Design Principles - What is a Book - Book Binding: 2nd Mock up

Design Principles

What is a book? 
Book Binding - 2nd Mock up

I created a second mock up developing on from the issues raised from the outcome of my first attempt. I made the mock up on a smaller scale with A5 spreads. I also wanted to develop my outcome adding unique features that would improve the overall aesthetic and quality of the final outcome. 

For this mock up I experimented with incorporating a different coloured spine to my book as I felt a bold colour such as a blood red or foiled spine would make the book stand out when on a book shelf with only its spine visible in order to make it eye-catching and engage the audience. I used a purple spine for this mock up by cutting thin strips of card and bonding them to the outside of the pages. The only problem with this was that the back two pages would have to be glued together to hide the excess purple card meaning I would have to double the amount of pages making it less environmentally friendly to produce and it would involve adhesive which I prefer not to use. 

I experimented with strengthening the signatures of my book my adding a strip of adhesive tape on the inside of the fold as this would allow me to make the thread tighter without the pages tearing however when I folded the signature that tape rippled created a visible unappealing finish that looked unprofessional and lowered the overall quality of the outcome so I decided not to incorporate this within the assembly of my book. 

I then followed the standard procedure explained through the online tutorial to create my second mock up. The only variation being I had to glue the outside pages of the signatures together to hide the excess from the different coloured spine.  I really liked the alternative spine as it make the book thicker and looked really aesthetically pleasing,  I feel it would really engage the use and make the book considerable more visible within a book shelf. 

Although I really liked the aesthetic of the different coloured spine it caused a number of problems with the finish of the rest of the book for example the pages became unaligned and slightly warped which reduced the overall finish of the book. The main problem came from having to glue the signatures together as this restricted the flexibility of the book. Coptic bound books should be able to lie flat such as coffee table books which makes them really easy to interact with and is a unique feature of this style of book binding however the glued pages restricted this meaning it was more difficut to tun the pages than in the first mock up I produced. Also I feel part of the charm of coptic binding is its lack of adhesive due to its history it was being used before glue was invented so I feel as though it takes away from the design to used glue within the assembly. 

I showed both mock ups to a range of students and tutors, they all agreed that the smaller size worked better as it was a lot more practical and easy to engage with. It was more consistent with the anthropometric data I researched which ensured that it would be easy to use.  There was a debate between which mock up I should develop into my final design as most students really liked the alternative spine colour however agreed with me that the glued pages restricts the flow of the book and the imperfections in glueing lowers the overall quality. It was difficult to decide which mock up I should develop into my final design however I ultimately decided to merge the styles using the technique from my first mock up with the size of the second mock up to create a simple but well executed coptic bound book that would use the traditional method and high a highly professional finish. 

Overall me and the students I asked to feedback agreed that this would create the most professional outcome even though was a shame not to incorporate the alternative coloured spine. I had to consider the overall aesthetic and quality of the outcome and felt this would create the most consistent design as I felt the digital design of the publication was simple and strong and didn't want this to be let down my glue marks, inconsistency and a less professional quality with the overall finish of my book.