DEAD OR ALIVE? The Great British High Street Strategy and Type Specimen
Jenny Johnson
CONTENTS 5
Strategy
9 15 21 29 33 37 41 47 51
Measurements & Grids Grids – Inserts Typefaces Expressive Type Side notes & Pull Quotes Folios & Running Headers Imagery
55
Oversights
Colours Paper Stocks
3
STRATEGY
5
STRATEGY For this brief, titled ‘Everythig About One Thing’, I chose the subject Gloucester Road. I settled on this topic after realising that this road, right on my door step, is something I take for granted. I had heard the statistics labelling Gloucester Road as Britain’s longest high street with the most independent shops in one place, but I had also heard the headlines announcing that our traditional Great British high street was dead. So, there were a few different conclusions. Either the news reports are wrong, the statistics about Gloucester Road are wrong, or this road is breaking all the rules and managing to survive when all other high streets are apparently dissapearing. I decided to explore Gloucester Road, looking at the news articles and the official reports, as well as looking at the roads past and present and questioning its future. I hoped to reveal that the high street is not dead. I also wanted to show the need for independent shops and businesses and how important it is that these smaller, friendlier compaines aren’t wiped out by the giant money making corporations. Without areas like Gloucester Road we wouldn’t have the sense of community and belonging within a place. If every town or village just had their own supermarket or shopping centre, instead of all the smaller independent shops, we would lose so much of Britain’s character.
6
STRATEGY As well as first hand research – talking to people in the community – I also gathered content from various online sources. One of these websites was The Gloucester Road Story. 1 This website provides a directory of businesses at each property on the road, dating back as far as records go. This was an incredibly useful tool in reasearching the area. Another source of information, mainly for the historical imagery, was Paul Townsend’s collection of photos. 2 This incredible catalogue of images from Bristol’s past gave me an insight into Gloucester Road’s past and the history of the Great British high street.
1. www.thegloucesterroadstory.org 2. www.flickr.com/photos/brizzlebornandbred/sets/
7
MEASUREMENTS GRIDS
9
MEASUREMENTS
Document Size: 186mm x 260mm
I chose to use the dimensions 186mm x 260mm for my publication. I wanted the book to feel substantial
1.
Top Margin: 15mm
enough so that it resembled an official report
2.
Outside Margin: 15mm
Although most formal reports would be A4 size,
3.
Inside Margin: 35mm
this book needed to be slightly different to match the
4.
Bottom Margin: 18mm
uniqueness of Gloucester Road. I started off using
5.
Central Gutter: 5mm
6.
Outer Gutters:3mm
the dimensions of B5 but then after several tests I changed the design to make the book slightly larger. By using a 15mm top margin and 18mm bottom 7.
Folio Guide: 15mm
. 8.
Baseline Increment: 3.6mm (14pt)
margin, the working area fitted exactly in line with the baseline grid. Having a slightly larger bottom margin also made sure that the artwork sat nicely on the page. To allow plenty of space for perfect binding I used an inside margin of
Columns: 2 + 3 columns overlayed
35mm. Then, for some symmetry, I made the outside margin 15mm to match the top. I kept
9.
Medium Column: 43.3mm
10. Large Column: 65.5mm 11.
everything other than folios and running headers within these margins.
Small Column: 19.2mm I placed a guide for folios and running headers 15mm from the inside margin. This was to create
Bleed:3mm
symmetry, matching the outside margin. As my body text was going to be 9pt. and therefore would need 14pt. leading, I set the baseline increment to 14pt. (3.6mm) I used a two column grid overlayed on a three column grid to allow for a range of different sized working areas for both text and image. As I wanted my book to take a similar format to reports I would need space for notations. By using these two different column grids I created that space. I used a 5mm gutter between the two larger columns to allow extra space between large areas of text, and for the smaller 3 columns I used a gutter of 3mm. The verso grid is a mirrored version of the recto grid.
10
GRIDS
1
186 mm
2
3 260 mm
4
Recto 8
7
5
6
9
11
10
11
MEASUREMENTS
GRID IN USE Using 2 columns for larger areas of text. page 10
IN THE NEWS A collection of news articles and reports surrounding the death of the Great British High Street.
