Snip: A barbershop talk

This book was inspired by my interest in exploring one cultural aspect of Toronto. A photograph of a barber was the inspiration that helped to choose Barbershops as a topic.

Process and Methodology

I started by going around different shops and taking pictures of each place, trying to get familiarized with the topic. The other source of information and content for the book was a basic interview. It helped me to understand what were some of the thoughts and concerns that barbers have in Toronto.

Once these materials were gathered, I was able to analyze and begin to sketch and try different layouts until I reached to the solution that felt to be the most suited.

With the layouts and test prints done, the next step was to produce the book (print and bind).

The book

The book is mainly photography based. It can be read as a series of images that allow the reader to have a good understanding to this ‘world.’ Furthermore, the interview topics were arranged to create five chapters that explain what a barbershop is.

The five chapters are:

– Beginnings: a look at how each barber started.

– Changes: what are the main transformation that took place and how barbers feel about them.

– Being a barber: what it means to be a barber and how they see their own profession.

– Clients: who they are and what is the barber’s relationship with them.

– Stories: famous stories that can only happen at these shops.

In terms of design and art direction, I’ve decided to create a layout that enhances and let each photograph to be seen and experienced. The text and the small collage also helps to enhance the ‘barbershop feel,’ where different stories, people, and generations are mixed and blended together.

Colour wise, I chose to use a bright cyan/turquoise colour and a gray tone. They work well together, balancing each other and also can be related to some of the iconic products found in those places (i.e. the barbicide).

The folio was also treated to resemble the traditional barbershop pole (red striped).

Physical aspects

The book size is 7 in x 8.5 in. This size was chosen to allow an easy and comfortable reading experience, but with a big enough size to let the photographic details to be seen.

The paper is Euro Art 100lb. text matte coated. It provides enough thickness and weight to the book without being too thick to flip through it.

The cover uses the same paper, but has a matte lamination and was wrapped around a thing cardboard, giving enough stiffness, but not too stiff as it would be if the cover was a traditional hard cover.

Personal thoughts

I really enjoyed the whole process of designing this book. Every step had its own challenges and questions, but it still provided a good amount of pleasure and fun. I personally would like to develop this book so that it could show even more pictures and interviews. It was a great journey!

Book update

So as I head towards laying out my book here are some of the decisions I’ve made.

• Pacing and the use of photography styles/framing/composition to control that: I am working with basically 2 sets of photographs—people and objects—and each has a range that consists of the bigger picture (shots of the entire space), the detail and photos that has a mix of both. I also have black and white photographs. Each will be used in an specific way so that the book has a certain underlying logic.
• Type treatment
• Use of cutout/collage images: my intent is to use them as decorative/flourish elements. I find that the pictures were compelling and descriptive enough and having big images on top was hindering the “readability” of the images.

Now, to production!

Title for my book

After deciding on what the content of my book will be and how it’ll be organized, I realized that I have a new problem: I need a different title. The previous one was going to be Tonsorial Tales: Stories from barbershops. Since it’ll cover more than just stories I was thinking of something that is more broad.

Here are some of the suggestions and variations:

Cut, cut, cut.

Chop, chop, chop.

Snippets

Snip!

Snip! Snip! Snip!

Sniptale

Sniperview (snip + interview)

In between snips

Between snips

While you were snipping. (Okay, it’s starting to sound too much like a movie)

Any suggestion?

Side life

Just came across this post. It’s the work of Veronica Bailey and her amazing decorated edges. Take a look and read the post if you have a chance. I have no idea of how this was done. Anyone knows?

http://blog.eyemagazine.com/?p=204

I can see a light!

After a weekend of work, I was finally able to pin down and be happy with the general art direction of my book. I have some spreads here as examples. What I’m doing basically is applying collage not on top of ‘white’ paper, but on top of another photograph. This approach works well enough to establish a setting and context for my text and images. The collage adds quirkiness to the page and also reflects the culture of these shops.

I’ve also decided to divide and categorize the contents of the interviews, rather than having full interviews one after another. In this way, I find that the theme of barbershop becomes more important instead of the personal stories, allowing the book to portray a general picture of these places. It also breaks the repetition and linearity that would be seen if the book was a series of the same interviews over and over.

I also need to set the pacing and flow of the whole book. What images would set the tone/pacing of the book? How can I use images to build-up or give a break at different points of the book? Hopefully these will be answered soon!

3 Questions

Here are my 3 questions. Thinking about it, I actually have more than 3, but I guess this is the limit!

1. What cover should I do? Hard cover with squares? Just a bit thicker than ‘paperback?’ I want my book to have a good distinction between the cover and the pages, but without interrupting the flow too much, as I’m planning to use my folios as a visual device (I want people to be able to flip through the book easily).

