OUGD504 - Further photo book research

As the feedback from my last critique has directed me towards my second idea, I feel more research on photo books would be appropriate at this stage as will help me with numerous design decisions such as layout and book dimensions.

This publication on the New Zealand landscape caught my eye because of its focus on a specific location, similar to how mine will to Barcelona.

As photos take up all of the content within the above publication, images are spread across the whole page with little or no text. The unique size of the book adds to its qualities, helping it to stand out from other publications. The book is perfect bound and has a cover with a weight of stock only a little thicker than the content pages. I don't feel this publication portrays a bespoke feel because of this however I found the layout to help with my own ideas.

The layout of my book should be representative of the clean, sophisticated informative photo book I hope to make. Although in this research I will primarily look for how image is placed on the page, I will also look at some layouts that include type or body text as this is something that will be included on a number of my own pages.

I also looked at the layouts of a number of other editorials. This included a few found on Behance and Pinterest. I looked particularly at photo books with uniquely designed layouts however, I also looked at more minimal examples to show the different ways I could design my own book.

With clever use of layout, this editorial above portrays different buildings using repetition of similar shots. The complicated grid system used adds interest to each unique page provoking the reader to progress through the book. This is something I should look at within my own publication.

A trip to the library has also helped me understand different aspects of my book production. I primarily focused on successful layouts however this also gave me chance to look at design considerations that had worked well within other publications. Terry Richardson’s photo book documenting his parents

These editorial examples have also given me a better idea what size my publication should be as I brought a ruler along with me to the library so I could measure them.


Terry Richardson's photo book about his parents uses a perfect bind inside a case bound cover. This is alike many of the other photo books I looked at within the library.

I measured this publication to help me figure out what the most appropriate dimensions would be for my final publication.

Some landscape photos were enlarged and took up a full spread. I like how the photos aren't centred, the white space on the other side of the page is different to most photo books. This is because it used Jan Tschichold's 2:3 rule.

The books below were also found in the library and also use the 2:3 ratio however are smaller in size. The smaller size they use of 190mm x 240mm is also seen across a number of other photo books. I feel this size will work well for my publication and should be considered however found through research that photo books are stereotypically larger in size.

This publication's front image in stuck within a de-bossed rectangle section. This makes the photograph stand out. This also adds a bespoke touch to the book when coupled with the book cloth finish.

The book below was bound using a coptic stitch. This is similar to a saddle stitch however combines more than one signature using a single thread. This was one of the only large publications I found that used a threaded bind as most used a perfect bind. This is because it can often look cleaner towards the spine of the book.