OUGD504 Studio Brief 03 - Binding Research

For the inspiration of how to complete the binding of this research I decided to look in to three different types of binding that I think would be viable for the binding portion for this unit and these three types are perfect bound, pamphlet stitching and finally coptic binding;

The first that I looked at was perfect binding, perfect binding is a process of bookbinding in which you can a range of individual leafs/sheets of your design and lay them all in line so the edges line up perfectly. The different sheers are aligned all together, surrounded by two layers of grey board that act as the front and back cover of the book when the spine of these things is album bookbinding glue it added to start the binding process, a small mesh is then added to the spine to reinforce the bind and then covered in more layers of glue to bind the book together. The positives of perfect binding is that it firstly enables the book to be lay totally flat on a surface and furthermore adds a very professional aesthetic to the bind when executed well. The only downside to this method is without major care put in to the the binding process it becomes very easy for the glue to become unstuck and therefore fall apart.

The second method of which I believe is viable and accessible to me to use as a method to bind this project is the coptic bind. Coptic binding entails a binding method of which used a need and thread to physically sew the book together and examples of coptic binding stem back as far as old Egyptian book binding. To create this binding method the contents of the book art split in to a number of different signatures in which case vary in size and number depending on the size of the book in question and then these signatures are surrounded by two thicker hard piece of material that act as the back and front cover of the book itself. The binding is recreated by using a method called multi section coptic binds in which at multiple points down the spine length of the book thread is sewn through the book and knotted over and over again until the bind is complete this is then replicated at different stages down the length of the book. Two major advantages seen by using this method are firstly that this binding method allows the book to set absoluelty flat on a surface making ti easier to read from but not only that the actually aesthetic can be benefited from coptic binding as it adds a very clean and professional feel to the book through its tight construction but also an attractive side through its decorative stitching.

The final example binding method is a method in which I have had experience with before and that is a pamphlet stitched binding. This yet again is another binding method that entails no use of flu but actually use of a needle and thread to hole the book together. This method is created by printing off full sheet of paper with both sides printed on and having these arrange how to would expect in any book. Holes are then pierced in the spine area of the book in which they are sewn together by thread to keep the whole book bound. The stitching it tied in the centre of the book so that It is as less visible as it possibly can be. The major benefit to this style of binding is that it is very easily re-creatable and very cheap to achieve the process.