Creating the book

I am hoping to print my book using Blurb, and having looked at the different sizing option they offer, have chosen to produce a large square book (30×30). I chose to produce a square book as I feel this best suits a photo book rather than your traditional reading book, especially with the type of content I want to place into it.

I am working with a graphic designer to help me design the book. Above is a mock up of how I want the front cover to look. I chose the image on the front as stereotypically flowers are seen as being appealing with positive connotations. The viewer may believe the book is linked to this positivity, however the title completely contrasts this. I want the viewer to be intrigued by the link between the title and image.

The word ‘destroyed’ is faded compared to the other words to quite literally represent the idea of being destroyed. I want this word to be a continuing theme throughout the book and will be used both in the title and quotes, as well as represented in the images.

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The image above shows what will appear on the first page. I want the quote to stand alone with no other images and as soon as the viewer opens the book, be introduced to what they are about to see. The use of negative space around the quote is something that I once again want to be a recurring theme, with it appearing throughout my images.

I want to be creative with the way I lay my images out, instead of simply placing one image per page throughout the book. The image above shows one on my photographs spilling onto the previous page. I feel the inconsistency of the layout links well to the idea of mental health. I have left space to the left of the image to insert a quote, however at this time I am unsure of what this would be.

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The idea is to section the book into four or five different parts. Each section will represent a different aspect of mental health. For example, the series of photos I have shown above will all belong within the same section. They are all from the series showing frozen flowers, as well as being paired with a self portrait of a similar theme.

I will title each section – for example, naming the series of images above ‘Trapped’. I will then move onto another series of images with a title and four to five images which make up that section. The idea of this is to have a number of ‘stories’ within the book which make up the bigger picture.