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type spec. _ 2
TA
by Jordan Betley
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content _ imagery and photography
32 - 37
12 - 19
page furniture
38 - 41
colours
20 - 25
binding
42 - 44
stock
26 - 31
introduction
3-4
grid
6 - 11
fonts
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introduction _
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This book is based around the art of tattooing as a whole. The book goes back to where it all began and the history of tattooing, to new means of tattooing such as scarification. I’ve always had an interest in tattooing and thought that this would be a great opportunity to learn more about it. I find it interesting how people who you wouldn’t even imagine have a tattoo have one and the stories which they have about the the ink under the skin.
My personal opinion is if you don’t have a reason for a tattoo you shouldn’t have one. I want to explore the people who have tattoos, find out why they got what they did, whether it has reasoning, whether they have any regrets and whether it’s changed their life in any way.
A substantial amount of this book is going to be image based through photography and a few illustrations. This type specification will cover the reasoning for the grid system I’ve used, the fonts that I’ve used, the paper stock I’ve used, the colours and the colour palet that I’ve used and the imagery that I’ve used.
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grid _
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Page size - 180mm x 270mm Spread size - 360mm x 270mm
I went for a grid layout that is pretty complex, I didn’t want to be too restricted with where I could place the photos. I want them so they’re similar dimensions to each other, but not similiar placement. I didn’t want the image placement the same on each page so that the reader isn’t expecting it.
I gave both the columns and rows both a 0.16 inch gutter too so the text and images have sufficient space and are not cluttering the page. This also helps when placing two text boxes next to eachother, having enough space to avoid lack of legibility.
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mods
27 / 200
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1
Africa _
In africa, where people have dark skin, it is difficult to make coloured tattoos as we know them. But they want to be tattooed anyway, so they have developed another technique - they make scarifications (this is not really tattooing, but it is related to tattooing). Made by lifting the skin a little, and making a cut with a knife or some other sharp thing special sands or ashes were rubbed in to make raised scars in patterns on the body, it can be felt like braille lettering... These patterns often follow local traditions. 14 / 200
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1 Photos will not be parallel to each other, one of the focusses of my publication is not knowing whether people have tattoos or not. I don’t want the reader expecting where the photo is on each page, the concept behind it is the reader has to look for the photo, as they would have to look for someones tattoo.
2 Text boxes holding the main body of text are always 5 colomns wide and either placed as far left or right as possible in the grid. I feel the book needs structure and something constant throughout and I think structuring the text like this works well.
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fonts _
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I went with two primary fonts in my publication. I chose Helevetica and Frutiger. These two typefaces have a really nice relationship with each other and compliment each other well. I wanted to stay away from the obvious tattoo style fonts because in my opinion it looks tacky and informal. I went with something subtle and smart because of the juxtaposition in the narrative of my book - not knowing whether people have tattoos or not.
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Helvetica abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
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Frutiger abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
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How long have you had the tattoo? I think I got it done on my18th birthday or maybe my 19th! Yeah my 19th my brothers got me it, so coming up to two years but feels like longer, maybe it’s 3 years now.
Why did you choose it? And does it have meaning? Well I thought about what I wanted for years and originally designed a tattoo of four Egyptian symbols, one meaning protection, one eternal happiness, one togetherness and family and the other one was love I think. But, I took it in to this tattoo artist in soho who was like re design it so it sits nicely on the body, so I drew up what I’ve got now which is essentially a combination of 3 of the symbols but within eachother, so essentially yeah it does have meaning but at the same time you want a tattoo ‘cos it’s aesthetically what you want so that was part of it to.
Do you have any regrets? I’d say that I don’t regret it because it’s in a
Frutiger Bold 10pt C=0, M=0, Y=0, K=100
Frutiger Light Oblique 9pt C=0, M=0, Y=0, K=60
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Japan _
The earliest evidence of tattooing in japan is found in the form of clay figurines which have faces painted or engraved to represent tattoo marks. The oldest figurines of this kind have been recovered from tombs dated 3,000 BC or older, and many other such figurines have been found in tombs dating from the second and third millennia BC. These figurines served as stand-ins for living individuals who symbolically accompanied the dead on their journey into the unknown, and it is believed that the tattoo marks had religious or magical significance. The first written record of japanese tattooing is found in a chinese dynastic history compiled in 297 AD. The japanese were interested in the art mostly for its decorative attributes, as opposed to magical ones. The horis - the japanese tattoo artists - were the undisputed masters. Their use of colors, perspective, and imaginative designs gave the practice a whole new angle. The classic japanese tattoo, is a full body suit.
