[OreoCookie]

I'm working on a photo book design in Aperture and I'm still trying to explore the all the different options I have. Since I want to have five different books with this design (all about Japan), I want it to be uniform and well-thought out. I'm a mathematical physicist and not a designer, so I hope to get some input by professionals. I'm not a designer, but I am someone who likes to think he is very meticulous about good design. Hence this post here … The pages I've posted are just design mock-ups, in particular I didn't care too much about the images I've added.

I'd like to know what you think of the general idea of my page and layout concept? Are the proportions approximately correct? How can I improve the design? In particular, I have little experience with colors (I usually work in black and white). I'd welcome any suggestions. Don't be afraid to be straight-forward or question the whole concept

Initially, I've done some work in iPhoto and here are two examples of what it looked like:
Intro page to a new chapter
parts of a chapter

I could finish the book project in iPhoto, but since I have recently bought Aperture and I'm stoked with all the options I have, so I'd like to customize my design. In particular this will allow me to add a lot more text than with iPhoto (smaller font sizes, multi-column layouts).

The general concept is simple: I've started with the design of a typical text page for intros to chapters:


The size of the image area of all subsequent pages (except for full-page picture pages) is always the same. Basically I want to leave a lot of space for images, so most landscapes will have a dedicated page. The one with no margins will be very similar (picture the same height with width which is proportional to the aspect ratio). The apparent differences in height are due to the additional margins created by the print driver (I didn't know where the page ends).


Many portrait shots will have to share a page and I've come up with two different solutions, either I add some space between the pics:


Or I put them right next to each other, similar to iPhoto's book design.


For the layout concept, take a look at the full Aperture mock-up which can be found here (note that this is a 40 MB download, shouldn't be a problem nowadays). The margins were added by the print driver, all designs should have no margins. The last pages in the pdf are font test pages. I chose a modern font, but I'm open to suggestions.

[Doofy]

OK, I'm not a designer but I know what I like (for example, I don't make breasts). I'd like to think I've seen enough yacht brochures to know what's what.

1) Yes, make the subtitle on page 1 smaller. Maybe 2/3 and slimmer (no bold).

2) I'm not at all happy about the space for captions - if this is to be left blank on page 1 then it should be blank throughout. Which means that you're down to one photo per page (with the description text at the side). If it's absolutely essential that pics share pages, I'd put them in some sort of diagonal arrangement with space between them on the vertical centre line:

text pic
pic text

Don't use your border for anything except page number, basically, unless it's a total page shot.

3) That's all I got.

HTH

[OreoCookie]

Originally Posted by Doofy 

OK, I'm not a designer but I know what I like (for example, I don't make breasts). I'd like to think I've seen enough yacht brochures to know what's what.

That pretty much nails my attitude.

Originally Posted by Doofy 

1) Yes, make the subtitle on page 1 smaller. Maybe 2/3 and slimmer (no bold).

Ok, there's also a demi bold version of the font face, so I'll try that one as well.

Originally Posted by Doofy 

2) I'm not at all happy about the space for captions - if this is to be left blank on page 1 then it should be blank throughout.

Again, you immediately found the weak spot. I'm not quite sure what to do with the subtitles.

Originally Posted by Doofy 

Which means that you're down to one photo per page (with the description text at the side). If it's absolutely essential that pics share pages, I'd put them in some sort of diagonal arrangement with space between them on the vertical centre line:

text pic
pic text

Hmmm, thanks for the suggestion, that's what I cooked up: I used a light-grey background to emphasize that the entity as a whole is the picture and the caption. (Click on the pic to download the pdf.)

I'm thinking of putting the caption on top of the image, but that might distract from the image itself … 

Originally Posted by Doofy 

Don't use your border for anything except page number, basically, unless it's a total page shot.

Sounds like a good idea. If I stick to that paradigm, what would you think of reducing the lower margin in favor of more content?

[zro]

Stay away from text over images (pgs. 1 & 3). But if you insist on it, I would leave the portion of the photo in one margin in tact, drop in a white demarcation line and blur and fade the **** outta the rest of the pic.

Don't butt two photos together.

I would try to flesh out the captions before deciding on a final layout. Maybe with some touristy factoids or some memories from your trip (I'm guessing it's a gift for the other people on a trip). The captions now are basically titles and are rather bland.

I'd stay away from grey text on white, also. It can work for headlines, but body copy in grey looks like it isn't meant to be read.

You may want to take a trip to the book store and peruse the picture/coffee table books. Find what you like and don't like and build off it.

