Making a Mock-up - Evaluation and Practical Considerations

Stock and Binding

For this mock-up, the pages were printed out on a standard printer on its normal stock, this meant that a lot of the images weren’t clear enough and were quite dark, however this will be amended when digitally printing the final product onto a nicer stock. The pages were printed as single double-sided pages and not facing pages because in order to print double sided in the digital print facility, each page must be A3 or smaller. Therefore glue binding was subsequently used as the binding method, which also reflects the simple and less refined production methods this publications aims to use in order to communicate the idea of a bouncer. The problem with glue binding is that its not as secure as stitching the pages together however once all the pages are printed on thicker stock, the surface area of the spine will be greater and therefore the method will be more effective, also the book will be thicker which will have the desired effect of embodying a bouncer better. Another thing worth noting is that glue binding does not work as well on glossy paper stock and matte stock should be used. 

Also another thing that will need to be altered for the final product will be a margin so that if a double page spread is used, the text won’t be distorted in the middle. 

Gatefold

For this mock up, the gatefold was made by simply sticking pages together, however for the real thing, it will be digitally printed onto a larger paper size, which will mean it can only be one sided. The side that will be printed will be the type and imagery from either side of the gatefold and not the actual content that is revealed when folded out. The gatefold will display another quote about a bouncer which has been elongated vertically to fit the whole length of the page - this increased scale again aims to embody a bouncer. The original idea was to screen print this, however after considering production more and opting for using simpler less eloquent  methods, the idea was to use spray paint. When attempting to laser cut a stencil for this, it was revealed the counters had not been connected like they should be for a stencil typeface, meaning it was unsuccessful - another practical consideration to take into account and be amended.

Cover and Embossing 

In an attempt to secure the glue bound pages a bit more, instead of making a fully bound cover and spine, a front and back cover were made with book tape securing them together on the spine. This ultimately did not do too much to secure the spine however once printed on the actual paper stock and the pages are thicker, it may be more effective. The cover was made from mount board bound in black buckram which ended up having an negative effect on the quality of the embossing on the cover - because the mount board is thinner, the embossing did not come out that well, instead grey board should be used, and maybe doubled up for a harder thicker cover. Also, another thing which will help secure the pages more will be inside cover pages stuck to the front and back pages; seeing as fluorescent imagery/text has not been used in the content, perhaps fluorescent paper stock could be used for these pages.