Finalizing Project 1

pre-critique documentation.

My aim in this project was authenticity. I wanted to make history feel like reality, that it is relevant to what is happening now. With that decision made, I chose to focus on illustrations (mostly from the time period) rather than photographs. My focus is on what came before the Civil War, not the war itself. At the end of the book, you begin to get a glimpse of hope for the liberation of slaves. The monochromatic tone of the book lends to the bleakness and blunt reality of what slavery actually was.

The simplicity of the dots really lends itself to my simple approach to my theme. I didn't want to distract from the reality of the history, honoring the people who lived through those forced hardships.

It is my hope that the intimate nature of the book causes the reader to connect more deeply with the history. Prints (which is what most of the Illustrations are) are also intimate by nature, asking the reader to spend time with the imagery to capture all of the details.

The typography combined with the compositions provides a simplistic, elegant conversation between the artifact and the reader. The type provides just enough explanation to make my point clear to the reader.

To me, all the found elements brought together provide a serendipitous union. Each piece performs within its means: the circles carry the image delicately, lining up together in a rhythm, the colors enhance one another quietly, and the type lays over the spreads with a strength - not dominance. The pages together are a quiet rememberance of the toil of the people who made a large mark on American - and global - history.

How I could improve this book is to spend more time planning out the binding. What hindered me in the physical structure was the lack of a signature page which would have held everything in place better. Once critique is over, I most likely will bind the book with a wire-o to preserve its life. Now, I have to sit with fingers crossed during critique and hold that people don't rip any of the pages out.

I know my aesthetic idea was valid in not wanting to bind with the wire-o, I just wasn't validated in the functionality of the idea. I have made this beautiful artifact that, now, I can't be happy with because I am anxious of it falling apart. Once I get the heat from critique, I'll press forward to try and fix my book. I was happy with it right until I bound it.

Page by Page Visual Principles

Inequality

Alignment, Correspondence, and Scale are used to communicate the inequality of power and possession.

Displacement

Symmetry, Repetition, and Scale are used to communicate differences between the two groups as well as the action of being 'displaced'.

Force

Scale and Continuation are used to illustrate the "capture" of the oppressed group.

Oppression

Continuation and Repetition are used to show the forceful presence of one group against another.

Torture

Symmetry and Continuation are used to communicate the action of pulling and tearing.

Segregation

Correspondence and Proximity are used to show different levels of class among the sociologically defined groups.

Damaged

Framing and Continuation are used to illustrate the breaking or falling apart of the centrally aligned half-circle.

Struggle

Continuation and Framing are used to communicate an upward battle or push, implying a movement or action.

Survival

Compound shape, Framing, and Correspondence are used to show how the half-circles are fallen comrades of the liberated whole circle.