Poem Book

Presentation:

Page 1 : Actual Sand

Final Editing "Beach Sand Poem Visualization Book"

            In my poem visualization book, I wanted to emphasize that feeling of being a kid and remembering life. Many people when they are young go on a lot of family trips, many to the Jersey shore if they live nearby. So what I wanted to accomplish in the book was to install images that are reminiscent of the beach and the shore area, that go along with the poem, “Beach Sand”. I wanted to first go along with the imagery of the poem, but also include images you might have taken if you were at the beach. Since I live at the beach, I am used to seeing vacationers. Most of the people visiting take a lot of pictures at the beach and play with the sand; overall they are very excited to be there, and I wanted to include this feeling and memory in my book. I also included a physical part of my book. I placed a real beach sand covered page in the front of the book for the reader to interact with. I believe this interaction with sand really puts the reader in relation to the poem and what it is all about.

            I chose the specific book structure of a leather lace bound (appx.) 4 ½ in by 6 ½ in book so I could play off of the idea of postcards. Most of my images are 4 by 6 inches and they can also be seen as postcard images you could buy at the beach and send to family, friends, or for collecting. I wanted to keep with a beach color palette so I chose a light crème-sand paper for the front and back covers, a crème cardstock paper for the pages, and natural colors found in the beach images. I chose brown leather lacing because it complemented the book well. The structure relates to how I view the poem because when I personally think of the sand I think of the beach and being home, while I also realize that so many people come to the beach on vacation. Because of this tourist aspect, I decided to have the postcards as an aspect that both the tourist and myself can relate. I really like how it turned out.

            For the images and typography in my book, I first did a photo shoot to receive the images for my book. I went to the beach and took many different poses relating the beach and sand theme. I edited the photos in Photoshop, set the opacity lower for most of the images, and then transferred them into illustrator to add the text. I added text on paths that I drew and manipulated some text that I wanted to stand out more than others. Some text I did not want on a path, and I just did type work in Photoshop. After the illustrator files were done, I opened them in Photoshop and converted them to jpegs. I then put all of the jpegs together on a (2)12x18 document and printed on the pphaser.

            I constructed the book by making the covers out of cardboard and then covered them with a thick crème-sand colored cardstock paper. I cut all of the actual pages in a crème cardstock, and then punched holes in the left sides of al of the papers and covers. I used aerosol spray adhesive to attach my images to the paper, which was very effective in the polished look of my book. I bound the book through the holes with brown leather lace, and also in the back is a light brown hemp string with beads and a shell on it, which also relate to the book.

I used : Bauhaus 93 Reg and Handwriting-Dakota Reg as my fonts.

Self Visualization Right Panel

Self Visualization Left Panel

Self Visualization final concept

In  progress on this project i ultimately decided to incorporate the image of myself through the use of polaroid pictures, camera lenses, a polaroid camera, a bright cloud filled sky and hands of other people. I wanted to include the concepts that i only care what i think about myself, and that i ultimately control what i see and how i want to portray myself.The use of other's hand trying to cover my face in the pictures is showing that although people see my in their own way, i control still how i want to see myself. The left panel shows how i also incorporate my love of photography into how i see myself, for a camera includes a lense. i often symbolize another lense from a camera as my other eye, because in everyday life i often imagine and position how i view things as if i were to take a picture of it. i used a little bit of illustrator for some graphics in this project, took my own photographs, and used mostly photoshop.

Illustrator Excersive

Poem Visualization

Beach Sand by Raymond A. Foss

Maybe it is the memories
the change of pace that brings us there
the sense of vacation
maybe the smell of the place
the sights of the gulls, the dunes, the grasses
but oh it is the feel of it,
the crunch and slide of it
the feeling of beach sand
so different from dirt, soil, loam
no, not earthy, moist, rich,
but oh so granular and gritty
even when wet,
moveable paper spreading under toes
sliding beneath the soles
smoothing my skin
clearing my mind
unburdening me of the rest
drawing me to the tactile, the feel
of beach sand

 Found online, click here.

My idea for the Poem Visualization is to make this book a childrens book/ a beach experience book for all ages. I want to incorporate the text to symbolize the words such as wavy patterns and ripples found in the water. I will include many photographs of all aspects this poem covers like : the sand, ocean, the beach, feet, skin. I want to use a pressed natural paper for the cover and bind it with a beachside reed if i have access to it. I also want to include a cut out for real sand to be seen throughout each page of the book; this part would be attached to the back inside cover. The first page of the book i want to be a page of real sand that i will glue and dip on, and i want to cover it with a thin clear sheet so the reader will be able to physically interact with the subject of the book. Since this book is about the beach, i want it to be very natural in color, very beachy, and i will ultimately model it around the beach in my town that i love, named Ortley Beach.