Design and construction considerations

Durability, ease of use and appearance are all important when deciding on the method of binding. The publication must be durable enough for repeated reference use, and attractive enough to appeal to modern designers. The ability for the book to lie flat would be a bonus, but not a necessity. Sandwich binding allows for the book to life flat and also gives an alternative but attractive look and feel, though isn't very durable. This drastically reduces its suitability for Typography in Interface Design. Interscrew binding is also attractive and offers a very unique appearance which would differentiate the book amongst others, but it lacks in practicality and is expensive for mass manufacturing. It's quite difficult to open the pages fully, never mind lie them flat. Saddle stitch binding, regardless of whether thread or staples are used, would not be suitable for the book due to its hand-made, low cost appearance. Due to saddle stitch binding being based on folded pages it means that the publication tries to spring you to the centre pages as you flick through; this annoying experience isn't present on perfect binding because that involves single pages being glued. 

A perfect bound publication would offer the best compromise between cost, durability and appearance.

Most modern displays have either a 4:3, 16:9 or 16:10 aspect ratio. For comparison, standard A4 has an aspect ratio of 1:1.414. I could link the digital/physical theme of my publication through a digital aspect ratio, but not at the expense of usability. Some recent displays have actually eschewed traditional digital ratios for physical ones - the Microsoft Surface Book, for example, has a screen size with the same dimensions as an A4 piece of paper. This is to create a feeling of familiarity when using the machine as a tablet. I'll have to experiment with how different paper sizes and aspect ratios feel in the hand; how they look, and how wieldy they are to use. One thing is for certain - books that don't fit properly onto book shelves are just annoying, so my publication must abide by this. 

Digital printing is the most appropriate for this publication. It allows for cheap, fast and easily distributable publications to be produced at a high quality.