Hello! I am Sara, and you have found my brand new personal log, where I will record my thoughts and experiences regarding the OCA Book Design course. I suspect the journey ahead will be perilous, but exciting as I gain new insight in the nature of my old friends, books.

This is my third OCA course, following Key Steps in Illustration and Illustration: Sketchbooks. I am not entirely sure what to expect, but I would like to learn the hands-on basics of what it means to:

• conceptualize,

• design,

• illustrate,

• and publish a book.

I am interested in exploring book publishing, both as a writer and as a illustrator, so I am hoping this course can give me an introduction to this world.

Currently, my skillset consists of traditional painting and drawing using various mediums and an elementary knowledge of digital painting. For a quick overview of my work one can visit either my website at www.sarahgallery.com or my Instagram account at saravoaides.

My learning log will be entirely via blog, not analogue. If I have any important notes taken on paper I will make sure to type them in. If the way the blog is set up for this course becomes confusing to navigate, I will do my best to adjust it until it can be easily perused.

Books are to be read, looked at and handled. So spend some time looking at a range of books from your home, in new or secondhand bookshops, charity shops, libraries or online.  For this very first exercise, I went both to my own shelves and to a local bookstore in order to analyze multiple types of books. This was my process for choosing the book I did:

I went through several different kinds of genres of books, but I mostly spent time in the fiction isles with children’s books, young adult books,  and fiction classics, because that is the area I am most interested in creating books for. But I made sure to look over non-fiction books like biographies, finance books, self-help, language learning, and even the traffic code book.

The children’s section tends to have the most variety when it comes to color, size and imagery of the books. The older the intended audience of a book, the more images start to disappear in favor of text, the sizing becomes closer to a standard one (about 20cmx13cm), and the more the illustrations change from brightly colored backed on a white page to something a little more elaborate, with more environments and less stylized characters.

Children’s books tend to be sturdier both of cover and of paper (which is also glossier). I assume this is to avoid accidents that could befall a book when reading with children.

In the fantasy and young adult section one does not find the variety of size of the children’s books, but the covers are all unique and interesting. Obviously, the hardcovers tend to be the more attractive and the more pleasant to hold in comparison to the paperbacks because they feel more sophisticated even if the design itself is not necessarily good. A hardcover also allows for embossed textures or metallic drawings and letters. I love some of the books that I saw with such textures, I appreciate the attention to detail that goes into a nice hardcover. They are books I like to keep on the shelf, read at home, and hopefully keep for a very long time.

But not all books have to be hardcovers, some are perfectly good just as paperbacks because then I can carry them around with no fear of ruining them or losing them. A paperback tends to show its age much faster than a hardcover, but that is part of its charm. That doesn’t mean that they should not have a good design, though. I don’t believe there is any good reason for an author or publisher to not put careful thought into their cover design.

An interesting element to consider in the young adult and fantasy genera specifically is the use of photographic imagery versus a more illustrative approach for the cover. Personally, I don’t like the photographic, or near-photographic types of book covers in fantasy books. This is a my own opinion, but I think they fail to look like they could stand the test of time (which a book must do). Especially if the photograph depicts something extremely fantastical. The point of a photograph-like image is that it tries to look like real life. But when the image is of something improbable (like a dragon) or of something that we could not have photographs of (a Roman soldier), it looks false. As anyone who has ever tried to paint something realistically knows, the more real you try to make it look the more it looks subtly unreal or just plain wrong. In short, I feel it breaks the reader’s immersion in the fantasy before the reader even begins to well… read.  A text-only cover or a cover with illustrations or decorative elements will not do that because it doesn’t pretend to be “real” at all.

On a vaguely related tangent: books which have been republished with covers featuring the same design as their movie adaptations’ posters and advertising. I can only say that I do not like them. I fully understand their purpose and use, but I do not like them.

I also noticed that the books that were aimed at women tended to have elegant, swirly designs (similar to the books below), while the books aimed at men had bolder, more textured fonts and designs.

Some books are thicker and some books are thinner and this changes the way the book is designed. A thinner book creates a different reading experience than thicker one. Generally thin books are read quickly and more often. While thick books are read slower and less often. In the below examples I have a thin book of short stories by   , featuring a weathered map design, and its inner pages are decorated with script in a fantastical language.

These next books are both thin and small. They are pocket-sized, designed to be easily portable and comfortable to hold in one’s hand.

