The unmatched Irma Boom talks about her books.
Picasso and the Allure of Language was an exhibition at the Yale University Art Gallery a couple years ago. The volume above, Le chant des morts (The Song of the Dead), was on display, and it consists of forty-three poems by Pierre Reverdy. It’s a wonderful example of the combination and juxtaposition of the textual and the visual arts—Reverdy hand-wrote the text and Picasso created accompanying lithograph illustrations. When Picasso received Reverdy’s handwriting, he remarked that it was “‘almost a drawing in itself.’ Consequently, the artist decided against figurative illustrations, which might repeat the curved quality of the poet’s hand, in favor of abstract decorations in the manner of medieval manuscript illumination.”
These covers for Nabokov were first released in 2009, but I recently revisited the series. Commissioned by art director and designer John Gall, these covers use a butterfly specimen box to frame the cover image, a reference to Nabokov’s lifelong passion for butterfly collecting:
Nabokov was a passionate butterfly collector, a theme that has cropped up on some of his past covers. My idea was also a play on this concept. Each cover consists of a photograph of a specimen box, the kind used by collectors like Nabokov to display insects. Each box would be filled with paper, ephemera, and insect pins, selected to somehow evoke the book’s content.
Though each cover was designed by a different designer, there’s a remarkable simplicity to each cover and a wonderful depth and tactility as a result of using physical materials. Some of the designers explain their process behind creating the cover in this article in Print.
Left: Michael Bierut; Right: John Gall
Left: Stephen Doyle; Right: Carin Goldberg
Left: Peter Mendelsund; Right: Rodrigo Corral
Left: Paul Sahre; Right: Martin Venezky
I received my Photo-Lettering Catalog this week and House Industries never fails to disappoint. They create not only the most beautiful type specimens, but catalogs that also make you want to buy, use, and overuse their fonts. Though my cover is not as beautiful as the ones above (they indecisively produced 8 different covers), each interior spread features a different design with their typefaces. Sign up for your free copy here.
London studio Spin created this book cover with a custom packaging tape design and smartly used the same tape design for shipping. Remind me to one day use custom packaging tape for a project.
I saw this book yesterday during a class studio visit to Paul Sahre’s office, and though I’m not particularly fond of Victore‘s work, I’m tempted to purchase this tome just for Sahre’s design. As a review on Quipsologies this week put it,”It’s as if all the times [Paul Sahre] has used a Humanist Sans Serif have been building up to this point: A magnus opus of Humanist Sans Serif deployment, from 6-point type to 600-point type.”
But most of all, this book is gorgeously black. Each page is uncoated black with white type, with no images bleeding to the edge so that the black frames each page. Then, the entire book has tipped edges in a glossy black that is so sharp and glaring, you’re not sure if the paper edges will cut you or leave a toxic residue.
Though Sahre had the precarious challenge of designing a book for another graphic designer, the result seems to be both a complementary form and a homage to Victore’s work. To see more images of the spreads, check out the Quipsologies review.
The dust jacket also unfolds to this poster:
Thank you, Peter Mendelsund, for restoring an Alvin Lustig sensibility to contemporary book design. Mendelsund designed these covers for a new Schocken series of Kafka classics, with each one employing a different configuration of eyes. On his blog, Jacket Mechanical, Mendelsund describes his reasoning for using the eye as a graphic tool:
So, as you can see, I’ve gone with eyes here (not the first or last time I will use an eye as a device on a jacket-book covers are, after all, faces, both literally and figuratively, of the books they wrap). I find eyes, taken in the singular, create intimacy, and in the plural instill paranoia. This seemed a good combo for Kafka- who is so very adept at the portrayal of the individual, as well as the portrayal of the persecution of the individual.
I also opted for color. It needs saying that Kafka’s books are, among other things, funny, sentimental, and in their own way, yea-saying. I am so weary of the serious Kafka, the pessimist Kafka. Kafkaesque has become synonymous with the machinations of anonymous bureaucracy- but, of course, Kafka was a satirist (ironist, exaggerator) of the bureaucratic, and not an organ of it. Because of this mischaracterization, Kafka’s books have a tendency to be jacketed in either black, or in some combination of colors I associate with socialist realism, constructivism, or fascism- i.e. black, beige and red. Part of the purpose of this project for me, was to let some of the sunlight back in. In any case, hopefully these colors, though bright, are not without tension.
The typography. The script is an amalgam of Kafka’s own hand, and a wonderfully versatile typeface called “Mister K” (based on Kafka’s own hand) by Julia Sysmäläine who works at Edenspiekermann in Berlin.
View all of the covers over on Jacket Mechanical.
Paul and I received this volume for Christmas—a perfect gift for a designer who likes to cook, or a cook who’s versed in design. Designed by Caz Hildebrand with illustrations by Lisa Vandy, this book is a collection of how to make all of the shapes and sizes of pasta. On the facing page for each recipe is a black and white, geometric illustration of the pasta shape, which is far more visually interesting than its photographic counterpart, standard now in most cookbooks.
For more information about the book, visit their micro-site dedicated to the geometry of pasta.
London-based Mash Creative designed this brand guidelines pamphlet as part of their identity design for Black Watch Global. Whereas the Black Watch Global identity design seems standard for a global consultancy firm, this guidelines book would certainly make me excited to use, and explore the possibilities of, their design toolkit. You can view more of Mash Creative’s branding work on their website.