*
Four out of ten shops will have to shut in the next five years as consumers turn their backs on traditional stores in favour of online
The Guardian: 20th March 2012 Julia Kollewe
shopping, according to a report which casts more doubt on the future of the beleaguered British high street. With retail experts increasingly painting a picture of a future high street lined with coffee shops and internet kiosks, a report from Deloitte highlights how the boundaries between physical and virtual space are becoming blurred with thousands of shops likely to face closure in coming years. David Cameron is so concerned about the decline of the high street that he commissioned a report from retail guru Mary Portas who recommended 28 measures including “town teams” to manage shopping areas and a national market day.
Mary Portas: Person Mary Portas is a retail expert and probably the UK’s foremost authority on retail and brand communication. (see page 19.i)
“The high street will become full of coffee shops, building societies, kiosks and hubs to pick up stuff,” said Dorgan. “It's a different place from 10 years ago and I imagine in 10 years' time it will be a different place again.”
dead? 10
Image left: Vacant Shop Gloucester Road, Bristol Image opposite: Cardboard pop-up shop by Urbantainer
alive? Verso
Using the 3 column grid to place smaller images.
Using the guides to place the folio. 15mm in from the margin and one third of the way up the page.
12
GRIDS
GRID IN USE Using one of the 3 columns for notes. page 15
However, those aged 18-24 are considerably more optimistic. Perhaps as they do not have memories of the past and the High Street’s heyday this is just the ‘new normal’. So, are they just more open to a new and different definition of shopping?
Digital Natives: Noun A person born or brought up during the age of digital technology and so familiar with computers and the Internet from an early age.
Much has been written about the “digital natives”, the always-on generation who have never known a world without broadband or smartphones. Those for whom virtual spaces are as equally meaningful as physical ones are likely to embrace the possibilities afforded by online shopping, just as older or analogue folk may lament the closure of bricks and mortar stores and consider online to be more of a threat than an opportunity. Some 29 per cent of 18-24s enjoy sharing photos of new purchases on social networks, more than double the national average, and 40 per cent of 18-24s have indulged in
Showrooming: Using a smartphone to browse information about products and brands while standing in a store.
the practice of “showrooming” . The digital generation, 18 - 24s consume content and access social networks seamlessly across multiple screens, but are entirely comfortable mixing and matching virtual and physical retail, and indeed will sometimes experience both at the same time. So, if they are to be believed, perhaps the future is set to be truly clicks and mortar.
Dead Image above: Girl on Computer in our world of digital natives
Recto Using the guides to place the running geader. 15mm in from
Using the whole area within the
the margin and one third of the
margins for larger images.
way up the page.
13
GRIDS Inserts
15
GRIDS – INSERTS
124 mm
1
2
173.3 mm
3
Recto
4
16
GRIDS – INSERTS
My reason for using tip–ins was to try and seperate the main body of my book, which is primarily about a place, from the more personal stories.
Insert Size: 124mm x 173.3mm
For the small tip-ins I used the measurements 124mm x 173.3mm, two thirds of the size of the
1.
Top Margin: 10mm
main pages of the book. I chose this size so that
2.
Outside Margin: 10mm
there was enough contrast between the pages but
3.
Inside Margin: 13.3mm
the reader still had to move the inserts out of the
4.
Bottom Margin: 12mm
way to reveal the information on the page, resulting in movement and interaction with the book.
1 column I down sized the margins for the inserts accordingly. Each one being two thirds of the equivalent margins on the main pages. For the insert pages I just used a simple one column grid to allow room for much larger text. The tip-ins have been designed to reveal information quickly. For this reason a complicated grid wouldn’t have worked. The inserts are single–page. The reverse side is left blank to allow breaks between the busy and bright neon paper inserts and the rest of the artwork.
CHAPTER DIVIDER PAGES
For the inserted pages used as chapter dividers I used the measurements 171mm x 245mm. This was so that
Size: 171mm x 245mm
it would fit within the main pages, only without the top and right margin space. As there is no artwork outside of the margins on the main pages, the chapter dividers show through to the plain white background of the next page. I did not use a grid for the chapter divider pages as they have very little content. The chapter titles just sit in the middle of the page.
17
GRIDS – INSERTS
GRID IN USE
Think globally, shop locally, that is all we need. Recto One column to allow space for large text to sit well on the page.
