Project 5: Visual Book
Choose any piece of your own short story, expository, children’s, poetry, interactive, fiction, non- fiction, or you’re welcome to create something new. With it, you will create a bound book (both text and imagery) that matches and enhances the content. Any imagery should be your own and can be photographs, illustration, graphic, or abstract.
In this project, you will incorporate your knowledge of typography and grid systems, and make appropriate design decisions based on the content. The form this book takes should be directly informed by the content.
I: Ideation & Hand Sketches
For this project, I wanted to create a book of art generated by a neural style transfer algorithm, for someone with no background in algorithms or Computer Science. Initially, I wasn’t sure if I would make that book, or a book of photos for a church I was working with in Miami.
Though my first idea seemed daunting, I decided to stick with it because it was more exciting. For the images I would be feeding into the algorithm, I thought it would be interesting to use photos I took of Luray Caverns. I chose them because not only are they visually interesting and complex, but also similar enough to produce good results using the style transfer algorithm. So, I set out to create a first draft for the interim critique.
II: First Iteration
After generating some images to use in the book, I got the idea to arrange the images such that they teach the reader how to predict the algorithm’s results.
For example, simply by looking at the images above side-by-side, we see that the image on the right came from the image on the left. The have the same general structure, but the image on the right has been styled with another image. For my first iteration, I thought made this discovery part of reading the book by displaying the images first as an exercise, and only at the end of the book explaining how they are generated.
In this way, the reader is practicing style transfer before being exposed to the algorithm. As for the aesthetics of the first draft, I felt that the color palette and design of the book should include the metallic/earthy colors found in the cave photos. So, I explored using gold and copper tones on top of the charcoal background. I also wanted to include metallic type or paper into my design to create more coherence between the book and the underworld-ly photos.
Finally, for my first iteration, I decided to use one photograph and one output of the algorithm for the front and back covers, respectively. On the inside of the covers, I wanted to have a page covered with the code, as reference to how the images are actually made.
For the interim critique, I asked for feedback on the color palette, layout, and whether or not showing the images before explaining the algorithm was beneficial. Below is my first draft pinned up, as well as the feedback I got:
In summary, people felt that the overly centered layouts looked like a PowerPoint presentation, and that the typography and colors were not matching with the content. People also felt that the content and layouts could use more variation.
III: Further Iterations
After speaking with a few people that didn’t have experience with style transfer algorithms, I learned that it would be more beneficial to explain how the algorithms works before looking at the images. My professor also suggested that I include a simple, easy to understand example of style transfer at the beginning of the book. While designing this iteration, I also realized that creating a color palette may not be beneficial, since there are already so many colors in the images I chose. Also, I decided to code some of the typography to put throughout my explanation of the algorithm. Here are some of the iterations I created for these pages:
After integrating these sketches and changing the design of the first pages, I felt that I had made significant progress towards my original goal.
Changing the typography & color scheme, and emphasizing the coded type instead, looked far more professional and interesting. I also created a grid for the text and images and a hierarchy of text, which made it easier to read. Then, I created the spreads explaining how the algorithm actually works:
For the front page, I decided to use the loss function for the style transfer algorithm. This equation is beautiful, and it alludes to what the reader will learn in the book.
As for the actual cover of the book, I wanted the inside to mirror the outside. So, I removed the color from the code sheets on the inside and masked them with the shape of the outside cover:
Lastly, I moved on to creating the spreads with the examples of style transfer using the photos from Luray Caverns.
Here, the reader is able to turn the page, and discover how the stylizing the image on the right has changed it. This exercise repeats a few times, and the book is done.
Overall, people seemed to like this iteration of the book a lot. Below is the feedback I received from my classmates:
With this in mind, I still felt that the book could use a few more improvements. Namely, the covers were not interesting enough, and the full-page spreads at the end of the book were not to my liking.
IV: Final Iteration & Reflection
To change the cover, I laser cut this shape out of black paper:
Then, I put it atop a sheet of brushed gold paper, and wrapped the book in it to create a folder-like cover. As for the example spreads, I created a more symmetrical layout by removing the full page images while maintaining the flip-book feel.
Finally, I added a couple of concluding statements to the book inviting the reader to reflect on the book and the impact of artificial intelligence on art in the future. Overall, making this book helped me improve immensely as a designer. I hope to carry the principles I learned throughout this project and class into my future work.
