Design Research Dissertation: Final Dissertation and Book Design

18.10.2021 - 10.11.2021 (Week #9 - Week #12)

Seerat Tayyab Mukhtar Qureshi - 0345576 (BDCM)

Design Research Dissertation 

Final Dissertation and Book Design

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Instructions:

Module Information Booklet

Final dissertation:

Dr Jinchi left some comments on my draft submission and so I had to make a few changes before the final submission in Turnitin.

Fig 1.0: Final Dissertation Submission

Book design:

I started my book design by creating a mood board and gathering some ideas.

Fig 1.1: Mood board

After feedback and guidance from Dr Jinchi, I started working on my illustration for my book.

Fig 1.2: First attempt

Dr Jinchi said it was looking good and consistent. The only thing is that I remove the black outline from the red circle and clouds. I continued with the rest of my pages to show Dr Jinchi next week.

Fig 1.3: Second cover attempt

Dr Jinchi said that the illustration should be grounded because the composition right now makes it look like the vase is floating. Grounding it would make it suit the serene vibe better.

Fig 1.4: Other pages I need to improve on

Fig 1.5: Other pages I need to improve on

I decided to add a little description to the back cover. Dr Jinchi said that I don't have to put Taylor's University on the cover since I put it inside the book anyway.

Fig 1.6: Full cover attempt

After all the feedback, I finished my final layout and uploaded it as a flip HTML book.

Fig 1.7: Final layout

Fig 1.8: Final Book Fliphtml

Feedback:

Week #9: Make visuals a bit more organic. Draw inspiration from culture and match to typeface so the message of the dissertation is reflected. Create a sort of logogram that can be used in various forms— a sort of icon of your dissertation. 

Week #10: After telling Dr Jinchi my concerns regarding my visuals she said that she liked my idea of using one and throughout the book consistently. For next week I can create some page layouts using the illustration and its elements.

Week #11: I need to make some changes to the format on the cover. I should readjust the title and move it to the top. I should remove the colour blocking thing I was doing and add my leaf elements to it. Overall Dr Jinchi said I have made good progress and am working fast. Just need to make minor changes and finish the final layout.

Week #12: This week Dr Jinchi showed us the journal article template and what we must do with it. She mentioned that we can choose some RQs to focus on for the paper and we don't have to include all of our RQs. We need to follow the format carefully and trim down our dissertation effectively and efficiently to fit the template.

Reflection:

Week #9: I think this project could be interesting. We've already designed a book in Publishing Design so that would help speed up the process as well. I need to brainstorm some more ideas in terms of the visuals so they match my topic a little better.

Week #10: I was kind of stressed this week because I couldn't come up with an illustration I like. I was having a bit of an art block so it was quite frustrating. However, Dr Jinchi reassured me that it's ok and that my sketch is actually looking good and I should try and colour it a few different ways to see how it looks.

Week #11: After last week, I feel a lot calmer now and I like how my book is coming along. It fits my topic well and the layout is looking good and consistent. I just need to make small amendments to some pages.

Week #12: Our final submission is this week and I have completed both my dissertation and final book. I quite like what I've done and I think it looks good. We can now focus on the last assignment which is the journal article.