18
GRIDS – INSERTS
GRID IN USE
All the big companies are just taking over the world at the end of the day. They are competing with the little men. That’s why this road can’t have the big companies moving in. Because we will start to close. Each shop will close one by one. It will be a knock on effect. I would cry, it’d be a very sad day. Don’t want that to come. It’s my life basically. It is my actual life. I’d be lost witohut it. But, you know.
Recto
19
TYPEFACES
21
TYPEFACES
DOLLY
For the body copy of my book I used the typeface Dolly. Described as a book typeface with flourishes, Dolly was designed by Underware, an independent type foundry and graphic design studio in the Netherlands. I chose this typeface after reading about it being a good typeface for book typography. The low contrast between thick and thin elements mean that the type is legible at small sizes. I felt that Dolly suited the content and story within my book. Some serif typefaces can look quite rigid and old fashioned, whereas Dolly is more interesting and slightly playful. I used a pt. size of 9 for the body text as this suited the size of the page at the same time as being small enough for large amounts of text. I used a leading size of 14pt. to allow the text to sit comfortably. For all the pull quotes and personal stories I used Dolly Italic. I used a thin white stroke on the underlined type so that the descenders cut through the underline istead of clashing with it.
22
TYPEFACES
ABCDEFGHIJKLMN OPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmn opqrstuvwxyz
An inspired calligrapher can create pages of beauty using stick ink, quill, brush, pick-axe, buzz saw, or even strawberry jam.
23
TYPEFACES
LEBERKAAS GROTESK For the titles, folios, runing headers and notes I used the typeface Leberkaas Grotesk. Designed by Maximilian Huber, for the Ten Dollar Fonts website, Leberkaas Grotesk is described as a sans serif typeface that doesn’t take itself too seriously. I chose this typeface as I wanted a sans-serif that had slightly more character than many of the other typefaces I could have chosen. Leberkaas Grotesk has some unusual glyphs such as the uppercase ‘w’ and the lowercase ‘e’. The typeface is very rounded, open and friendly and I felt that this suited the nature of my book and its content. I used the typefaces at varying sizes and in both upper and lower case depending on the situation. When used in upper case the sans serif letters fitted nicely within the baseline, keeping a consistent feel to my typography design. I used a thin white stroke on the underlined type so that the descenders cut through the underline istead of clashing with it.
24
TYPEFACES
An inspired calligrapher can create pages of beauty using stick ink, quill, brush, pick-axe, buzz saw, or even strawberry jam.
25
TYPEFACES
TYPEFACES IN USE
White stroke used to make the descenders break through the underline.
Dolly Italic used for pull out quotes. Centrally Aligned.
Leberkaas Grotesk used at a small size Bright green text used for titles.
for notes.
Orange text used for quotes, notes and navigational type.
26
TYPEFACES
TYPEFACES IN USE
Leberkaas Grotesk used at a large size for tip–ins.
27
EXPRESSIVE TYPE
29
EXPRESSIVE TYPE
EXAMPLE 1
For the chapter divider pages I used the typeface LiebeDoris, designed by Ulrike of LiebeFonts. LiebeDoris was inspired by a workshop with iconic American sign painter Mike Meyer. This typeface is designed to look like hand painted, store–front signs. I used LiebeDoris Bold Italic for the chapter titles, on flourescent green paper to mimic hand painted shop signs that can be found on Gloucester Road.
30
EXPRESSIVE TYPE
EXAMPLE 2
For some of the tip-ins I created text as a negative, white over black, so that when printed on the flourescant orange paper the text would look as if it were flourescent. I d.id this to create variation through the inserts and to highlight certain information that I felt should stand out.
31
SIDE NOTES PULL QUOTES
33
SIDE NOTES
Side notes in Leberkhaas Grotesk. Italic Orange headings and Regular Grey body.
For side notes I used an orange underline within the text which acted a s a navigational tool to link that word to the note at the side. Within the note I used orange text for that word or title. I also used italics for the heading or main word of the note. The notes had much smaller leading than the body text and so were not aligned to the baseline grid. Instead I either hung the first line off the baseline or sat the last line on the baseline, depending on where the notes fell on the page. The notes on right–hand pages were placed in the far left column, whilst the notes on left–hand pages were placed in the far right column.
34
PULL QUOTES
Pull quotes in 14pt. / Italic / Dolly / Orange.
