Book Construction: Accordion Book

Book Construction Series
This is the second in a series of video tutorials on book construction. The demonstrations are conducted by book artist and binder, Amanda Nelsen and were shot during a recent workshop. To view the first video tutorial on “How to Create a Printed Slip Cover”, Go Here.

Amanda Nelsen
Amanda’s work has been shown in numerous exhibits, most recently including: “A Dedication to Craft” at the Concord Museum, Concord MA; “Bound for Success” a Designer Bookbinders Int’l Competition exhibited in Oxford, Boston, San Francisco and New York; The Joan Mitchell Foundation MFA Grant Recipients in New York, NY; “20th Anniversary Celebration” at the Springfield Materials Reclaimation Center, Springfield, MA; “June.” Cambridge Community Television, Cambridge, MA; “Dirty Dozen 12 Artists and a Ton of Trash” at the Boston Children’s Museum, Boston, MA. Amanda is also the recipient of a 2010 Artist-in-Residence at the Minnesota Center for Book Arts. Her website can be found at http://www.amandanelsen.com/.

About this Tutorial
This video demonstrates how to fold a strip of paper to create an accordion fold book. It also demonstrates how to add pages to that book with adhesive.

Book Construction: Accordion Book from Danielle Currier on Vimeo.

Simple Messages/A Unique Approach by Alexander Kara

This promotional campaign by designer Alexander Kara really caught my eye. The stark simplicity of the black text as bold message on a white background makes reference to the power of advertising copy and a simple poster – brought to life in the context of a more subversive “post no bills” propaganda style environment. The final promotional poster is also visually intriguing and certainly represents a unique conceptual idea.

When I asked Alexander about the project, this is what he had to say:
The aim of the project was to produce more than just a business card; an idea of collaboration between client, designer and the world around us, we need all these components to create an appropriate and successful design. The poster series was to display how simple messages can be effective in the world, in turn, enforcing the original concept.

Stickers were used for my contact details, for a practical and economic sense; my details (and i’m sure many other designers) tend to change (address, phone number), therefore this approach will ensure that the cards have a longer lifespan than a traditional approach.

business cards – front

hand-trimmed stickers

self-promo poster

Website: http://aprop.wordpress.com/

Enter Drawing to Win Free Copy of Our Book

Follow No Plastic Sleeves on Twitter and you’ll be entered in a drawing to win a free copy of our book, No Plastic Sleeves: The Complete Portfolio Guide for Photographers and Designers. The winner will be announced on the site and through Twitter at the end of July.

ps. If you’re already a follower, you’ll be automatically entered.

Community: A Blog for Emerging Photographers

Finding Inspiration in Each Other.
The site, thisisaphotoblog.com brings together a community of emerging photographers who take turns giving the group creative assignments. It was started in August 2008 by Tamar Levine and a handful of her Art Center College of Design classmates, and has grown to include twenty-one contributors, each with her or his distinct style and vision. This diverse mix of photographers provides as much diversity in the results of each monthly assignment.

Levine came up with the concept for the blog in the summer of 2008. “I really wanted to start a blog for a few reasons,” she stated, “To establish a photo community; to continue creative dialogue even after we finished school; to make a haven where we could just be creative without worrying about the money or competition; and to feed off of each other and hopefully get inspired.”

Some of Tamar’s photographs were recently featured in the PDN Photo Annual for Stock. Below are a few of the winning images.

The Website of Photographer, James Quantz Jr.

Building a story, that’s what James Quantz Jr. does.
Taking what starts as a concept, James skillfully crafts what he captures in the camera into a one-of-a-kind visual production that grabs hold of the imagination in a truly remarkable way.

James’ terrific new online portfolio and iPhone website was created by the talented Michael McDonald, founder and creative director of Organic Grid. Michael was recently kind enough to answer a few questions for No Plastic Sleeves about online portfolio design and development. You can read that interview here.

http://www.quantzphoto.com/

Turning a passion for your own work into a promotional event

This wonderful project was sent to us by Callie Lipkin of Callie Lipkin Photography. She’s doing all the right things to market herself, and it sounds like she’s having a good time doing it. It helps that she’s engaged in her local artist community and creating her own personal work. From there she helps organize what sounds like a spectacular event of burlesque dancing, live music, food and cocktails. And to top it off, she has created a number of fabulous films to promote the event and her studio.