[OreoCookie]

Yeah, I'll change the captions to something meaningful later. They will usually be longer and not just a single word.

They are basically just place-holders. The same goes for the selection of pics, etc. I have finished the layout of 200 pages already in iPhoto. But since I can add a lot more text in Aperture and can finally add certain elements that iPhoto simply doesn't allow, I wanted to redo everything in iPhoto. The theme was partly inspired by the iPhoto theme (see above). The caption on photo was Aperture's default and I wanted to experiment with it. I agree that it distracts from the photo.

The books are essentially for my self, to have hardcopies of the best pics from Japan (I lived there for a year). Basically to leave something permanent. Eventually I want to have one photo album for each year starting from 2003, so Japan is my test bed (probably the most difficult case too, I started with over 14k pictures and it took me literally 100+ hours to sift through them, categorize them and sort out bad ones/duplicates. Since they are for myself, I don't just want something touristy actually, but content isn't really the problem

What about the basic proportions? Essentially I want a design that's easy on the eyes, looks rather modern and doesn't distract from the content. The background image in the introductory text for example should set the mood for the section. The font should not be something like Myriad, Helvetica or Frutiger which you see at every corner. Since I have a lot of pictures, I need a few two-picture pages. The two-page design is pretty boring at the moment, but I'm not quite sure how to change that.

[Goldfinger]

I always wanted to make on of those books myself. But I'm a bit worried about the quality. I've heard bad things it about it. How are you planning on printing the book(s) ?

[Doofy]

Originally Posted by OreoCookie 

Hmmm, thanks for the suggestion, that's what I cooked up: I used a light-grey background to emphasize that the entity as a whole is the picture and the caption. (Click on the pic to download the pdf.)

Sounds like a good idea. If I stick to that paradigm, what would you think of reducing the lower margin in favor of more content?

Yep, the margin could stand to be smaller. However, I wouldn't make it different from the other margins (except the one which is going to be bound, obviously) - if you're going to slim the bottom, slim the top and outer edge too.

OK, I don't like that grey background at all. It sort of emphasises the centre square (in the margins) too much. Maybe it's a bit too modern for my tastes. Don't be afraid of letting the white of the borders creep in around the photos.

Here's something I quickly knocked up in OmniGraffle which illustrates what I mean:



As long as the outer corners of the images are consistent with the margin, the rest doesn't really matter (as long as it's balanced).

[ghporter]

Originally Posted by Doofy 

As long as the outer corners of the images are consistent with the margin, the rest doesn't really matter (as long as it's balanced).

I think this is the basic key: balance and consistency. The eye does its thing very well, and one of the things it does is identify patterns. If you don't keep the pages balanced, your readers will notice something odd, even if they don't know what it is. And if one page looks different from all the rest, it'll stand out-this is good if you want that, but bad if it's inadvertent.

Beyond that, I would personally go for a balance in color and "busy-ness" in the pictures. Either contrast the pictures' color schemes, or get them to flow together; don't go for a mixture of this or again the reader's eye will notice the inconsistency. Likewise the amount of visual information in each picture is important for flow, so I would say that the "shotengai/tower" pictures don't go well together. One is busy and full of small details, while the other is much simpler. The only thing they have in common is a design direction, but while the directions are both upward, the shotengai picture is almost straight up in frame, while the tower picture's angle gives it much of its attraction.

[OreoCookie]

Originally Posted by Goldfinger 

I always wanted to make on of those books myself. But I'm a bit worried about the quality. I've heard bad things it about it. How are you planning on printing the book(s) ?

I haven't used Aperture's book service but I assume it's the same company that also does the iPhoto books. If the quality is as good or perhaps even better, the final product is astonishing. I saw my grandmother cry for the second time in my life (first time: my grandfather's funeral). They aren't cheap, but IMHO absolutely worth it.

[OreoCookie]

Originally Posted by ghporter 

Likewise the amount of visual information in each picture is important for flow, so I would say that the "shotengai/tower" pictures don't go well together. One is busy and full of small details, while the other is much simpler. The only thing they have in common is a design direction, but while the directions are both upward, the shotengai picture is almost straight up in frame, while the tower picture's angle gives it much of its attraction.

Like I said, I haven't spent too much time choosing the pictures for the mockup, I wanted to get the design right. Perhaps I should have chosen more suitable files for if, though.
If you are interested in composition, take a look at the 90 % ready iPhoto book (30 MB download). Make sure to activate 2-page mode and deactivate book mode, otherwise, the wrong pages face each other. I don't think composition will be a problem once I'm satisfied with the design.

