1. The test prints proved the grey bar unsuccessful. The ink was not crisp around the white sketches, and it is impossible to print full bleed and retain the 11" width of the paper. I also agreed the grey fill lent itself to a digital feel, rather than the look of a printed page. And - I preferred the white space beyond the streetscapes, uninterrupted.
2. I recognize that the column of sketches, as it was, seemed a little rigid. I wanted to vary the scale of the sketches, but none seemed to work well large, as they were drawn at such a small scale, and the variation ultimately drew the eye from the streetscape which needed to remain dominant. So I varied scale selectivly and subtly, but kept the vignette sketches quiet, in their column.
3. The column seems at odds to the row of the streetscape drawings, surely. Once I looked at the block layouts in context with their neighbors, the columns appeared to mimic the cross streets between blocks, and they finally had a place, a reason for being as they were, in seeming opposition to the row.
4. Most of the blocks (those that are a full 300' long) worked well with the column layout but I was still at a loss on the three shorter blocks and one extra-long block at East Broad.
5. So, I focused on the necessarily wholistic design of an accordion book layout, not simply 11x17 pages, but (19) 8x11 pages that form a 160"-long layout. With this in mind, I shifted the first block right and allowed a gradual entry - and a subtle introduction - to Jones Street. I rolled the last three blocks together, slightly tightening the space around 300 and 400 blocks to allow for the 500 block (the extra-long one) to be a little bigger, though still not the same scale as the other blocks.
I think it was a good compromise, in that it honors the book's format as an accordion and also creates a pleasing composition, page by page. I'm glad design in a vacuum did not prevail - THANKS, friends!
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