In Callie’s own words – “I thought you might be interested in a non-traditional promotion we do at my studio. Its an annual event that is themed around a personal body of work I have been creating for the past few years. Every year I create new work based on my local burlesque troupe who I love dearly, and then in the spring they perform at my event which I market towards clients and potential clients using this personal work. This year, I shot 2 original short films using my HDSLR and sent out eblasts to my RSVP page which featured the different videos. One of them is currently featured on my site minus the invitation theme, the others are awaiting music licensing. Every year this brings in a huge boost to my business, this year is no different. It has helped me get to know clients who would otherwise be off limits to me by showing off my personal work and passion for production (the event itself is a large production) and a good time, and not making it all about viewing my portfolio during an office meeting alone.”

Enter Drawing To Win Free Copy of Book

Follow No Plastic Sleeves on Twitter and you’ll be entered in a drawing to win a free copy of our book, No Plastic Sleeves: The Complete Portfolio Guide for Photographers and Designers. The winner will be announced on the site and through Twitter at the end of July.

ps. If you’re already a follower, you’ll be automatically entered.

Business card, cd, and booklet designed by and for Mirtho Prepont

Impressive brand identity design for this business card, cd, and booklet portfolio set by designer Mirtho Prepont.
http://myworkonthe.net/

Resume Design Example

A clear typographic hierarchy, defined color palette and a touch of information design (in the form of a bar graph and pie chart) all contribute to the strong design of this resume by designer Jeremy Fleischer. He’s also got a great reel of his work up on his website at http://www.jeremeydesign.com/.

Click image for larger view.

“How to Get Noticed” Article

Great article for photographers about “how to get noticed” on the British Journal of Photography website. Also includes a nice mention about No Plastic Sleeves.

http://www.bjp-online.com/british-journal-of-photography/feature/1650956/how-noticed

Original Business Card for Photographer Darius Kuzmickas

Here’s one that’s a bit different. Recently submitted to No Plastic Sleeves by photographer Darius Kuzmickas, this original business card is sure to stand out. He’s got a really nice site too, check it out at http://www.kudaphoto.com/.

Roger Snider’s Big Rig Photography Portfolio

Impressive Student Portfolio Package from Designer Sean Ball

The intention of a portfolio design is to present you as having a visual character, to differentiate you from the average creative and make you stand out – supported by your own unique creative vision and the work you have done to prove yourself. That’s just what designer Sean Ball has done with his promotional materials and portfolio.

Sean says, “This is a project done for my senior capstone class [at Oklahoma State University]. We were tasked with creating our own self promotional materials: business cards, resume, and a way to present our portfolio. I wanted something eye-catching, so I opted for some slick metal CD cases from American Digital. My resume, card, and a digital portfolio were placed inside, then cases were wrapped with a label. The design for this was also carried over to my portfolio book.”

“This is the second part of my self promotional project. We were asked to create a large format portfolio book to take to future interviews. This is a fairly large book, measuring at 11″x17″ for each page. Each project included has a large image, project description, design brief, an explanation of my solution, and project detail shots and images.”

http://www.behance.net/seanballdesign

Portfolio Process: Time-lapse by Photographer, Jeremy Bales

Dedication and craft – building your own portfolio book is certainly a labour of love. And I have to give anyone who takes it on a lot of credit for seeing it through. Like photographer Jeremy Bales, who recently shared this time-lapsed video with No Plastic Sleeves.

He says, “When I set out to make a full-bleed book, mounted and trimmed by hand I had no idea that it would take so much effort: making sure my prints would line up, carefully making cuts, scoring and folding gently. But the more I put into the project, the more I realized that the custom, one-of-a-kind nature of the book would be strikingly apparent to anyone who viewed it. The process became a weekend-long practice in zen. It’s one that I look forward to doing again when the time comes.”

Print Portfolio from Jeremy Bales on Vimeo.

http://www.jeremybales.com