Top notch web design

Some really beautifully exicuted websites by Archive studio, its the overall quality and functional values of the websites that make them stand out to me. There is a lot of overly ornamental design in web at the moment, the term form follows function should be even more appropriate on web, given its interactive nature!
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It's hard to show just how well these websites use but there are links to all of them on the Archive website. I want to propose a website for my bookshop but want to make sure its well planned and organised before starting any design. I will write a list of what pages and map out the links between pages before starting on the grid / website.

This website in particular really emphasis the ease of use within minimal layouts, with a simple scroll box in the bottom corner. These are important things to remember for my PPD progression when planning my own website.

Lovely type on this website, not sure how the design studio operates as there is no description on their website other than 'design & development studio, might be people to consider visiting over Christmas.

Experimental Jetset

Some really interesting 3D work that inspired me to work on my latest concept for the bookshop brief. The Wim Crowel project in particular the way the type started to change as it moved really inspired me. I have decided against using Helvetica for the project but instead the very similar Swiss Akzidenz released slightly before.
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STUDIO WEBSITE

In the description of this project on their website they explain the slight failures in this project. The main issue was to do with the printing, which they said resulted in Crowell looking unlike his usual healthy self. They also explained that they should have used one of the other shots in the image below where the true depth of the image and its physical scale was more apparent. Choosing the appropriate designs to progress with in my bookshop identity will be an important part of the process, I will make sure I gather lots of opinions before progressing.

Really interesting idea, something I would advise anyone with an interest in type to look into and read about. The website is particularly good because of the effort put into the project descriptions, giving an insight into how the studio works.

Posters from Shin Dokho

Some particularly interesting usees of type running through these posters with a mixture of bold headings and creative layouts. I want to consider how I can use the type I have been working on to create work that's as visually stunning and unconventional but to communicate the bookshop.
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The huge posters / books are also great research, the hierarchy of the type / layout will be key so that the design is appealing from further away but also when looked at closely. I also need to work out a hierarchy for the table distributing space content across the page so its quick and easy to understand to ease to process of using spices. I will plan how I wish the content to appear and what order it should be read to make the most of the space on the pages / poster.

Nice Things

Built up a collection of photos over the past weeks since deciding what I was doing for each brief. Researching like this is a much more effective way of working for me. I find it sets off more ideas and has more subtle visual influences in my work, opposed to browsing the internet and looking at the same sort of design and not having an understanding of how it engages with its environment.

Pretty bad photo, but the new buses are beautiful. Designed by Heatherwick, a studio which I looked at last year for the moving image module. Looks slightly like an eye patch on the back but the retro interior with a modern sleek twist redeems it. Also one of the most economic buses in Europe!

The Type on 'The Future Gallery' in London really makes the most of its black canvas. The slick black tiles with the white grouting also fits perfectly with the signage. I think its this relationship between a piece of signage has to fit with its surroundings but exploit the space and colours to stand out. I need to start putting my designs into the context of lots of books, because of the variety of colours and sizes I will keep the colour to a minimal and make the type stand out as much as possible to separate the signage from the books.

Retro Johnston Sans - Lovely to see old typography amongst the new designs through out the underground, especially after the hosting of the Olympics over summer. It also embodies the sustainability of the typeface, its constant changing surroundings and somehow it still works and looks unique.

Nice way of storing the disk that came with this book called 'format perspectives' in the Carhartt store in Covent Garden. I will consider using thicker stocks that completely conceal the disk.

These slightly thinner tipped in pages in this book add an element of mystery and instantly draws me towards that section of the book. I had intentions of doing something similar with my typography books but I will have

Corner Shop

Some truly outstanding design work by North Design in collaboration with Richard Stepney, and really pushes the branding / packaging guidelines, something I aimed to do for both my science & bookshop brief. - Sourced from September Industry

For more than two decades Fourth Floor has been doing things differently – cutting and colouring hair with maximum application and minimal fuss from its bright, split-level salon atop a 1930s industrial building in the heart of Clerkenwell. Accessed via a goods lift, it has remained firmly below the radar while attracting a fiercely loyal clientele and whilst many come from the arts, media, design and the creative industries all share with Fourth Floor an independence of thought and outlook.

