Creative Book Design- Part Two: Form and Function- Exercise 1: The function of books
Identify a range of books that have fundamentally different functions in terms of how these books are engaged with - how they’re held, where they’re read, by whom, and for what purpose.
Think about how each book’s form reflects its function. The front cover is an obvious starting point (and the focus on your upcoming assignment) but try to look more broadly than this. Think about things like page extent, paper quality, typeface, the weight of the book, imagery and more. Is the book illustrated with photographs, reproduced images or drawings? Are these concentrated in one or two places or distributed throughout the book?
What about front matter and end matter? Historical novels like Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall may have family trees and/or a list of characters as part of the front matter. A scholarly biography will usually have many pages of end-notes and references.
Identify how each book designer has reflected the genre and function of your chosen books in their final design.
Birmingham Lockdown Stories: Jaskirt Boora
This books main purpose is to present portrait photography along side short stories about the subjects of the photographs experiences of lockdown due to the Corona virus. I thought that this would be an interesting book to look at due to it being modern and the primary focus of it being on photography over written words.
The size of the book is 20.3x25.4cm (8x10 inches). I think this is quite an abstract size for a book, but it allows the imagery to be large enough to have it’s full affect on the reader. The paper quality is glossy, very thick, photographic paper (around 200gsm) with no texture or grain. The book is quite short, but heavy due to the quality. The need for such quality is for the audience to keep or display the book, therefore it must present the images as best it can.
The front cover is a large image of a doctor from within the book. The choice of imagery of a doctor for the front cover alludes to the content of the book being about health/well being (corona virus). The title and authors name are above in the top left corner. The subjects eyes frame this well, as if he is looking at the heading. The colouring of the back page and spine is a similar pink/purple hue to that of the doctors uniform. This creates a more ‘uniform’ look in itself for the book.
The opening page is a brief description of the author/photographers history, and recent project during the Corona virus pandemic. It is composed centrally on the page using the same typefaces as used within the rest of the book. The back of the book is a thank you note to the groups who funded the project. This is composed towards the bottom left of the page, as if it is a ‘sign off’ in a letter. This positioning makes the book feel complete and friendly, rather than it being centralised and more assertive. This helps the reader take a more light hearted approach when reading the afterword.
Each page is composed with one or two images which are large enough to almost fill the page (or are at least the main attraction of the page) with smaller text beside or beneath them. The typeface used is sans serif, thin, with a wide tracking. This makes it easily legible, but the thin font doesn’t detract from the power of the images.
The composition of the page allows for there to be negative space between the images and the stories, allowing for there to be room, again to allow the images to be the main focal point.
The New Typography: Jan Tschichold
The New Typography was originally written and designed by Jan Tschichold in 1928. This book is ‘the first translation’ into English. The redesign follows the same design as the original book as much as it can. The books primary focus is Tschichold’s work and ideas, for an audience interested in art/design. The focus of this book being on design and typography is similar to Jaskirt’s lockdown photo book, in that it is mainly for a specific audience, but the visuals can be enjoyed by anyone.
The size of the book is 14.6x20.9cm. This is quite small, almost ‘pocket size’. This is around the size of the average bible (I was interested as it seemed quite a clever thought by Tschichold and the new designers). This alludes to it being a book of ‘rules’ or at least a narrative with a goal of exploration. The paper is glossy and of very high quality/thickness. This allows the book to be a potential ‘coffee table’ book for someone to flick through. The quality allows the audience who are more than likely appreciative of design, to really view the contents of the book in the best way possible.
The front cover is an interesting composition, including 3 colours; yellow, red and black. The design emulates Tschichold’s revolutionary design style, paying home to this with rectangular shapes which compliment the colours of the type. The typefaces used are sans serif, easily legible and represent the modernity of Tschichold’s work and ideas.
The inside of the cover describes a brief history of ‘The New Typography’ and can act as a book mark. The composition of the black rectangle continues from the front cover, into the inside, similarly to the red and black text which colours are positioned the opposite of those on the front. this is again paying homage to Tschichold’s design, and is to be particularly appreciated by the design loving audience. The back part of the sleeve is a very brief history of Tschichold and the contributers to the book, designed in a similar way to the front section of the sleeve.
The inner pages typeface is a thin, sans serif font with wide tracking. This is modern, easily legible and the contrast of the bold headings and the body text works well. The thin main text allows for any imagery to become the main focal point.
Berlin City Guide
Dissimilarly from the other 2 books, this guide is for informational purposes only, and the books authors/designers are not mentioned at all. This is due to its primary function being to present information which can be viewed easily and quickly by it’s audience (an English reading tourist).
The size is 11x20.2cm, similar to a map. The overall weight is quite light, but it is of very good quality. The paper is glossy, non-textured but relatively thin (80-100gsm). This and the sizing allows it to be lightweight and easily kept on hand by a tourist when exploring Berlin. The book is full of information, but not too thick, again for it to be portable.
The front cover is designed in quite a ‘corporate’ way, being not very interesting or aesthetically pleasing. The brand ‘AA’ contrasts well with the blue background, which allows the well known brand and trusted brand to be seen by potential buyers of this guide. By helping the logo be as visible as possible to its potential audience (most likely aware of AA) will push people to choose their guide over potential competitors if displayed in a row or on a shelf of guides.
The first page of the book (and part of the front cover) is a map of Berlin. This is a functional design as it allows the owner of the guide to easily find a map without having to flick through pages or information to get to it. This could also help with selling the guide, as a potential customer could view the first page and be attracted to the fact that the book includes a map within it that is so easily accessible. The back page again presents the guides functional design. There is a plastic pouch attached to the back, I assume this is for placing things like tickets, or valuables that you can’t loose. This allows for a storage place with easy access to these items, again an attraction to a potential customer and an smart design by the designers.
