Today’s Plan:
- Remix Posters
- Introduce Project 2
- Watch “Work of Art”
- Form Groups (Canvas Thread)
- Break
- InDesign Workshop: Lesson 3
- Homework
Book Production Project
Today we begin our second project of the semester. It is my goal that we finish this project over Spring Break. For the next few weeks, you will be using InDesign and Photoshop to design, arrange, flow, and produce a book of poetry from an author in public domain (note: a few people have asked if they can produce a volume of their own work; I don’t have a problem with this, although you might end up working alone). I’ve selected poetry because it requires far more attention to layout and typography than a regular text.
You will be working in teams of two for this project. We will form those groups either at the end of class today or at the beginning of class on Thursday. Each group will select a poet and produce a book of approximately 30 pages. In addition to poems, each book must include:
- A front and back cover design
- A title page
- A copyright/copyleft page
- A preface [you are responsible for writing the preface, it should be at least two pages. If you run out of things to say, you can flow some Lorem Ipsum.]
- A table of contents
You might include other pages–for instance, part of an introduction by your author. You should include page numbers. You might also want to think about the design of your pages and whether you can include simple illustrations (strategically, perhaps not on every page).
As with our first project, we will do research into poetry editions in order to inform our design process. This will involve both digital research (into the covers for previous editions, Amazon can help here) and physical research (going to the library and looking at previous editions of the poems, getting measurements of page size, checking out typography first hand).
You can find full .txt files of poetry in public domain at the Gutenberg Project. Here’s a small list of the many authors the Gutenberg project includes:
You are not tied to this list; I only ask that the poet you work with is in public domain, as are all the files stored on the Gutenberg website. Essentially, you will likely have to work with authors who published prior to 1920. In the other class, I have a few people who are working with the bible (specifically, the songs of Solomon).
Also, I have someone in the other class, Tequilla Spaulding-Winslow, who wants to work on Emily Dickinson. If you are interested in Dickinson, let me know and I will give you her contact information.
In the past, I have seen students create volumes of children’s poetry with illustrations. This makes for a more difficult project, but, if done well, I will reward the ambition.
Finally, I have a creative writer in the other class who is creating a volume of her own work, and another person who is creating a volume of a friend’s work. I have no problem with that so long as the author provides you permission.
Work of Art
As with our last project, I want to think rhetorically about designing a book cover: how do we walk the fine line between attracting attention to the book, staying true to the expectations and conventions of a generic book cover, reflecting the content of the book, and operating within (and yet beyond) the specific history of the specific book in question.
I want to watch an episode of a now defunct reality competition series, Work of Art, because it addresses (if tangentially) many of these issues.
Back Channel While We Watch the Episode: Group Formation
I’ve set up a discussion forum on Canvas to facilitate group formation. If you know what poet you want to produce, put up a post. If you are interested in working with someone, respond to the post. I am looking to keep this to groups of one or two, but we should be able to make it work.
USF Apps and Citrix Documentation
A reminder for those of you having difficulty with USF Apps login and the Citrix download: the documentation advises you try adding forest.usf.edu\NETID if the system doesn’t recognize your password. This works for me.
InDesign Workshop: Lesson #3
With the time remaining in class, I want to tackle InDesign workshop #3. You should have already submitted InDesign workshop #1 and #2 to Canvas (and, yes, I realize that you didn’t *actually* have to change anything to #1).
You can complete #3 in teams of two. When you submit the file to Canvas, just tell me with whom you were working.
If you haven’t completed Workshop #2, you should complete that one in class today and #3 as homework. Note: 30 minutes before class, only 2 people have submitted #2 to Canvas, so I think a number of people will be catching up today.
Homework
I want to dedicate this upcoming week to drilling down into InDesign. So I will ask you to complete 3 lessons for homework: 4, 5, and 6. 4 deals with objects, 5 and 6 with typography and text (as does 7, which we will do in class next week).
Next Friday, we will do research on your poet (both digitally via Amazon and image searches, and field research over at the library). If possible, try and make sure that one of your group mates has a device capable of taking digital pictures next Friday. Also, bring a ruler to class.
In the meantime, if you happen to find yourself in a bookstore, look for volumes by your poet. Take pictures and measurements of the volumes you find (both the cover, and the inside pages).
