(not so) MANIC?

I completed the booklets after burning the midnight oil, I'm a bit worried that I am getting used to these late nights and feel completely off kilter during the day now. I had one of the nights where since I was cramming everything in, I didn't plan for production. I didn't have enough paper. My printer kept eating the back-up paper, so I had to use Emilia's to print.




















The concept was two opposing booklets to aid people in understanding what a manic and depressive episode are like. For the content, I borrowed two excerpts from a blog kept by a woman who suffers from bipolar disorder. As the text goes on inside, it sinks lower and lower on the page, until the last where it is cut off, but still legible.

Here is the depressive booklet cover with the paper I wanted to use.






































This is the final version using the back-up paper







































The page below, the detail didn't show up as well as it did on a white version, which didn't translate onto image.
























Maybe you can see it better in the photograph below?


























































The manic booklet I initially wanted to produce on a much larger scale, but I thought it wouldn't comparitively work. I had this pretty rad/intense paper I brought back from Canada that I wanted to use. This was the first cover/paper colour trial.























After consulting my design respirator, she noted it might be a good idea if the covers for both booklets are correlated. Below is the second version of the cover. Emilia preferred the unchopped format also. But I wanted to keep the sizes consistent.






















Chopped version on the paper colour of choice.




















The idea was that the text would get a bit faster/harder to read as you progressed through the booklet. It was much shorter, in order to correspond to the racing thoughs/overactiveness experienced during a manic episode.

The criticism I received from Paulus was that the manic booklet was too constrained. He suggested I go for a giant sized version. Although he did say he liked something about it. I regret not asking him what exactly.

The group mentioned that it didn't really give them a sense of being in either of the aforementioned episodes. Although, I was striving for more of a somewhat subtle indication, focusing more on experimenting with the typography, as Rathna proposed during our group tutorial where we discussed our self-directed project proposals.

When I mentioned that baking a cake was a part of my process, he suggested I impart that in this project and make a depressive and manic cake. I liked that he asked how I visualized the cakes, because I had a pretty clear image in my head that it would be one cake with two layers. Anyway I will certainly give this a go because I will use any excuse to bake! Funny that I was joking around with Andreas about submitting a cake when I was fumbling for ideas.

Last night Emilia and I went to a gig on a whim. Three Trapped Tigers opened for Maps & Atlases at XOYO. It was stellar! If ever I saw manic, it would have been the drummer for TTT! He was bloody mesmorizing! Photos to follow, but here is someone's video of them playing at Hoxton Sq. Bar + Kitchen last year.