The typefaces used for the sleeve of the book are thin, sans serif contrasting with a bolder font heading/important information. The contrast in fonts allows the information to be easily distinguishable, it creates a hierarchy which is useful. If a tourist is looking for a locations name, this will be bold and obvious/easily legible immediately.
Cloud Atlas: David Mitchell
In contrast to the other books I have explored the designs of, this is a fictional book. Instead of directly presenting information this is more conceptual than the other books I have looked into so far. Rather than presenting information, design or having a specific function, this books purpose is to convey a narrative. The book is by David Mitchell presents different stories through time conveying changes of humans (clouds), but with one ‘Atlas’ of similar and often negative/nihilistic thoughts or behaviour.
The book is ‘standard’ sizing with a glossy front cover including a shiny blue material. The paper is very thin and slightly textured. This is probably due to many copies being made and this method being cheap. It also feels ‘like a book’. and by that I mean the texture is that of a fictional book, tactile and aged. This adds to the dream like front cover, and the overall narrative of the book.
The front cover is full of illustrations and interesting typography. The title of the book is an interesting sans serif typeface including an illustrative element that alludes to nature and is almost tribal. This again is to present the narratives within the book by this metaphorical illustration. The blue is a different material, and slightly reflective allowing it to appear almost metallic. The colour contrasts with the purple dusk coloured background, and encapsulates the viewer into a dream-like world. The spine and back cover continue this metaphor through design. The birds also frame the narrative as important and thought provoking, being in the sky or ‘heaven’ like (‘head in the clouds’ etc).
The innner typefaces of the book are serif either in italics or regular. The italics is used at the top of the page to show which chapter the reader is on, or for speech within the short novel. The serif font allows for the book to feel more aged, and ‘story-like’ in contrast to the modern more informational feel of a sans serif font.
Shoe Dog: Phil Knight
A memoir is an interesting style of book, looking into somebodies past. ‘Shoe Dog’ is very personal, it book runs through the life of Phil Knight chronologically from his perspective, but told almost as if it is fiction. The memoir is a very interesting read because of this.
This book is a hardback 16x24.3cm size with a gloss finish sleeve. The paper is a thin, textured style, similar to ‘Cloud Atlas'. This is again due to reproducing the books cheaply. The book is quite thick The colours of black, grey and the original nike orange/red creates a hierarchy of information, allowing the audience to pay most attention to certain elements. The Nike logo, probably the most recognised logo globally, is large and centre of the page in red, this immediately attracts an audience interested in Nike. The use of red to highlight importance continues to the back of the sleeve where there are quotes from people (highlighted in red) to exaggerate their importance to Phil personally, or as they will be known by most of the potential readers.
The inside page of ‘Shoe Dog’ is very different to all the other books, and reflects the style of a memoir. It reads ‘for my grandchildren, so they will know’ this is Phil directly interacting with his grandchildren, and future family. This personal approach also frames the narrative of the memoir, enforcing that it is genuine and Phil’s story.
The typefaces used on the sleeve are sans serif, with the heading and subheadings being bold and the main text being a thinner sans serif typeface. This again creates an obvious hierarchy, making the information easy to consume for the reader. There are no illustrations or images on the cover, just typography with the nike logo. This design is clean and no other information is needed. The audience is attracted by the nike logo, and can then view that it is a memoir (highlighted with a matching red with the Nike logo).
The inner typefaces used are both serif styles. The words ‘Phil Knight’ and ‘Shoe Dog’ are above every page in a larger size than the main text. I feel like this could be a clever way to brand the book; if a page is removed, or photographed, the Nike brand is still shown and promoted through Phil’s name and the book through ‘Shoe Dog’.
The Magic Furnace: Marcus Chown
The Magic Furnace is a non-fiction book about Physics. It is an introduction into the world of atoms and their origins, the book is written well and can to be consumed by non-specialists. The books audience is people interested in Physics and science in general, making the books purpose to convey as much information as simply as possible.
The paperback is a ‘standard’ book size with a glossy cover and thin textured paper for the main pages. The glossy cover seems to be a trend among most consumer books (for at least what I’ve seen). ‘The New Typography’ is an exception being a matte finish (which I prefer personally). This is interesting as ‘The New Typography’ is specific to an art/design orientated audience, a possible reason as to why it is slightly different.
The front cover of ‘The Magic Furnace’ (my version from 1999) shows a scientific looking graphic, with yellow accents contrasting with a navy background. The more modern version presents typography amongst stars. This more simplistic version could potentially attract a broader audience as it is less intimidating. The use of orange for ‘Marcus Chown’ is very interesting, I find it not very aesthetically pleasing, but it does attract my attention. The name is the first thing I am drawn to when looking at the front cover, which would attract the audience who knows about Marcus Chown from his previous books, or for working under Richard Feynman.
The typefaces used are sans serif, and again in bold/thinner to create an obvious hierarchy. In the main title ‘The’ is places in a smaller size above ‘Magic Furnace’ this is because it is less important than the words ‘magic’ and ‘furnace’. It allows the title to fit across the page in a larger size. This also mirrors the composition of the subtitle ‘The search for the origins of atoms’ which creates a more balanced feel. The inner type of the main text is quite small with a close tracking. This is interesting, as it doesn’t have a larger more spaced font that typical books have. Perhaps this is because it is a non-fictitious text, and values information over avoiding appearing intimidating.
