finalboards3

Adam Townend OUGD303 Flatland Book Design Brief 1 Board 1/7

The Brief Flatland, written by Edwin Abbott, is a mathematically driven story of 2d world turned upside down by the perspective of a being from another world. The flatlanders can only see life through a 2 dimensional perspective but one flatlander, a square, has their view of the world transformed. The brief was to reintroduce this novel to a new audience and to challenge the form of a book.

The Concept The design of the cover plays on the flatland world through the use of a mathematical grid, in which the flatlanders live. This version of the book had to represent the concept of the book effectively to generate interest, and to appeal to readers who had shifted their attention to digital format books. The delivery of the book proves the worth of buying a printed copy.

Adam Townend OUGD303 Flatland Book Design Brief 1 Board 2/7

The Delivery The delivery of the book had to reflect the concept of the content but also a new way in which readers can interact with the book. I chose to push the idea of introducing a new reading experience but also contain the contents of the product within the traditional packaging which could sit alongside other books in a collection. Chapter books were designed for each chapter and the book was split into two sections ‘This World’ and ‘Other Worlds’.

The Cover The cover design also ties into the concept by using a mathematical grid as a representation of the Flatland world. The flatlanders are represented as grey 2 dimensional shapes, where as the author’s character and his companion are represented with a 3 dimensional shape. The grid was selected as it had both 2 and 3 dimensional qualities.

Adam Townend OUGD303 Flatland Book Design Brief 1 Board 3/7

Reading experience The concept and delivery of this new edition of the Flatland book is to challenge and question the way people read by taking the content out of context and displaying it in poster form. Each book would be duplexed printed with each chapter. The scale of the book changes with each page turn and eventually opens out into a flat poster for the final page of the chapter.

Adam Townend OUGD303 Flatland Book Design Brief 1 Board 4/7

Bookmarking Because of the unusual format of the book and flexibility in which it can be read meant that regular bookmarks could not be used.

Instead these branded sticky notes were produced to pinpoint the part of the book was reading. The user could also write a short message to remind them exactly where they were on the page.

These sticky notes could be attached to the document if the pages were open or to the full sheet when displayed on a wall.

Adam Townend OUGD303 Flatland Book Design Brief 1 Board 5/7

The Range The rest of the range was designed including bookmarks for other books and postcards promoting the e-version of the book that could be read in a more conventional way. The second postcard design features a diagram which is in the book, and can be scanned with a smartphone to experience a 3d representation of the diagram. This technology challenges the concept of the Flatland world.

Adam Townend OUGD303 Flatland Book Design Brief 1 Board 6/7

Augmented reality The original book features diagrams that look to explain the complex theories laced throughout the narrative. I saw an opportunity to develop these diagrams with the help of smartphone technology. Augumented reality would allow the user to scan the diagram with their smartphone to see a moving 3 dimensional representation which would swivel on axis as the phone was twisted.

Adam Townend OUGD303 Flatland Book Design Brief 1 Board 7/7

E-reading The digital revolution is gripping book sales so preparing a digitised version is a must. Since the beginning of the year, for every 100 paperback books Amazon has sold, the company has sold 115 Kindle books. The mock ups show the Kindle and iPad versions, as well as the itunes market place feature advertisement.