Design Principles - What is a Book - Book Binding

Design Principles

What is a book? 
Book Binding 

To get me thinking about how I will physically produce my book we were given a book binding workshop. This would show us how to create a range of good with different binding methods so that I would have a good idea of the style of book I wanted to produce when I produce my publication. We started by produced three different types of books; 

• Saddle Stitch Bind 
• Perfect Bound 
• Concertina

Saddle Stitch

The saddle stitch bind was definitely the easiest book to produce. The process involved folding the pages and using a cradle to hold them in place while I created holes along the spine of the book, We where then taught how to thread the book to bind it together which met in the middle where we tied a knot and cut off the excess. Finally we used the guillotine to cut the edged of the three exposed sides which ensured an accurately clean edge to the book. I really liked this process as it was simple and effective. I liked the minimal aesthetic of the outcome as it looked clean neat and contemporary. 

Perfect Bound

The perfect bound book was the most time consuming and my least favourite. This process involved applying glue to the spine of the book and covering it in gauze to strengthen the spine, I then had to wait for this to dry. Although we then added a cover and secured the spine with a wrap around layer of book rim. My book functioned properly however I was not happy with its aesthetic, The tutor told us it was very difficult to make perfectly as you have to be very accurate with the glue however I must have applied too much which made the spine warp slightly. I like a clean aesthetic and felt the perfect bound book looked messy and relatively amateur. I feel as though with practise I could perfect this however was not keen overall production method. 

Concertina

Similarly to the Perfect bound book the concertina book also had a long process that involved the use of glue. We covered grey board in book rim and individually folded and glued pages back to back to create the folding mechanism for the concertina. We then glued this folded insert to the hardback covers and placed it in a clamp to secure it. I liked the effect this gave as it looked professional with the hardback cover and innovative folding mechanism however the pages had warped slightly due to the glue. When I enquired about alternatives I was told I could also use spray mound or print on one large banner and fold the pages from one large sheet. I liked the effect of the concession book however felt it would be appropriate for photography or artist books that are predominately visual. 

I enjoyed the bookbinding workshop as it was physical and a practical way to learn new skills that will be invaluable in further briefs. In regards to brief 2 I feel I have researched a range of different book binding techniques however want to conduct further before making my final decision. My favourite out of the three trailed here was the saddle stitch bind due to its simplicity, I also prefer this technique because it didn't use any adhesive which gave the outcome a clean finish which I particularly liked.