A History of the High Heel Book- Typography Ideas

I have been researching what font I will be using in my book and on the front cover, I have found a font I like in 'The Emigre Type Catalog' called 'Mrs Eaves' which is regularly used in Emigre.

A History of the High Heel Book- Layout Ideas

I have made little sketches of the layout plan of my book and the order that every page will be in, including the contents, introduction, timeline and credits pages. I have roughly worked out that my book will be 120 pages long.

A History of the High Heel Book- Image Ideas

I have thought about using old black and white pictures in my book to show how people use to dress and which shoe design went with each time period. I have found a book called '150 Years of Photo Journalism' the Hulton Deutsch Collection. Inside I have found a number of pictures of the shoes women wore.

Ellis Brigham- Initial Poster Design

I have selected a brightly colored photo of a snowy mountain with trees, a ski lift, and a snow-boarder in brightly colored ski-wear from Ellis Brigham. I have experimented with a Photoshop vector brush to create the rays of the sun in the sky, and also I have made the photo brighter. I then added the Ellis Brigham logo in the right hand corner, and have used the slogan 'Our staff really know their stuff,' in the Helvetica font. I used black for the type so it would stand out against the snowy background. I have also added blocks of black at the sides of the poster to make it stand out. I like this initial idea although there is something missing so I am going to try some other effects.


I have also tried changing the sky color to red and also the snow-boarders clothes to blue electric blue along with the flags in the background.

A History of the High Heel Book- Layout Ideas

I have found an image of a busy street in black and white showing only the bottom of peoples legs and there shoes, everything is in black and white except a women's illumines pink high heels. I thought this image would make a good front cover. I have measured the 7"x7" cover on tracing paper.

Ellis Brigham- Video

I have found an Ellis Brigham video to get a feel for what its all about.

Ellis Brigham- Initial Poster Design

I have started to design one of my ideas using a picture of a snowy mountain slope surrounded by trees, I have then experimented with the picture making in black and white, adding a cut out affect and also changing the brightness & contrast. I have then made silhouettes of snow-boarders and placed them on the mountain. I have also placed the Ellis Brigham logo so the orange typography is covering one the silhouettes. I have combined photography with hand rendered work and I am pleased with the initial idea I have made, I am going to play around with it a bit more.

A History of the High Heel Book- Research

I have been to Waterstones and I have found some Shoe books that have helped me in my ideas:

A celebration of pumps, sandals, slippers & more- Shoes- Linda O'Keeffe










Shoe Fleur- A footware fantasy- Michel Tcherevekoff













Custom Kicks- Maki













Stepping Out- Three Centuries of Shoes- Powerhouse Publishing













Shoes- Lucy Pratt and Linda Woolley- V&A

Ellis Brigham- Initial Ideas

I have been experimented with different Photoshop effects to make a normal photograph look more eye-catching.

Ellis Brigham- Initial ideas

I have traced around a photograph of a woman skiing with a black pen, and have found that the tracing paper and outline looks effective with the photograph behind it, scanned into the computer.















I have also experimented with collage using brown paper creating the mountains leaving the paper white for the snow covered tops and used a photograph of a skier.

Ellis Brigham- Initial ideas

I have been experimenting with different illustartions of snowboarding, skiing, mountaineering and walking men/women and have scanned in some drawings and edited them on Photoshop.

A History of the High Heel Book- Image, Typography, Layout and Print & Finish

I have been researching books on Image, Typography, Layout and Print & Finish by Ambrose and Harris to give me some ideas on the way I will present the pages in my book.









I have found many pages that have helped me in my design such as colour codes, leading and kerning, legibility and readability, print finishing, perfect binding, embossing, and grids.

























































I have also looked at The Layout book also by Ambrose and Harris.
This book has taught me a lot about White space. White space is not necessarily white, as it refers as any space in the design without text or graphic elements. Designers naturally insert white space into their designs to help the composition and make the information the design contains easier to access, such as leaving margins at the sides of the page that create space around text blocks. Swiss typographer Jan Tschichold called white space 'the lungs of a good design'. Without white space, with every part of the design area filled, there is a danger that a design would look cramped and difficult to understand.

Ellis Brigham- Contemporary

I have been researching other magazine spreads promoting ski wear...














I like the effects on this poster, the setting sun in the background makes the photo appealing with the perfect light, I also like the way that the skier is in mid-jump just above the setting sun. The smaller images in the top right hand corner that show the products that are being promoted is a good idea as they are not easy to see on the skier in the photograph. There is also a small paragraph underneath telling the story of the photo and also the skiers name.

