FMP (BA): It Always Seems Impossible - DPS

For my Nelson Mandela design I decided to flick back to my old sketch where I had drawn up several layouts. The one I wanted to go for was where I only had the banner with his prison number on it, and his name beneath it. The background would be white as I want to keep this design as minimalist as possible - a heavy contrast to my other designs. This would then provide the viewer a small chance to breathe before turning over to another 'filled' design.

Before I moved onto designing the other page, however, I needed to make some small changes to my existing design. When I had done this design - it seems so long ago - I had asked for feedback and one of them was to delete his name from the banner and create an 'end' to it. Otherwise the banner would look like chains which isn't the connotation I want to produce. 

To do this I used the eraser tool to erase his name, and copied and pasted the 'end' of the banner that was at the top. I had roughly drawn a guideline for it, so I just shifted it so that it rests atop of it. Using the transform tool I flipped it horizontally so that it fits on the end. Then I used the brush and the eraser tool to smoothen it slightly. 

With that done I began to move onto the other page. I had already prepared the banner and had the scan on the computer, but I still needed to add his name. I am going to do it in sans serif for that minimalist appearance, and also because the lettering I had used in the main quote was quite delicate and without any elaborate decorations. As the main focus would be on that, I needed a lesser decorative style.

I wrote out his name several times on the paper until I was satisfied with at least one of my results, scanned it in, and made some adjustments. I had already created a document with the banner so I just copied the name in and placed it beneath it. I made it smaller so that it was aligned and a smaller size to the text in the illustration.

Once everything was central I simply copied and pasted this over to the DPS document that I had created. I coloured in the background for now so that I could get it accurate, and when it was in the right position I just deleted the background. 

Reflective and Critical Thinking

As I have mentioned above, I quite like this design because it's really spacious and would allow the viewer to 'breathe' having flicked past so many pages with very 'full' designs. The illustration is clearly highlighted because of the white space that surrounds it, and it wouldn't have the same effect if the other page had a black background.

However, one of my main worries with this design is that I couldn't find where he had said these words, and so there is a possibility that this quote didn't derive from one of his books/autobiographies. This sets the design apart from the others as they were all from books.

I either have three options: one, to include it and deliberately set it apart; two, to draw up another design that isn't from literature; and three, which would be not to include this design in my book at all.

I think it would be a shame if I couldn't include this design as I think it holds a really strong message and relates to Nelson Mandela's years of struggle, and the amazing things he had done for South Africa. I think that I shall have to talk to my lecturers on this as I am worried that I don't have enough time for my book cover let alone for producing another design. 

For now I shall just move onto my book cover and then make my decision when it comes to assemblin the different pages.

Learning Outcomes:
[9] Developed their ability to work with complex material, analyse problems and identify appropriate solutions.