This week I made a lot of progress in regards to organizing the Inferno for the digital version, and made some notes regarding the UI because they are very related. I posted my want chart last week but this is going to be a very fluid process, and I will bounce around from UI design, to book cover design, to something else as I work on one thing and get ideas and inspiration for the other. I decided to organize the digital reader by the circles of hell. This seemed to make the most sense from the reader perspective so that they can keep track of where Dante is on his journey in a physical sense. I’ve also chosen what I want illustrated for each circle, or digital page.
My mentor has also been decided, and he is Paul Richmond. Paul is a CCAD grad who is a notable painter and muralist, but also has several years experience in publishing. I was introduced to him when my psychology class participated in a project called Art Against Bullying, which Paul runs through the You Will Rise anti-bullying foundation. I will be referring to Paul on best practices for developing e-readers, effective book covers, and overall artistic input on designs.
In the coming week I hope to get a solid wireframe down, and potentially a start on applying an aesthetic to that wireframe. Once the wireframe is down pact I will be able to hire illustrators. I can pass the wireframe to them so they understand where the illustration fits. The illustrations will be a challenge because I want to be able to offer compensation for the work, but my budget doesn’t stretch enough for the compensation to be fair. So hopefully I can get a few favors from some good people, or find the time to illustrate missing pages myself.