My Design Process: Experimenting with Materials

Since I decided on my fold I began to experiment with different types of stock to see what would be most appropriate. I focused on five different stocks and played around with how they would fold into a concertina. 

I wanted to find a stock with a good gsm which would allow for it to be easily folded whilst not being too thin or flimsy.  I was also aware that the stock would have quite a few layers once compacted into the leaflet. If the stock is too thick it would be hard to get a neat fold and also hard to line up the folds.

Tracing paper

I found that tracing paper folded nicely and provided a clean fold however it was too flimsy, the leaflet wouldn't hold its shape and would just be impractical as a leaflet. As much as I love working with tracing paper it just didn’t work for this project. 

The other issue that arrises with tracing paper is that if I were to print on it, once folded the print would overlap itself and show through to the front where it wouldn’t be clear. I think this idea would work great if you were trying to portray a messy design process where it is organised chaos because at first glance it would see all over the place, however when you open it up you would be able to see a clear design process. 

Although this would work great, it unfortunately isn’t my design process so would not be appropriate for me.

Newspaper

I decided that since tracing paper wouldn't work with the transparency I would experiment with opaque stock from now on. I began by looking at news print since it was a similar gsm to the tracing paper so would fold similarly - which it did. 

However it was still really flimsy and didn’t feel substantial enough. I want to use a thicker stock so that it can hold itself to show how sturdy your design process needs to be.

Bulky Newspaper

Since Newsprint wasn’t working I went for a bulkier news print. This worked a lot better and was a lot more maluable and easier to fold.

White Card

White card was just ridiculous to fold. It was just too thick meaning a neat line could not be established which in turn made the fold un-neat and cracked the paper. If ink was on any of the folds it would have cracked it. The folds were impossible to get flat as the curved either side which meant the leaflet wouldn’t sit flat either. Once all the layers were stacked and compacted they made the leaflet too thick, it looked unprofessional and messy.

Cartridge paper

Cartridge paper seems to be the best out of all of them as it is the perfect gsm which allows for neat folding whilst the leaflet holding its shape. The folds do not crack so this bodes well for adding ink over the top of them. The texture of the paper is plain and flat meaning that ink will print well onto it.