Final Idea

The idea I settled to produce my book on was an unconventional guide book and reference to the origins of street names in manchester.This idea evolved from looking at the work of Neil Roland a manchester based photographer who works with signs and door and such physical objects. This type of photography is was I like most; objects do not change, do not move, do not need much control, unlike people. His two pieces that sparked of the idea to work with signs are the two below.

I intially was going to mak pieces that could be split into sets of inconic Manchester buildings, general buildings, an A-Z of letters from iconic buildings and build upoon that to make small parts devoted to placed such as Oldham Street and Afflecks. This idea had great potential but lacked direction and with discussion with my tutor my sign idea got directed into a workable project.

The book I have produced serves as a little guided walk through the streets in the area from near the royal exchange theatre to the town hall, that is shown on the map included. The reader is intended to take the walk in a spare hour and re-evaluate the way they look at a place they believe to know so well. This is where the main preface for this book comes from, many people believe they know Manchester so well, when infact they know very little abouts its history and important people and events that led to the names of some of the most famous streets. This book allows those people to be enlightened on this area, in a short space of time. There is no daughtingly long pages of information to trawl through just consise and interestig accounts of the name origins. As well as serving as a little guided walk, the book provides to owner with a journal like keep sake that can be referred to when the origins fade in memory. The book has been made in a modern style, the signs taken out of context photographed alone, and placed onto colourful textures to make the images pop. This is what makes the book different from most guide books, it is visually magnificent, as well as getting to the point.

The title 'The Unfamilars' comes from a discussion with a tutor and feedback group of 4 other people of a similar age group. My book is aimed at my age group 16-25, and so their input of style and organisation was very important. It was discussed that the book refers to an area we all are very familiar with - street signs. They are used everyday by everyone and because of that they become unnoticed. I have undertaken this project to bring street signs there own stage, and show people what they see as familiar, infact and quite the opposite.

The name 'The Unfamilars' reflects this well, my book contains a set of photographs of a familar medium but whose name origins in unfamilar to the majority. This title also proves to be an ambiguous one that would draw a prospective buyer in and make them want to investigate the book. The choice to not have an introduction back up this idea as it will force the reader to investigate further and become intrigued by this unfamilar layout and initially secretive subject. It also links in with the title that is strange and in itself a juxtaposition, like this book is of usual layouts. Explanation is offered after the sign images and the linking set of information, in the form of an afterword, that explains the walk that can be undertaken and the whole preface for the book.