Zemni Design

Material Experiments

Books are of many different types

different types of paper have different tactile qualities and associations
colours have physical, psychological and cultural impacts – different colour schemes for the same designs can give radically different effects
different printing processes affect way different types of paper absorb and enhance different colours and types of ink differently
books do not need to be bound as linear narrative, they can be collated in different to explore meanings and concepts to challenge readers as active participants rather than passive recipients of information.

Project 4: Experimental Book

Anon concertina book

6/7 Vortex. In the left image I need to use Photoshop to blend in the insect top left.

8/9 Dark Place

10/11 Prayer

12/13 Crazy – is the diving figure top left prominent enough?

14/15 Calming

16 You’re Worth It

4/5 Xmas – background on right needs to be dimmed down

Research Point: Visit to the Printer’s (to be done)

Project 4.3 Printing

Project 4.4 Alternative Approaches: Collating and Binding

Collating and binding

Artists Books

Book Binding

Project 4.4: Collating and Binding

Assignment 4: Altered Book: The Greed Game

Outside Cover

GameBox folded around all contents and bound with an Arab Headband?

Oman 4/5 British treaties

Oman childbirth

Oman Sultan in his lair – acriylic and watercolour drip image

Pages 17 and 18 2500 Anniversary Extravaganza

Iran pp 19-20 SAVAK Secret Police

Pages 3 and 4 Shah

UAE

Background p13 Ras Al Kaimah

For this Assignment I chose a book on the oil industry in 1970s as the basis for a board game ‘The Greed Game’ that challenges players to explore the complex motivations and impacts of the oil boom of the 1970s, and its ultimate contribution to the ‘terrorist threats’ of today.

The Greed Game – Iran

The Greed Game – Oman

The Greed Game – Saudi Arabia

The Greed Game – United Arab Emirates

Research on underlying concepts and messages

I narrowed down the content of the book to focus on four countries: Iran (where I had also been at the end of the 1970s when this book was written), Oman, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates. My research covered both historical development and background to the countries, documentary videos on You Tube (which I also used as the inspiration for drawings and illustrations, photos on the Internet and development and political updates on the countries from organisations like United Nations Development Reports, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and Al Jazeera website.

Oil industry

Islam, democracy and human rights

Islamic terrorism

Iran (forthcoming)

Research on design

Colour in Islamic Cultures

Islamic geometric design

Islamic Geometric Design Using Adobe Illustrator