I created this spider diagram over the course of the project to jot down any ideas I had of the name of the publication. I wanted to make sure it referenced blue in a sexualised way as my concept is proposing blue as the next sex colour instead of the social conditioned red.
I took inspiration from sexual innuendos and pun's ( " Blue turns me on ! " ) and tried to reference the blue velvet's script in some derogatory sexual ways ( " come here Darlin " in reference to " isn't that right tits from the movie ). None of these stuck with me as impactful enough. The title that stuck with me initially was " Blue is the new sex hue " as this referenced my concept and the colour.
However, when I mentioned this in tutorial Sue didn't like this as much and nether did my other class mates. So I decided to go back to the drawing board to find something that had a little more impact. I eventually after asking my family and friends i came to the conclusion " Blue light district " as this builds a sexual environment in the readers mind.
I liked the simplicity and impact this three worded title had, and built up the picture of my concept. Without consciously thinking the red light dsitrict associates with sex to the reader, and replacing the 'red' with 'blue' is informing the viewer that the publication is going to be revolving around this colour.
inspired by studio sly's WMC publication : I found this at the start of the project and was instantly tranfixed and inspired and knew I wanted to try embossing and bookbinding for the first time.
This was a very long process but enjoyable as I had to pick up the velvet from material store in northern quarter.
Then cut the material into to fit around the mount board provided by book binding.
I then used double sided tape as by experimenting with the other adhesives like superglue and PVA glue they seeped through the material.
Making sure I pulled the material very tightly around the edges so there was no loose material. Cutting the edges diagonally so they matched perfectly.
Then placed the front and back cover in a press to ensure they were bonded securely, overnight.
The next day I was taught how to use the embossing machine and initially created some swatches to check the embossing effect of different typefaces on my material.
The letter letterforms to the right are each individual and this is one photo of many attempts to get the right typeface to emboss. Due to the velvet fabric being so thick and dense, many of the typefaces I chose couldn't impress into the material as they wouldn't keep there shape. After trying for hours, the last letterform I tried, when I was about to accept that this wasn't going to work, worked and imprinted due to its thickness and weigh of the typeface so it didn't get lost in the velvet.
above is the swatch of material that attempted embossing the typefaces prior. I tried to use foil when it was looking like it wasnt going to work, and this didn't stick to the material.
But thank god we got there in the end !
embossing final
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Then a simple ring bind to ensure the pages laid out flat to make ease of user for scanning the barcodes
at this stage I decided to have the addition of a couple stickers to a plastic seal that is going to cover the publication to ' state trigger warning sexual violence ' and a barcode that says clearly ' scan me with your iPhone ' with the blender locket to inform the viewer of the key elements of my publication and to warn before they even enter. A secondary trigger warning is typed on the opening page.
Above there are some printing samples on the G. F smiths paper stock. The blue were specialist papers so I could only get a couple of each so I thought would be perfect for the sticker development. However the Munken smooth paper 140gsm seemed to work best to resemble sticker material ( as I didn't have any to hand ) and had the best colour pay off.
colour specialist paper ( textured )
Munken smooth 140gsm
When I attempted to then use my G. F . smith paper stock samples at university the ink from the printers didn't stick properly to the paper and has dragged leaving a very uneven print. I tried with my smoother paper for my initial spreads and textured paper for the later to represent the ' dirtying ' of of the topics. This happened again also .
So I decided to use MU print services near the benzie building to ensure a good quality print. This meant that I couldn't have the varying textures but that is something I would do if I had a larger budget and more time. I chose to use there Avocat matt 170gsm for all pages as I wanted them to feel luxurious. The matt coat allows for ease of photography.
I am very happy with the quality of printing that MU print provided, the colours are rich and vibrant. And great for the darker pages
The blue paper muted the colour quality
final sticker layout
I have now adapted
I felt with all the other stickers it was starting to feel insensitive and overcrowded. As I have such heavy topics at the end of the publication, the stickers felt too light and playful. I wanted to keep the key elements of 'trigger warning' as I felt this was important and the 'scan me on your phone '. I am very happy with the decision I made of removing the blender heart.