Stephen King’s  It stands in direct, slightly exaggerated contrast. The book’s thickness is especially interesting because the dimensions of the book are slightly smaller than I would consider standard. Therefore the thickness is very deliberate. I am not sure if reading it would be especially pleasant, but it definitely stands out when on the bookshelf next to all the other options I have as a customer.

In the realm of biographies, I created the categories of old and new. Older biographies seem to favor a very serious design with duller colors and simple fonts, while newer ones make an effort to be bright and exciting, always making sure to feature a very large picture of the person in question.

In the realm of biographies, I created the categories of old and new. Older biographies seem to favor a very serious design with duller colors and simple fonts, while newer ones make an effort to be bright and exciting, always making sure to feature a very large picture of the person in question. Sometimes older biographies do have a photo, but it is much smaller and the person is usually framed, unlike in more modern designs.

Books with an audience of entrepreneurs, leaders or professionals tend to steer to a design of bold colors, bold text, and images of either the author, of something specific pertaining to the text, or a visual representation of the title. I have also noticed that these types of books tend to have more text on their covers whether they are catchphrases, promises or reviews.

Above, I have given a small selection of books which I think have unfortunate design, whether it is too obvious (Legendele Olimpului), too boring (Armonia), low quality (In casuta de tristeti luminata), or just plain bad (In ceasul al treilea).

I would like to remark on the  Legendele Olimpului ( Legends of Olympus) book especially. It’s visual design is not great (the least of its sins is the fact that the title is green on a red background…with a white gradient underneath), but what interests me more is the feel of it. I don’t have the technical knowledge to be able to put into words what bothers me about it. I guess it feels…floppy? Like it’s right between too thick and not thick enough for its size. The fact that it is not a hardcover is what makes it literally droop when holding it up, but I don’t know if a harder cover or a different sort of paper for the pages would actually fix the awkwardness of the proportions.

Another thing to say about is the way it was designed on the inside. The fonts are unpleasant all over and its sectioning (where the chapters begin and end) is awkward.

I have encountered a few technical books as well, such as the traffic code book or a language guide. The more straightforward designs are practical and without bells and whistles. Sure, there are better ways to do them, especially for the language guide, but I don’t think it bothers anyone if the traffic code book isn’t particularly creative in design.

Lastly, I thought I would also include comic books, even though they are less like books and more like magazines.

Eventually, a book did catch my eye. Though not one I would have expected. I went into the bookstore looking for a fantasy book or a children’s book, instead I stopped at  Cum sa traiest in stil Japonez de Yutaka Yazawa, or in English  How to live Japanese (Yazawa, Y.(2018)  How to live Japanese.  White Lion Publishing.)

What drew me to it was not necessarily the subject matter. I have never been particularly interested in researching or experiencing Japanese culture. What made me pick it up was the minimalistic cover that stood out on the crowded shelf. The cover was a off-white hardcover with simple indented designs and text. The book itself was not very long, and it wasn’t a very in depth guide about living in Japan, but it was a pleasure to flip through. The photographs, illustrations and text come together seamlessly without feeling crowded and letting each other breathe. The photographs were obviously made and selected to complement each other and the aesthetic of the book, and the layout of the text made for a easy read. So overall, it has excellent design.

Truthfully, time management is something I still struggle with. But it is a struggle I refuse to give in to! I have multiple resources regarding time management, which I intend to use until good habits are instilled in my workday.

How much time can you allocate to study each week? I plan on allocating at least 4 hours per day, 6 days a week. That is about 24 hours each week.

What is my most/least productive time of the day? Most productive time is between 9:00 and 13:00. Least productive time is between 16:00 and 19:00. Strangely, productivity seems to kick in again after 19:00 until late at night.

What is a realistic schedule to undertake Part One (around 80 learning hours) and when might you set your first deadline? According to time allocated, I should finish Part One around the 28th of February.

My workspace

I am not sure what sort of things I will need. I have plenty of art supplies like pencils, different types of paint and paper, pastels, inks, etc. I also have a very good digital setup with a drawing tablet (as seen above), which I can use both to draw and to edit things in Photoshop or other Adobe programs.

For information, I know I can use the OCA resources, research on reputable internet sources, or purchase books if needed.

Hello fellow students!

Hello my tutor!

I hope we will have an excellent time working on this course together!