For the pull quotes I used Dolly Italic, centrally aligned. I set the centre point to run along the left or right hand side of the fully justified text, depending on whether the quote was placed on recto or verso. This meant that all of the pull out quotes were consistent and cut into the text but still sat well on the page, fitting in with the rest of the content. The pull out quotes help to break up the larger blocks of text and highlight interesting facts, stories and information.
35
FOLIOS RUNNING HEADERS
37
FOLIOS
For the page numbering I placed an automatic current page number one third of the way up the page and 15mm from the inside margin. This allowed the page number to be visibible, without being hidden in the binding. I used 60% Black Leberkhaas Grotesk for the folios, to match the notes and running headers and so that they did not stand out too much againts the rest of the content on the page.
38
RUNNING HEADERS
I used the title of the book ‘Dead or alive?’ as a running header throughout the book. This was to remind the reader of the main question being explored and make them question the topic themselves. Like the folios, I placed the running header one third of the way up the page and 15mm from the inside margin.
39
IMAGERY
41
IMAGERY
For all the imagery in the book I used colour halftone to keep a consistent feel and also to resemble newspaper articles and official reports (Example 1). The only exceptions were the images on the now and then pages (p.54-61) for which I did not use halftone. I left these as high quality images without the effect to fully show off the comparisons between the old and the new (Example 2).
Throught the book all images from the past are in greyscale and all images from the present are in full colour so that past and present can be easily differentiated.
All historical imagery was sourced from the Bristol historian Paul Townsend. As a local historian Paul Townsend has an exstensive collection of photographs from Bristol’s past and I have used these to reveal the history of Gloucester Road and the traditional British High Street. https://www.flickr.com/photos/brizzlebornandbred/sets/
For the Mary Portas’ Pilot map, on page p.34, and for the photograph of Mary Portas on the tip-in between page 18-19, I used the noise effect. I wanted to make these images stand out in this section to highlight the importance of Mary Portas report within my book. (Example 3)
42
IMAGERY
EXAMPLE 1
Haltone Effect
43
IMAGERY
EXAMPLE 2
Full Quality Images Greyscale / Full Colour
44
IMAGERY
EXAMPLE 3
Noise Effect
45
COLOURS
47
COLOURS
I decided to use two colours to match the two flourescent paper stocks (see page 52) to get these vibrant colours on screen I had to use RGB, for print I then converted these to CMYK, and although the colours were then more muted, they still matched the tone of the flourescent papers. I chose green and orange as the two prominent colours as I felt they suited the topic well. I feel that the green is representative of Gloucester Road’s ethos, with recycling, fair trade and locality being very important. The orange adds playfullness and character which Gloucester Road has plenty of. For notes, folios and runnig headers I used 70% Black so that it did not stand out too much over other contents on the page. For the body copy I used Black for legibility.
48
COLOURS
R:121 G:253 B:80
R:253 G:143 B:37
R:173 G:171 B:171
R:0 G:0 B:0
70% Black
100% Black
49
PAPER STOCKS
51
PAPER STOCKS
The main pages of my book are printed on Splendorgel 160gsm
Extra White
The cover is uses Splendorgel 300gsm
Extra White
I decided to use a 160gsm stock for my main pages to give the book a weighty feel to mimic an official report. I left my cover blank without any printed content so that the cover could be a flourescent wrap-around.
52
PAPER STOCKS
The wrap-around, chapter dividers and tip-ins are printed on 100gsm Flourescent Papers.
Luna Green
Jupiter Orange
I decided to use flourescent papers for my wrap-around, chapter dividers and tip-ins to mimic the bright neon papers often used in shop signage.
53
OVERSIGHTS
55
OVERSIGHTS
1.
On page 27, line 22, the number 5 linking to a notation should have been raised above the baseline in the same way as the others.
2.
On page 29, line 22, the number 15 linking to a notation should have been oranger rather than underlined.
3.
On page 38 there should have been a full stop at the end of the statistic sentence.
4.
On page 84 the column of text should have been moved away from the image to avoid this awkward framing of the photo and positioning of the text.
5.
The last line on page 87 is missing a full stop
6.
On page 115 there is widow at the end of the pull quote which could have been resolved by changing the line length.
7.
On page 131 there is a widow at the end of the pull quote which could have been resolved by changing the line length.
56
Dead or Alive?