The simple use of colour on the packaging fits perfectly into the minimal internal layout of the shop. Also the minimal use of colour with only two tones and black (including the contents of the bottle) it really rounds off the product and results in a design that stands out more than those that have more ornamental elements added. I want to apply these same themes of minimalism to my bookshop / spice packaging to separate it from other over saturated designs in the market.

The type for the shop was created using a re-drawn and edited version of the typeface Skyline black. The logo emphasises how using an existing typeface as a template can still result in a unique and interesting piece of typographic design.
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Also the quality of the production of this signage window really embodies the process of good design, after the degree understanding colour and production will be key in my progress in how a brand communicates and maintains a consistent visual identity.

All of the deliverables maintain the same high level of design and integration of materials yet maintain the brand image. Need to decipher exactly what I am doing with my book brief as the current idea seems too random and poorly executed. I need to gather my ideas and design work to decide what direction to take next.

Branding Research

I picked up this magazine over the holidays and had a small read of it at the time but it seems far more relevant now given my current stage of production for my bookshop brief.

"Branding is ever-evolving as a craft, and our regular Industry Focus slices deep and narrow to explore how studios can take advantage of the latest cross platform opportunities."

There is also a section about current trends in branding, and although this is something I aim to explore understanding what currently excites clients and the graphic design industry seemed a key stage in my research.

 "This issues macro trend celebrates designers from across the creative spectrum who are slicing through the ocean of unnecessary choice and clutter with clean, simple, user centred design that deliverers what it needs to, and nothing else - giving weary consumers much-needed breathing space."

----------- This statement embodies many of my personal theories on brand design, my minimalist approach to design is something that I want to continue thought the rest of my career. I have a growing appreciation of conceptual development and less for the ornamental value of a project.

"In a world where out daily lives are over saturated with information and choices, consumers are looking to products and services that simplify their environments.

I will use a mixture of these statements and my own opinions on design to apply to my branding for the bookshop.

Colour

Exploring colour schemes with art and furniture design as inspiration...

The slightly pastel primary colours in this are nice, its the shape,
lines and overall composition that drew me to this image.
Is there a colour scheme that appeals particularly to creatives?

The colours used in this piece of furniture
are beautiful in so many ways. The contrast
between the wood and vibrant red and greens
really grabbed me
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Also where the different grains of wood meet
a wonderful patterned emerges. I have
taken a few eye dropper samples from this
image to see if I can adapt the colours and
create a colour scheme for my bookshop
identity. I think as an image the different
materials could be representative of each
practice - particularly the browns to architecture
looking at materials and production.

This piece of abstract / modernist art also
struck me.The simple shades of purple and
minimal composition
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Another idea I had for the identity was to take different forms from the practices and recreate them in vector formats allowing me to play with the composition of shapes.

Guild International

Wonderful identity that follows similar principles to those I aim to deliver for my book shop branding, they are for a institution in Barcelona and the identity reflects the nature of architecture in Barcelona as well as being repeated to create a pattern that extends to infinity. The shape also reflects the values of innovation and connection...

Quote from design studio Mucho...
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The club’s headquarters is its heart. It’s symbol and values are always present in a subtle and elegant way. In order to demonstrate the space and the values we designed a set of icons which represent the institution.

The motion graphic below again focuses on this idea of connection and integration. I was considering creating a motion graphic applying similar notion's of simplicity and minimalism.

Opening Ceremony

Opening Ceremony Pop Up Shop
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The identity and shop interior are great pieces of inspiration for my bookshop and show the potential of a pop up show and the layout of the inside of a shop! The shop how now been allotted a permanent spot in Covent garden after becoming one of London's top fashion destinations.