[ghporter]

No complaints on the 90% version. You obviously have the design/color/pattern idea down!

[OreoCookie]

Thanks a lot
I'll hit the book store today and hunt for ideas … perhaps I'll see something I like.

[himself]

I like what you have, generally. Some changes I'd make:

• The text for your titles seem fine to me, play around with it if you feel you need to. But those titles should be aligned with the nearest margin (don't let them hang outside the margins)

• I would also place the folios (page numbers) inside the outer margins and align them with those margins

• I agree with the earlier idea about not placing text over a faded image as a general rule (as in your first example); in some cases it works, but in most cases it just ends up making the text less readable and the image has less impact. However, it seems fine in this case because of the image you're using, and if it isn't done too often

• The first idea for your image captions works fine. The caption text just needs to be a little smaller, and the text should be positioned a lot closer to the image, not vertically centered in the bottom margin. You could also try aligning the image captions to one edge of the image

[OreoCookie]

I've spent two hours at a bookshop, sifting through various books. I've noticed that usually content doesn't respect all margins but at least one.

I've tried to integrate Doofy's suggestion with the captions (which I like). Unlike before, this isn't just a mock-up, but I've tried to pick pictures as well (which isn't hard for me). You can download the result here (17 MB). Make sure to set preview to two-page mode and switch off book mode. Please ignore the binding margin.

[JonoMarshall]

On pages 3-4 you have text running into the gutter of your book, depending on how the book is bound you will need to adjust the text so that it doesn't "fall" into the centre of the book making it illegible. This can be a difficult process, so I would consider changing the text layout?

IMO the low transparency background image used on pages 3-4 and 5-6 is a no no, as leaving the areas as white space instead would be more elegant and allows your main images to have more impact. (Obviously this is subjective, just my thoughts!)

Finally I don't think you can get away with using justified text alignment on page 2 as there is too much text and it looks overbearing/unbalanced. Also if you use a more regular left alignment you wont have a problem with rivers running through your text which again makes the text uninviting and difficult to read.

One final final thing! ..I'd consider lowering the weight of the title text on page 2 as currently I think it's too heavy and stands out a little too much.

Great pics though, how long will the final book be?

[JonoMarshall]

I realise this might not be extremely helpful but I prefer the original PDF you posted (just had a look at it). For me the original was more passive and therefore engaging. The original allowed the images to be absorbed and have central stage. I guess you wanted to make the layout more individual, etc, in the revised version, but IMO the subtle differences (like the repeated smaller images and full horizontal bleed image next to a white framed image) were more successful than the new layout where you're trying to balance many more elements.

Again this is all subjective, but IMO design should be about substance (how can the photos look their best, how can the viewer become involved, how are you leading the eye, what's the big idea, etc) rather than style (check out my funky font, pay attention to this and this and this too, how can I fill my pages with everything, etc).

That's not to say that style can't be awesome but I'd nail the substance side of things first and then sprinkle on the style or tweak a design once you have a solid base for things.

[OreoCookie]

@JonoMarshall
I guess the Japan series will be comprised of four books, so I guess it'll be 300+ pages. In addition to that, I'll do an album for a friend of mine as a wedding gift (shorter, 40 pages, I guess). I would like to have a consistent design and my test bed is the Tokyo album which is more or less complete.

page 2: Yeah, good points. part of the reason why I used justified text was to judge proportions as Aperture doesn't really help here (it doesn't even allow copying and pasting between pages!). You're right about the title, too. In the initial concept, the size was much closer to the body text (14 vs. 12) instead of 18 vs. 12.

pages 3-4: Yes, I know the text might be hard to read, but it's part of the concept. The same goes for the background (unlike on the following page), the layout is actually inspired by something I did in a sketchbook of mine.

pages 5-6: a sort of weak point, I've added the background just to try it, although I knew I should probably leave it out.

The reason why I changed styles a little was that the iPhoto book reminded me too much of a clean architectural book. I know I could easily whip up basically the same book with Aperture (after all, it's all there), so I wanted to go with a different style. I noticed there are several types of picture books and most of them are not really suitable for what I want to do. There are art books where often the left page is consistently left blank, architecture books that usually use simple full-page pics (which wouldn't be hard to do either). I know it's not about fonts and minor details like that, but I know that good design is hard. Since the two styles are entirely different, that should be reflected in the content as well. But it's not as if I think of a style and then the content, I have a very good idea about the content (which is why I chose the Tokyo album to be the testbed) …