Helvetica Bold 10pt C=0, M=0, Y=0, K=100
Helvetica 9pt C=0, M=0, Y=0, K=100
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skinheads _
Helvetica Bold 50pt C=0, M=0, Y=0, K=100 -80 Kerning The chapter titles have to always be on the right side of the spread and have to be placed one column from the left with the baseline on the second row from the top. Each Chapter title will be shadowed by a single underscore with the same font specification as the chapter title.
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Show me a man with a tattoo and I'll show you a man with an interesting past.
Jack London
Helvetica Bold Oblique 16pt C=0, M=0, Y=0, K=100
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colours _
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I didn’t want to use a huge colour palette as every tattoo has different colours and uses a different colour palette, so I decided to use black as the base colour as most tattoos have a black outline, I decided to use a midtone grey for the quotes so it doesn’t stand out too much.
I want the readers attention to be drawn to the images first rather than the supporting text because I feel in this situation that the imagery is as important, if not more important than the text.
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C=0, M=0, Y=0, K=100 Used for the text predominantly for the main reason that at a small size, type is much more legible than other colours.
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C=0, M=0, Y=0, K=60 Soley used for the replies from the interviews. I used a midtone grey because black and grey complement each other well and it’s easily distinguisable.
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C=84, M=42, Y=91, K=48 This colour was used for the box containing the page numbers. I chose this shade of green because it’s similar to the colour that tattoo outlines go after a while.
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stock _
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I wanted to be very precise with what paper stocks I was going to use. I wanted the publication to have a strong rational to why I used what where and how I’ve used it. I didn’t want to use a loads of different paper stocks because I wanted the publication to stay structured and have meaning, so I decided to use 2-3 different paper stocks maximum.
All of the choices for paper stock I made were dependant on the chapter of the publication and how they reflect the chapter of the book.
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I’m going to use 140gsm Tintoretto Gesso for ‘Get ya tatts out’ chapter because it has a similar texture to skin so I think it’ll work well with the images. I’m going to use the weight of 140gsm because it has a solid feel to it and is not too flimsy which makes the chapter feel more prominant.
I’m going to use 130gsm Freelife Satin for the chapters History and Stereotypes. I think that this stock will go well with these chapters because it has a really smooth and delicate texture and will complement the other paper stock well.
For the front and back cover I’m going to use 300gsm Freelife Satin. I chose this stock because I didn’t want the publication to have loads of different textures.
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image & photography _
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A substantial amount of the publication is image based. Many of the photographs were taken by myself, however, some of the older photographs are taken from several books and sources.
I wanted the photographs in each chapters to be different, yet have a similarity and something in common. I decided to edit the photographs in a way that makes them look faded, like what happens to a tattoo after a while. All images used from books and other sources will be given a reference at the back of the publication.
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Original
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Edited I’ve edited the brightness/contrast so it’s got a higher contrast so it’s overly contrasted. I then changed the levels of the photograph to make sure they’re all even and the photograph isn’t too dark or light.
I then altered the curves of the photograph, I made the low levels even lower, made the mid-levels higher and the high levels lower. Finally I added some exposure to give it the fade.
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page furniture _
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I didn’t want to include much page furniture as I don’t want the pages to be cluttered with too much information. I’m using a strong layout grid so I don’t think page furniture will be necersary for my publication as it’s already quite structured.
However, as the publication is going to be quite long I thought it would be necessary to include page numbers so the reader can easily navigate to pages and chapters without having to read the whole publication.
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100 / 101
I didn’t want to use anything too eye-catching or obvious, I wanted it to be quite subtle and professional. It’s been designed purely for functionality, the placement and design is constant throughout the whole document.
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binding _
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I want my publication to be perfect bound. In my opinion perfect binding is the most professional and asthetically pleasing way to bind and I think it is the best option for my publication.
Perfect binding means that the pages are bound using an adhesive strip holding the pages together, which is then secured in place with the front and back cover creating a flush, bound publication.
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