During my trip to London I visited the opening ceremony pop up shop in Covent garden. Everything from the shop interiors to the delivery of the receipt was phenomenal and extremely well considered. The vibrant variations in the interiors I assume are adaptations of the original Olympic colour scheme and the forms follow similar shapes used in the 2012 Olympic identity.

A publication sold at the shop...

The receipts are given to you in a business card sized envelope and the book wrapped in bandanna patterned paper. This shows how just a little more thought increaces the value of a brand as well as the image that the shop leaves in a customers mind.
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The layout of the book uses wonderfully colourful layouts and refers back to the colour scheme used in the traditional Olympic logo of the four rings, representing the different nations coming together for the great sporting event.
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The composition between images works in a beautiful harmony, I will also consider this when laying out the images the cymatics publication.

The quirky info graphics were my favourite element of the book, looking at the relationships betweens players success and skill as well as their sense of humour!
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The colour schemes and use of tints is something I need to consider for the design of my cymatics brief but also within the brand communication of my bookshop concept!

Bag Research

My girlfriend has a ridiculous amount of retail bags that she has collected over reecent years (showing people outside of the design industry do appreciate printed ephemera) so I thought while at home I should exploit the collection for my own practice.
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Looking at the bags in relation to their function format and designs I have analysed each as a comparison with what I need to consider for my bookshop idenity bags.
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The bags were mainly based from fashion retailers but there was a bookshop in there as well.
The bags I photographed include
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America Apparel // Gilly Hicks // Neighbourhood // magma books // V&A // Whistles
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but the full list was slighly more extensive...

Magma Books
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The books are extremely functional with strength and format being key given the variety of sizes that books come in. The design on this bag advertising other stores and the content which one stored was a nice concept
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Categories included magazines, books and normal formats as well as an additional category of 'weird stuff' which I think is a great portrayal of the brands fun side, something I will need to communicate in my own designs. 

Victoria & Albert Museum (V&A)
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The identity for the V&A allows for flexibility depending on the exhibitions on at the time, with the logo taking an obvious forefront on the design and patterns / designs taken from current exhibitions promoting both the gallery and current events.
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They show a similar format to the magma books, allowing heavy or larger books to be carried without worrying about breaking the handle... perfect for an exhibition shop selling a variety of books.

The designs are appropriate to the culture sector, and appeal to a variety of audiences which is ideal for the variety of people that visit the gallery.
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It is a bold communication of the brand identity as well as what the gallery is up to at the time. Creating an identity that allows flexibility and development over time is a brilliant trait and something I want to pick up on for my bookshop.

Neighbourhood
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Intereresting format for this bag, a resealable design which fits t-shirts and other clothing garments inside.
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Its experimental format is a good communicator of the products that the shop sells. Focusing on low volume releases produced at high qualities this bag is a great communication of where the brand aims to sit on the market.

Gilly hicks
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A more commercial design suitable for its audience, using the draw strings that are well known in their clothing, another great way of communicating the brand.
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The floral pattern is also reflective of the clothes that the shop sells, again communicating to a specific audience and selection of buyers.

Whistles
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A definite theme of minimalism and brilliant use of a black and white colour scheme. This bag really exploits the white space as a blank canvas and lets the brand logo / name do all the talking.
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The bag also uses distinctive thick handles similar to the threads use to tighten tracksuit bottoms, another great example of effective brand communication.

American Apparel
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Consistent branding with the shop interior and overall brand communication. Bold use of helvetica and the iconic locations of the store.
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Although the format and audience are very different to those I aim to focus in my brief the use of simple typography is a wonderful tool of communication and something I will remember when designing my own bags.

