Art deco final:

Here is where I will evaluate my final creation for OUGD401.
The final piece turned out very different to what was suggested in my proposal, mainly due to time constraints. I did propose to Saddle stich my book, foil block and the content was different to how I thought it would be in the presentation.

Content

I proposed that the content of my publication would: "have a function which would be to explain the timeline of the Art Deco movement to people who were unaware, but that as an introductory stage, where the real target audience would be readily existing fans of Art Deco, and people whom collected lavish, high end Artist's books.", my final creation swayed away from this proposal as I turned the content into a timeline for people whom are new to art deco, rather than current fans, which I suggested I would target the publication to.

Execution

I had researched various blogs and websites in an attempt to find successful and famous Art deco fonts both header fonts and body copy, I had decided to chose a downloaded font known as Decotech as my main font for my headers on my pages, as it was in my head stereotypically Art deco. The cover of my publication contains fonts which I had researched from designers of that era such as A.M Cassandre's Bifur and Broadwalk, created by Morris Fuller Benton.

The body copy font in the interior of my book was a simple gothic, I had experimented with other fonts which had more Art Deco relevance but due to the final book being printed in A5 I was worried about the legibility of the outcome, there for settled for a gothic which are famously easy to read.

Content

The stages of the Art Deco's history were found on line by myself in a general timeline following Art Deco, that provides the content for my contents page and from there I used each year in time as a title header and researched further into the information found.

I never intended to use images in my publication due to the fact I did want to Screen print my content onto black stock to give it a black and gold feel to it as well as foil blocking the cover page, I didn't manage to get around 

Presentation and Proposal of my Artist's book:

Beginning slide, What is a publication.

I started by researching and explaining what a publication is, due to the fact I was about to propose the publication which I was to design myself. 

I answered various questions to give me a foothold to the boundaries of a publication and the limits in which I could go to when designing for this brief.

I began by opening my idea and explaining what my essay covered, and how I was going to make it relevant, in context and have a connection to the publication I am to create. 

I opened with a description of Art Deco in the sense which I wanted to cover it, and the rule which is that 'Form comes over function' in relation to art deco style art work.

This was going to be the basis of my publication, the fact that form comes over function, I stressed this in my presentation, to show how my book was going to be solely going down the aesthetic route, and barely serves a function other than as a collectable or 'coffee table book'

I proceeded to explain the methods in how I would make my publication be based around the fact that form comes over function, and explained the stock I proposed to use, the binding method and the format of my piece. Foil blocking was something which I was interested in, and something which I felt could be used to optimise the Art deco movement, in a paper craft form.

I explained how it would have a function which would be to explain the timeline of the Art Deco movement to people who were unaware, but that as an introductory stage, where the real target audience would be readily existing fans of Art Deco, and people whom collected lavish, high end Artist's books.

The book could be applied to a fan of History and not just Art Movements, to give the publication a broader platform.

The feedback that I received about my presentation was that I could research into Rennie Mackintosh's type, and also find ways to execute a layout of which form does come over function, for example the type setting is based around the aesthetics rather than where it would be most useful on the page.

Artist's books:

Artists' books or art books are works of art realized in the form of a book. They are often published in small editions, though sometimes they are produced as one-of-a-kind objects referred to as "uniques".

 Artists' books have employed a wide range of forms, including scrolls, fold-outs, concertinas or loose items contained in a box as well as bound printed sheet. Artists have been active in printing and book production for centuries, but the artist's book is primarily a late 20th-century form.

"Artists' books are books or book-like objects over the final appearance of which an artist has had a high degree of control; where the book is intended as a work of art in itself." Stephen Bury

V&A Museum 
http://www.vam.ac.uk/page/a/artists-books/
Artists' books are books made or conceived by artists. There are fine artists who make books and book artists who produce work exclusively in that medium, as well as illustrators, typographers, writers, poets, book binders, printers and many others who work collaboratively or alone to produce artists' books. Many artists' books are self-published, or are produced by small presses or by artists' groups or collectives, usually in limited editions.

Artists' books that maintain the traditional structure of a book are often known as book art or bookworks, while those that reference the shape of a book are known as book objects. Other types of work produced by artists in book format include concrete poetry, where meaning is derived from the spatial, pictorial and typographic characteristics of the work, as well as from the sense of the words.