Ellis Brigham- The Catalogues

I have written to the Ellis Brigham company on their website www.ellis-brigham.com and asked if they could send me some examples of their catalogues 'The White Book' and 'Mountain Trek & Travel.' And also i have asked for TSA's 'The Snowboard Asylum.' I have used these catalogues to see what sort of products they have to offer and I have also looked at the website to see what they offer as a company.

A History of the High Heel Book- Research

I like the layout of the pages in 'Sneakers: The complete collectors guide' they present the shoes in exciting ways.

A History of the High Heel Book- Art Direction Brief

I like this index page of the book 'Sneakers: The complete collectors guide' its in the style of a timeline. I want to make a timeline page for my book in this style of timeline over a double page spread using pictures and text.

Ellis Brigham- Advertising Campaign Brief

In this brief I will be working in a pair with another member of my course Joe Shishani. We intend to create a selection of single page and double page spread advertising posters in specialist advertising pursuits for Ellis Brigham to feature in magazines such as TGO; On The Edge; Climber; High; Fall Line; Snowboard UK; Ski & Board, and various others. I am going to research different extreme sports shops and websites to see how they have advertised their products compared to existing Ellis Brigham shops and website. I have also been on the TSA website and ordered two of their different outdoor pursuits advertising magazines to find out how they have advertised their products in their magazine. To identify the unique brand qualities I have researched the brands history as the company is one of the oldest businesses that sell this kind of equipment as it was founded in 1933. Looking at their website and requesting catalogues from the company. They specialize in ski, snowboard, mountaineering and climbing equipment, accessories and also clothing. The desirable brand image that Ellis Brigham is aiming for is knowledgeable, dependable, enthusiastic, and experienced, as they would like their customers to know everyone who works at Ellis Brigham is an outdoor sport or activity in order to offer their customers expert advice in their latest equipment.
I will look into other companies specializing in ski and snowboarding such as Filarinskis, Ski Plus, Burton Snowboards, Sandown Active Sports, Millets, Forum, Free Spirit, and TSA. I will also look at examples of ski and snowboarding magazines such as TSA's 'The Snowboard Asylum,' to find examples of existing advertising of both Ellis Brigham and other companies. I will find comparative research from all of the companies above including Field & Trek, Blacks and Mountain Warehouse.
The company aims their advertising at the extreme sports demographic, such as climbers and snowboarding, outdoor pursuits enthusiasts of all ages, and all levels of experience and competence. I intend to look online and find profiles to help me in my research.The Ellis Brigham logo must be kept the same, this can be found at: http://www.ellis-brigham.com/logo-ellis-brigham.htm. The single minded proposition - 'The outdoor shop where staff really know their stuff.'

A History of the High Heel Book- Art Direction Brief

My collection will consist of the history of the high heel shoe, throughout its history in Western fashion the high heel has been used to enhance stature, status, and sex appeal. Simultaneously impractical, proper, demure and daring, the high heel of today bears the imprint of its complex 500 year evolution. From the extravagant Chopines of the 16th Century to the elegant stilettos of the 20th century. I will structure my book from the first example of a high heel to the present fashion.

From my research I have found a book that has influenced me in my ideas called 'Sneakers the complete collectors guide' by Thames & Hudson. I find the page layouts and visuals of the shoes very interesting and makes the book visually exciting.

I intend to have a double page spread contents page using a visual timeline design with pictures and text. 

I will source the text from the Internet and books I find that influence me and credit them on my credits page at the back of the book.

I am roughly going to make my book 100-120 pages long depending on the number

 of different fashion changes from the first type of heel to the present day.

I plan to use my time wisely and keep up to date with my work by making a timetable:

Week 1: I will decide on my idea and research the subject finding work which influences me in my ideas.

Week 2: I will collect a range of images that I may use in my book design.

Week 3: I will start to make a plan on paper of layouts and how many exact pages I will need for my book and also set up my page layouts in Indesign.

Week 4: I will start to design my book and will do over the next couple of weeks, also adding text and making the layouts visually exciting. I will then leave a couple of weeks at the end to send the book to the printers for binding and the cover made.

I am going to work in Indesign using the 'designers spreads view,' all my images will be in JPEG format. I plan on using CS2 Adobe at college for all the design work as I have CS2 on my Mac at home so I can transfer my work between the two. I will back my work up on a USB stick and also a CD to prevent any loss of work.