Fashion and Art Collusion

This is book from the V&A museum is Kensington. The exhibition explored the relationship between art and design so it makes it somewhat relevant to both my cymatics brief, when looking at the format and presentation of the pack and to my bookshop brief that explores the relationship between the different creative subjects. I will analyse is in relation to content (Bookshop), format and print processes (cymatics)
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The pack includes a book explaining the existing relationships between the fashion designers and the artists involved, and how they approached their individual responses to the brief. The video about the exhibition can be seen here (can't embed the video on my blog)
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It is books like this that are perfect for the shop I am proposing, they close the gaps between practices and emphasise the possibilities for success and innovation that is possible when subjects integrate and unify. It also closes a theoretical gap between the sections of shelving that I am proposing, where each subject seamlessly merges into the next (this will become clearer when I start making floor plans)

The type on the front and the tipped on cover are foil blocked leaving a slight emboss into the stock. The cover also uses fabric and stock on the cover and the text folied over both showing the collusion between each subject.
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The inside cover is a high gloss and heavy gsm paper that works well against the grey fabricated stock, glossy black text and bold white header.

The black space around the disk is beautiful, the minimalist approach through the entire book is what makes it feel just so special. This will be something I need to consider when approaching the cymatics book.
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Also the number of deliverables within the book / package increases the value of the project. Me and Dom have already proposed a publication and disk but with the potential for image creation in the project I'm sure this is something we can expand on.

The book also implies a systematic way of separating the words from the images but maintaining some level of relationship between the two. The pages with text on are all white and in segments between the pages consiting of full page images of the art / fashion works.
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This is something I was considering for the cymatics brief given my part of the brief will be the layout and book design, but this may only be applicable for the sections on our own work where we have high resolution images.

Design Research Unit

During the Typo talks this weekend the studio 'A Practice for Everyday Life' mentioned the design research unit and its relevance to this project immediately grabbed my attention. This is a background into the history of the consultancy and how it could possibly fit into my own brief.
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The design research unit was one of the first generation of British design consultancies combining expertise in architecture, graphics and industrial design. Famous for numbers projects it was one of the first companies that engaged the different practices for the better good. I was thinking of converting my bookshop identity to a series of workshops that integrate professionals and students from the different practices to create interesting pieces that explore the relationships between each subject.
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"The Design Research Unit created some of the UK’s most iconic pieces of graphic design, from London’s street signs to the British Rail logo. A UK touring show, which has started at London’s Cubitt Gallery, celebrates four decades of the group’s work.
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The DRU was founded in 1943 by poet and art critic Herbert Read, advertising entrepreneur Marcus Brumwell, and designers Misha Black and Milner Gray. From the outset the group intended to consolidate design’s position in the world, expressing a desire to bring “artists and designers into productive relation with scientists and technologists”. The group were also highly unusual in the range of disciplines that their work spanned: they were the first practice to combine expertise in architecture, graphic design and industrial design." - Taken from Creative review

The integration of the practices produced a service equipped to advise on all problems of design.

Fold Away Bookshop

Fold Away bookshop by Campaign for the London Festival of architecture

This book celebrates the art form of the printed publication, specialising in architecture this fold away bookshop was part of the London Festival of Architecture in 2010. It embodies exactly what Phil and I discussed last week, it exploits a specific niche in the market selling only specialist books on architecture and embodies the concept of the LFA 2010 'the welcoming city'.

Vintage copies of Architecture design were displayed in the centre of the shop in the cardboard table. This adds another element of excitement and motivation towards enticing people to come into the shop.

The shop also includes projections of clips featuring modern architecture to enhance the browsing experience and creates a lively and social space.

I wish to achieve a similar sense of excitement and social lively environment, moving away from the stereotypes of a library where people can't interact with one another and engage with the environment.

Is this too far away from the original concept of a bookshop? Do I want it to be an environment where people can interact with one another or is it more about engaging them with the books they are reading?

Back to the drawing board...

Email Advice

I have been emailing publishers, book blogs, writers etc and gathering opinions about books and trying to convert the information into the ten commandments. This is my first reply and a really wonderful quote by Bruce Hollingdrake who writes for bookshopblog.

 The quote instantly got me thinking about possibly making something that accentuates the content of the books, for example a big roll of short stories that people can tear off and read if they are ever on a short bus journey or longer train journey. I will mock up some of these ideas and post them to my practice.

