Exhibition Planning

We are now down to our last few months of year 3, which means... exhibition planning! It has definitely come round quickly but I think I am ready for it. Just need to give myself deadlines to plan my work flow right and don't stop! 

So first of all we needed to pick which group we wanted to be a part of. I chose publication simply because it had more interest to me and I enjoy putting things together. We have such a large group which is probably a good thing to enable everyone to have something to do within the publication team as well as enough time and space to work on their individual projects. Within the publication team we then put a poll up to put ourselves into smaller groups to work with either the website, catalogue, postcards, etc. I originally put myself up for the catalogue, however when I returned to see how it was getting on I noticed that the catalogue had way too many people. I knew I would end up not having much to do and not being involved enough because I tend to be the one that goes with the flow, therefore I decided to go with postcards as there was only 1 person signed up at the time. We now have 4 of us which is definitely plenty! 

Since then we have come up with a logo, which looks great! Very minimalistic which is what we want most so that it fits in with everyones work presented within the catalogue. But it's also interesting how they have set it off the page and it continues throughout the catalogue. It is also transferrable onto walls, postcards and the website. The ideas the graphic guys came up for the exhibition walls looked interesting but we wasn't sure whether we would have permission to do so. 

I think we have all decided on the black and white. However some think we should have a bright colour down the spine of the book. I think it would be more interesting if it did but I also think it may be too much and ruin what we already have. I am stuck in the middle with that idea. 

Since then we have opted for a dust cover. The text will still run off the page but instead of the back of the book will be on the flap of the dust cover. But we are still undecided about having a colour on the spine of the book. Some want to keep it black and white whilst others think colour will break it up and make it look more interesting. 

We met again Monday 12th to see how the graphic guys were getting on with the designs for the inside of the book. So far so good! Really pleased with the general layout and where they have placed the texts. I think the idea of having the name on the top right hand-side of the book works well so that if they're flicking through the book the name is easier and quicker to find. The details underneath the images on the right page will be Instagram, email address, phone number and website. 

The following images are what the graphics guy put together for us to get an idea of what it will look like with the images and either landscape or portrait images. We have the choice of have 4 portraits, 2 landscapes or 2 portraits and 1 landscape Obviously for those who are having a statement the will have 1 image less than everyone else but it is optional and not everyone has to have one. I voted on the poll that I'm most likely not to have a statement, however I do keep thinking whether I should or not. But someone made a helpful comment saying that if the viewer finds the work interesting they will find out more by visiting our websites or Instagram's giving them more to look. Therefore I think I will stick with showing more of my work. I am not very good at writing statements either so I wouldn't want them to be put off by my lack of writing. 

A student had brought along one of the previous exhibition books from a few years back. I wasn't impressed with it at all. The front of the book made me think it was showing an example of sizes for the book, but it was in fact their logo! Also the pages were too squeaky and ruined other peoples images. I remember looking at one image thinking they had a grey boarder which didn't look right, to then find it was the image on the back printed through. It looked cheap. Also there was no repetition with the layout of the book, one page had small images grouped together in one corner and another would have 2 grouped together in another. There was no consistency which looked poor. These have been good examples for us to look at and see what we do and don't want. Especially when some students may have different sized work, like square for example. That way their images still get the full potential but spreading onto the majority of the page rather than half. Also another thing that I have missed out is the size of the book. To enable us to get more, larger images onto the pages of the book we have opted for a size slightly bigger than square, so the length with be longer .Just like I mentioned with the squares there is a possibility that the students with different shaped images can still have the option of 4 images so that it is fair for all.  

As of postcards we haven't gave it much thought yet because we were waiting to see what was going on with the logo and colours etc. Now that we have that pretty much sorted the group now need to find places that will do us a deal for 100 postcards per student with decent quality.