2. Should I use french fold? I think it’ll add a bit more to the book, instead of the ’standard’ way…

3. Do you think my layouts (see revised blueprint) can be used together or are they too different to be combined? Mostly I was thinking of the collages and the big type on top of photos or with small cutouts between some ‘pull quotes.’ I can also use the black and white pics to break the pacing a bit more.

Thanks!

Experimental Book Mock-up

Spine showing my super quick sewing

Spread of the ‘damaged’ image

In this case, the spine wasn’t even connected

Detail of the spread

So here is the mock-up of my experimental book.

The binding/format seems to be working nicely. The only problem I’ve found is with the glue. When I opened the pages, the images on the spine were damaged and I have no idea of how to apply the right amount of glue.

My guesses are:

1. I’m applying too much glue on the spine
2. The spine was not aligned when the glue was applied
3. My sewing was not tight/sturdy enough

If anyone can help, I’d appreciate!

Revised Blueprint

This is the revised version of the book blueprint previously presented.

Overview

My book will be about interesting stories and talks that takes place at Toronto barber shops. How i came to this idea? I went around Toronto looking for barber shops and started taking pictures and talking about my project. The first idea was to create a book that would serve as a visual directory or catalog of some of the most famous shops in the city. I quickly abandoned this idea, because it seemed a bit too simple or too ‘linear.’

After discussing with few people and looking at some of my pictures, I came to the conclusion that barber shops are a place that serves not only for men’s hair cuts, but rather as a social space where men can actually talk and bond during that short period of time. So my book will be about a series of very short stories told by barbers in Toronto. These stories will be complemented by images that evoke the feel of those places. The objective of the book is to convey that same experience in a book format, trying to make connections to the physical space, whether it is through images or by the way stories are arranged.

I’d also like to play on the conventions of a book, especially using the folio in a way that can somehow represent a very well-known aspect of a barber shop.

Things I’ve decided

• Typeface
• General style/creative direction
• photo editing style
• page/folio transitions

Things to decide

• Book dimensions
• Paper selection
• End papers
• folding method (I’m considering doing a french fold)
• chapters/book flow

Inspiration Sources

I’ve been looking at some old photos of both barber shops and places in general, watching any movie related to the subject and trying to get a hold of any book that could be related to my project. As mentioned on my previous blueprint, there are not that many books that deal specifically with this subject matter.

Another source of inspiration has been just to visit some used books store. Although I coulnd’t find a book specific to my subject matter, it helps me to get purely inspired by some old-school designs!

Layout experiments

Here are some of the spreads and layouts I’ve been trying.

Some early type treatments and photo editing. Didn’t like this that much.

I like this photo a lot, but the type is not working for what I’d like to achieve. It seems a bit too classic and formal.

This typeface seems to be working better. It has a nice feel and adds personality to it.

I’m also trying to use a bit of the collage style. The placement of images out of context give a nice feel to the layout when combined with low saturated colours.

Some type treatments and an option for cover. I’m using this blue based on those barbicide products that can be found in every single shop!

A possible idea for folios running along the side of the pages. This idea/inspiration was drawn from the pole signs that are used to indicate a shop.

I am also thinking of using black & white photography. This helps to break down a bit the pacing and adds a bit of a nostalgic element, but in a different way from a collage style.

Another idea is to put some small elements to mix with the text. I really like this idea and think it adds a lot of fun and personality to the layout.

Lastly here are some quick collages I did. They seem to be working well and add more depth to the stories. The idea of collage also came from the fact that a barber is always “cutting.” The collages can also connect to the fact that a shop is a place that has accumulated stories along time.

Title of the book

I was also thinking of the title of the book to be “Tonsorial Stories.” Tonsor comes from the latin word tonsorius, which means barber. Since this might not be a very well known word, I thought it might be interesting to use it to draw some attention. If anyone has a suggestion or comments about a possible title, please let me know!

Timeline (tentative)

November 4: Continue working on layouts and text styling

November 11: Have all interviews done and continue transcribing them. Have some paper selections and think about binding methods

November 18: Continue to work on layouts and work on cover, back cover and spine.

November 25: Have all pages and table of content designed. Prepare for printing and binding

December 2: Book done!

The art of manliness

I was once again doing some online research and found this website. It is about the art of manliness and this specific page talks about a brief history of barber shops and the reasons why a man should go to these places. Quite interesting and I could see how I could’ve created my book using his point of view.

Barber shop Game

Okay, so I was just trying to look for some websites related to my book theme, and came across this online game about barber shops. Basically you have to offer a good service in the fastest time. As you advance, you will slowly provide better services and try to keep up with the clientele. Very odd to think there’s such a game, but in case you’d like to try, here’s the link!

http://www.dailyfreegames.com/flash/arcade-games/barbershop.html