Imaginery Bookshops

This site is a list of interesting concepts for imaginary book shops, some of which are a bit abstract but others are some wonderful ideas, I really like the idea of creating hidden libraries that only a select few people might come across. This could be a concept to work towards for my brief, a safe heaven where people can take and return books on their own accord, a library without the fines and formal atmosphere.

"This site is the result of a reader coming across two wonderful books in quick succession, in a fairly ordinary bookshop. The first – Invisible Cities, by Italo Calvino – made her long for imaginary places. The second – an ode to bookselling by Lewis Buzbee called The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop– mooted the idea of ‘bookstores that don’t exist, yet should’. Imaginary Bookshops is her attempt to bring some into existence."


 Another extract from one of the posts reads-

"There is no need for a book at the top of a hill. The owners of Hilltop Books know that. On fine days they leave out a cairn of books for those who might find them. Browsing is not encouraged. The books are to be shoved into rucksacks, blurbs unread, pages unturned. Payment is left underneath a stone. When a walker gets home they unpack their rucksack, rinse their flask, rest their legs. When they open the book they find sharp air between the pages and a glimpse of the view. Wherever they are, the story is read from the hilltop."

Dinefwr Literature Festival

Reading / literature festivals might not be everyone's idea of fun but for hardcore readers and book fanatics its perfect. This is exactly the sort of audience that I wish to address with my brief, people who appreciate the written / printed word.

"Dinefwr Literature Festival is a new boutique festival held in the grounds of Dinefwr Castle, Carmarthenshire, West Wales. The three-day event boasts performances from the likes of Howard Marks and Joe Dunthorne as well as other performances from an array of writers, poets and musicians.

The advantage of the festival is that it finds new books for readers. It spreads the word. Writers and readers find texts we might not otherwise have discovered. It is in this way that the festivals help the writer. It can also be fun to meet other writers"

OMMU in Rome

Lovely identity and promotional campaign for this temporary book shop in Rome, funnily enough using the same typeface I planned on using for my identity. Simple and effective concept easily understandable to all audiences with a distinctive European aesthetic.
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"OMMU is a book store showcasing magazines, books, and artists’ publications specializing on art & design. We publish our own artist books and limited editions and we also stock a range of rare and historic publications, posters, music, furniture and anything else that stands out."

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Check out some more info here

Book Distribution Methods

Thinking about interesting methods of distributing books as research towards my book shop identity, after speaking with Phil I realised that I need to offer something unique, some sort of niche in the market. These are a couple of examples that I found that take alternative approaches to get people reading and expand the life of books.

 The Guardian / Observer book give away

The papers give out stickers in the issue of the paper surrounding the event allowing people to label and make it clear why they have left the books there. It also gives people the opportunity to leave reviews on the website - it seems getting people involved it key!
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"From fiction to design, and children's books to science, the Guardian has gathered thousands of books from publishers and authors and is distributing them around the country for free. Books will be left in public places where readers are liable to chance upon them, from stations and coffee shops to galleries and museums."
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More info on the project here

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Pop Up Book shops

With their growing popularity, pop up shops could be an interesting route to take, but possibly implying some sort of book swap policy?

As graphic design books can be pricey this could be a tricky task. Also being a designer I know just how hard it is to give away a book after buying it with the intention of looking after it and one day having it as part of a large collection of beautiful design.
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Phone Booth Libraries - UK, LA and NY

It is this sort of contemporary idea that stands out against the crowd. Its the simplicity and innovative take on something so ordinary as a book shelf. Thinking about how the project could engage with different environments could play a large role in my conceptual development.

The idea was generated by architect John Locke as part of the Department of Urban betterment (DUB) project which aims to improve local

Similar idea in the UK except this time using the traditional English phone box, thinking about the location of the project will have a huge effect on the visuals. Again another major part of the project that I need to address.

Also need to re-evaluate what the aim of the brief is, seems to be turning slightly more into getting people to read but that seems slightly off what I initially intended from the brief.

Finally another example in LA, showing people how to make their local phone booths into book shops.

The reason why these projects work so well is also because of the decline in phone boxes through graffiti and mobile devices, is there another niche that could be exploited?