Day 01

Today we really needed to make decisions on the design direction for the whole publication and actually get designing. With the concept of 44, we needed to develop several things including:

- Brand identity
- Cover
- Sample spreads
- Product range
- Direction for use of images etc


We spent quite a lot of time trying to pin down a solid concept so that we can actually start working on the design. Eventually we kept with the concept of 'A creative directory celebrating 44 designers.' This explains that it's a publication that showcases new designers, but not as graduates but as designers who are entering the design industry. We wanted this to be driven by the design direction, so utilising specific grid formats, typography and high print specifications. We found that the previous yearbooks' layout wasn't as inspiring as it could be, and as a graphic design yearbook, we really wanted to push the boundaries of a conventional yearbook, so experimenting with more daring layout ideas that utilise the grid while breaking certain rules at the same time to achieve a structured yet relaxed and unusual design outcome.

We wanted everyone to contribute equally with the decision of the design direction during the early stages so that we can gather everyone's vision on what we all wanted to produce individually so we each spent 3 hours developing our own versions of spreads and covers based on the concept that we decided on.

Open publication - Free publishing - More yearbook

Spread development

Open publication - Free publishing - More spreads

From these, we printed out, compared and highlighted elements that we liked out of everyone's designs and moved on with the design direction. [ no idea why the images taken from the iphone always have a green circular aura in the middle of it...]