Design Context: A Brief History of...

DIY KIT

The DIY kit is the main part of this brief. It is the bit where people will truly learn what I am trying to put across in the pack as a whole.

The DIY kit is a chance for the reader to create their own post-modernist letters. To do this I need three things;

A selection of typefaces for each letter
Paper
Tracing paper

I want it all to be loose so it is all easy to use and there's not messing around trying to keep pages open if it's in a book or anything like that.

Belly Band
The belly band is to hold all the pieces of paper and tracing paper together in their packs so they don't go all over the place when put in the packaging.
I wanted to make something that reflected the modernist style of the two books, so wanted the belly band to have a logo on it which said exactly what it was.

The edge around the circle looks like a ruler, which is exactly what I wanted as it fits in well with the DIY side of things. In the middle of the circle I wanted something that was recognisable and related to deconstruction/DIY, so decided upon a compass as that is a typical piece of equipment that is used when doing hand rendered work.

Once happy with the compass I had drawn out, I added the text and angled the compass to balance it out.

Final DIY Logo

After doing this, I then edited it to create the logo for the whole pack in general, not just the DIY kit.

Final Logo

For the belly band, I added a similar ruler aesthetic to created the band, and finished it off with a thick black line going around it all to put it all together.

To tie it in with the colour scheme of the project, I printed it on green paper which was the same as the green used in the books.

Tracing Paper & Band

Paper & Band

DIY Sheets

The DIY sheets are going to be made up on six different typefaces per letter, a mix between the four groups of type; Gothic, Script, Roman & Block.

I wanted to include the logo onto the sheets so they wouldn't just look like a sheet of letters. Once decided on the first six typefaces, I took these into InDesign and started to look at different layouts and sizes for each.

Layout 1

Layout 2

These first two layouts are pretty much the same, with a small variation in the placing of the 'A'. However I felt that this layout was far too simply and the 'A' looked quite out of place and like it was lost on the page.

Belly Band variation

To fix this issue, I decided to include a variation of the belly band to place it in. I then started to experiment with this.

After some feedback, it was decided that the letters were too big on the page and were invading each other's space, and that making them smaller will benefit & balance the whole page.

Final Design

Final Print Outs:

PDF

Final Products

Publication Packaging
To keep all the products together, I needed to come up with some kind of packaging which would show them all well and in a good light, as well as being presentable and representing the aesthetic appearance of the products as a whole.
I started by going into Illustrator to do some quick mockups of what I could do.
Content:

DIY Kit

Books

Packaging mock-ups

Packaging 1

Packaging 2

Packaging 3

Packaging 4

Packaging 5

Packaging 6

Packaging 7

Packaging 7 - Green

Although packaging 4 - 7 are more visually interesting when closed, I decided that a more symmetrical holder was more appropriate, so have gone with packaging mock up 3.
I made changes to placings of the two books, swapping them around as it makes more sense to have the reconstruction book with the DIY kit and the deconstruction book as an introduction of sorts to the pack as a whole.

Chosen Packaging

To keep the packaging together and clean, I decided to have a simple slip over the top. To experiment with this, I went back into Illustrator to create some mock-ups.

Slip mock-ups

Slip 1

Slip 2

Slip 3

Slip 4

Slip 5

Slip 1 is the simplest idea, and the one which I think will work best in keeping everything together. I like the idea of slip 2, but given the nature of the packaging and overall aesthetic, it isn't right.

To go in the packaging I thought about using a couple of short explanations. One for the reconstruction example book, and another for the pack in general.

Text mock-up