This project emphasizes the importance of the process of a design. By creating a personal space to document all our ideas and strategies, we take the simplicity of the sketchbook to an all new level aiding the communication of all future designs.
Research
This projects research began with a few readings about the benefits of doodling, and pretty much never stopped throughout the rest of the project’s duration. I say this because as I began to construct, problems would arise or new ideas would come up and in order to proceed I needed to take a step back and look into it. Whether it was looking up the properties of materials, choosing what techniques I would use to cut things to size, or which materials worked best for the purpose of each element of my book, there was a lot I needed to research. I started with deciphering the proper measurements for the holes used to bind my book. When I came up with the idea for an interchangable cover element, I looked into ways to attach the different pieces. From velcro to magnetic paint to adhesive magnetic sheets, I tried it all before landing on the sheets. Certain pages also needed to be glued together meaning I did several tests with a variety of glues to see which provided the strength and hold I deemed the best. Laser cutter testing was also extremely important so I tried multiple settings to make sure I was rasterizing and not cutting through in the areas I wanted as well as preventing as many burn marks as possible. This project was a lot of trial and error but I learned so much through the process. I also enjoyed becoming well equipped with knowledge on how to operate both the laser cutter and the cricut machine.
Exercises
Mind Mapping
A great way to brainstorm is by utilizing mind maps. We started with a word and aimed to see slight differences in meaning and where it’s synonyms and antonyms could take us. After doing this I realized that by branching out so far on both ends, some of the words meaning the opposite of the original definition ended up having similar denotations creating a loop almost. Answering a question that can be considered tough to answer like “how to live a happy life?”, we discovered, can become more approachable if you consider the basic subdivisions of questions such as “who?”, “what?”, “why?”, etc. We also did a group activity by passing around a posed question and seeing all the different thoughts and responses based on that. This was eye opening on the various perspectives and opinions even on something that doesn’t require a lot of thought to answer.
Mini Sketchbook
As an important precursor to the main book, we began with a miniature version to help get ideas flowing. We followed a short tutorial to learn the folding techniques and then had the freedom to alter size, color, and binding style from there. From a series of posed questions, we chose one and focused the contents of the book on that topic. I chose to make my book about my favorite things because it felt personal, lighthearted, and I knew I would have a fun time illustrating everything. I introduced some light color because when I am sketching I tend to keep my drawings simple but I thought it was important in supporting many of the drawings.
Planning
To get ideas flowing I took a similar approach from our mind mapping and brainstormed an entire plan for my sketchbook. I wanted it to be crisp and focused on functionality. I tried to include some fun paper types so that when using it, I’ll have some inspiration and a place to start since I tend to struggle to just come up with something to sketch.
Production
Finally getting into the construction of the sketch book was what I was looking forward to most during this project. In terms of the files we needed to create, after determining the the right measurements so that it could be spiral bound, there was not too much work to do. I only needed to create a vector drawing of the cover, the back cover, and one page because it would be the same size regardless of all the different materials I cut out of. In addition, I had a few letters and shapes drawn up for the decoration of my book’s cover.
Like described earlier I also performed a ton of tests on materials I wanted to use based on my research. Specifically with the laser cutter, It took a couple tries to correctly format the speed and power settings so that it cut my matboard where needed and rasterized where needed. The cricut proved to be a much more streamlined process because most materials are preprogrammed into the app and all you need to do is select the right one.
For the surprise component of my sketchbook, I decided to do an interchangable cover. My original thought was to attach the pieces on top of the cover using velcro dots. After considering other options, I decided a magnetic connection might be a better alternative. This way, I would be able to use a backing and have the different pieces sit at the same level as the rest of the cover, reducing the chances of the pieces falling off. The two materials I tried in order to get the effect I wanted were magnetic paint and adhesive magnetic sheets. The paint proved to be a failure but the sheets had the perfect magnetic strength that I was looking for. I played around with what glues would attach to the matboard best since I would be attaching a sheet to the back of the cover. It took extreme precision to match up the backings of the individual pieces with the main magnet since they only attach to each other at the right angle.
I painted each magnet with acrylic paint which was a really fun way to express myself and add a very personal touch to the book. I also cut out, painted, and glued my initials to the upper left corner which is a great way to identify it as mine and adds a 3D touch. Another technique that I tried out in this process was using heat to firmly attach cardstock together in order to form pockets. I let the glue on both sheets of paper completely dry then aligned them and used an iron to melt the glue and adhere the two pieces together.
Final
Creating a personalized space intended to be filled with future ideas of mine was such an inspiring process. I am not one to usually sit down and sketch what comes to mind, but after completing this project I am exciting to start giving each thought out page a purpose. My goal is to fill the whole book and maybe even make another if I do. Overall I am happy with how the sketchbook turned out. It is simple but functional and that was my absolute priority when I began designing it. It has fun expressive elements that make it personal to me but that doesn’t compromise the purpose of it.
View the final project at Sketchbook: Final