials used for the book. As we’ve all seen in class today a book takes many different forms.
have work in the screen and have it print is totally different. colors come different and you really can see how is the work done when you actually have it on your hand im happy with my work because it bring our goals as we expecting. thank you professor for teaching us.
Since the group has been working on the final project I had mix feelings about it but I think we all did. It was most difficult getting our ideas to mix together and creating our main topic which the final book was going be based on. To have final seen the final product was like seeing everyone’s hard work come together. It was what I pictured it to be and when it finally gets printed out and I hold it in my hands it will only feel better. In the class critic we all admitted that we would have done so much more to the book if time permitted it. It wasn’t exactly what the group expected it to be because no one expected so many days off from school because of circumstances that happen this semester. The group’s expectations may have not been fully met but I personally believed we did the best with the time given to us. The brightness of the white on the paper it not clear at the moment but our book does contain a lot of negative space so I imagine it to bright. The colors of the ink aren’t clear has of now but from view our practice print out nothing stood out as odd. We decide to use the highly rated blurb printing service. Colors on a computer screen will almost always different from an actual print. A printed picture will have a more solid color look which will come out darker then a lite computer screen. The book feels like a professional printed book. The texture of the paper feels like a magazine with a nice slick design to it. It’s very light, which I had not expected to be, and almost no thickness to it. Which is nice because its meant to be a small fold-up put in your pocket book. The book isn’t small enough for it to be hard to read. The way I navigate through the book was affected because of the binding. It was really bind together very well. Since the book is new it’s a little hard to split the pages to view the book. It absolutely looks different then a digital copy now that I see the finished product in-front of me. “What is a book” I can truthfully say I respect and appreciate books now that I know how much work goes into making one and how many people its takes to create a book.
Fist of all, it feels so good to have our finished product book in my hands especially after all the hard work we have done!
This was my first time to use the Blurb. Our book came out good. The quality is definitely better than East Side Copy Print, while the Blurb takes more time than it. I will use the Blurb when a budged is limited. It is a little thinner than I expected though. I would definitely choose a hard cover and thick heavier weight paper. It might have looked more “sophisticated”, if we could use some art book quality paper.
Also, if we had an unlimited budget, I would add some more pages too. We used light side of pages for texts and the other side of pages for images, so there are 13 jokes in one book. I feel like I would like to keep more jokes.
Regarding colors, it printed darker than monitor preview. However, we sort of expected that result.
Other than that, 2 images I was concerning about their resolutions came out okay, which is much to may relief though we could have done more photo retouch on them as we talked about it in the last class presentation. Also, the both side margins of the title might have been better to have some more space.
During this semester I have researched costs for printing book(s), and it costs a lot unless we run a lot. The Blurb wasn’t too expensive though. I don’t talking about the contents of “What is a book?” but it is certainly one of options to sell e-books rather than paper books when quantity is a small number and I still want to make a profit out.
I am very happy to see “Twisted” as a finished product. In my opinion a few more pages could have been added but considering the nature of the book, it works well. Is it everything that I expected it to be? Yes, simply because I have used Blurb before and I never had any printing issues. As to the project, in my opinion, “Twisted” did not fall short. We decided that it will be 7×7, with just the title of the book on a white background. The layout of the book work very well and the size is perfect if you want to carry it around with you without taking up much real estate.
Twisted was printed on premium paper, matte finished. The paper is bright enough for text to stand out on it’s own. As to the color or the ink used to print the images, they do stand out but it’s not the same when you view them on a computer screen. The images appeared to be a little darker compared to images that are viewed on a computer screen, but do keep in mind that resolution of any image also plays a very important role.
Holding this book in my hand reminds of a graphic novel that either DC, Marvel or an independent comic company would published. Even the paper used brings back memories as to when I was a serious comic book collector a long time ago. As I look through the pages I experienced sometime different other than viewing it on a computer screen. It feels personal.
I feel I can pick this book up at any giving moment. I don’t feel that way when it comes to reading files on a computer scream. There’s no interaction. Digital files are cold.