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Physical book: an irreplaceable experience as asynthesis of content, aesthetic and formReport by Elena ManfrediJanuary 2011, London

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This report is addressed to all the physical book lovers, mainly graphic designers, students and others. It will investigate the irreplaceability of the printed book through the analysis of two categories that need to be printed, to exist and where form is important to the convention of the content for a quality reading experience: the artist’s book and the designers’ book. It will be divided into three parts. The first one will concentrate on what an artist’s book is, how the makers of these books emphasize particular physical characteristics of books to convey ideas and the difference between the book as an object. The second part will look at how an increasing number of publishing companies are focusing on the production of physical books in which form is carefully designed to save this object from its extinction. It will also focus on how contemporary editorial designers use the physical characteristics of books and possibilities of inks, binding and paper to help make the content understood better and make the reading experience unique. The third part will consist of the analysis of my primary research. The first section of this last chapter will analyse what graphic designers students and book readers think in general about my topic. Lastly, the second part contains the analysis of what experts in the editorial design field think about this.

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Notes from the author

Making this book I tried to create a fluid marriage between content and form. I explored characteristics that are related uniquely to books, like paper. I experimented with its light weight and wrote the subheadings of the chapters with a mirrored effect to make them visible just if the page is turned. In the Book-Object chapter I partially denied the access to some images, following what the artists treated in that part do with their art. The overall design of the structure of this book are made to make the reader more aware of the importance and beauty of physical book and engage with it. I used type and images running through the pages and the two ways of accessing to the text to support my ideas.

I think every part of a book needs to be considered to create an overall experience for the reader and needs to be thoughtfully designed. -Johannes Ritzel

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Intro p. 8-11

Artist books p. 12-19

Book-Object p. 20-29

Industriallyproduced books p. 32-39

Talking to people p. 40 -47

Conclusion p. 48

Appendix p. 49-58

The importance of the physical experience as a key of the surviving of the book and how designers are engaging with that.

Talking with the expertsExperiencing the industrially made book

Physical experience as key to interpretation of the content

The denial of the content

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Intro

In an era where technology is developing at a fast pace, new inventions are changing our lives, the relationship with information and the way of accessing it is evolving. The printed book has been put under discussion and has been declared as soon becoming an extinct artefact by many people, but what is a book? The book is a wide concept. Thinking about it, it might be useful to visualise a spectrum (p. 10-12) with the opposite extremes: one of them is represented by the book-object. Here the book is deprived of any connection with its content and is used uniquely for its physical characteristics, purely considered for its form. At the other extreme of the spectrum is situated the paperback book, usually printed on cheap paper and to a standard design. These kinds of books are uniquely considered and used as a vessel of information. The contents reflects the significance of the book, which is why this type of book would not lose its purpose as a carrier of information if digitised.

Between these extremes, two other categories appear: the artist’s book and the book curated by designers. In both of them there is an unbreakable interdependence between form and meaning. On the book spectrum the artist’s book would be situated closer to the book-object, as it is usually produced by a fine artist. This one uses its own text or collaborates with other artists and writers, but the design and the production is dealt by the artist himself. Due to this fact more possibilities of production can be explored and many different materials can be used (from different paper stocks, to 3D objects, liquids and any sorts of materials that can enhance the meaning of the story). Being produced by one person and in such a peculiar way, the distribution of this book is limited. This is one of the main differences from the designer’s book. Designers usually make books to be produced in large scales by machines, so they are constricted to respect limits that are imposed by the production methods printing technologies might have. In these kinds of books the designer executes a brief and he is the maker of the form, while the content which is usually a balance of text and images, is normally produced by others. In both of these kind of books, all the physical and layout elements are carefully brought together to deliver to the reader a nearly full sensorial experience which makes these objects irreplaceable.

The methodologies used to carry on this report were primary and secondary research. Secondary research was effectuated through the reading of books and articles related to the topic treated.The primary research used for the first section of this report consisted on visiting the Victoria and Albert library and after choosing two of the artists’s books contained in the collection, experiencing their physicality and their content to sustain the thesis of this document.Other two methodologies of primary research are analysed in the third part. The first section of this part will examine the conversations started from an

Intro

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experiment involving the digitization of three books curated by designers, and testing them on people. The second section will contain the analysis of written interviews of 5 affirmed editorial designers about the topic of this report.

BOOK OBJECT

The Book of Nails 1992Floating Concrete Octopus.V and A library collectiont

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ARTIST BOOK

La Grand Muraille 1991Shirley SharoffV and A library collection

DESIGNED BOOK

SHV Think Book 1996-1896Irma BoomMoMA New York Collection

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PAPER-BACK

Calvino TrilogyWritten between 1952 and 1959Published 1991 by Mondadori

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Artist books

Physical experience as key to interpretation of the content

The artist book is an art form that came to life during the 20th Century and appeared in every art movement of that age. ( p. VII J. Druker, 1995 ).The material form of the book is used as thematic interest from the artist books, a factor which can be considered as one of the main difference between livres d’artist and artists books. The former contained collections of works of art of artists who were usually collaborating with writers or poets (some famous ones could be “Le Yeux Fertile”, with poetry from Paul Eluard and illustration from Pablo Picasso (image1 and 2) or Bouquet de rêves pour Neila, with text from Yvan Goll (images 3 and 4) and images from Joan Miro. Their production was completely in the hands of the editor and for this reason respected the market standards most of the time, with elements like the conventional distinction between image and text and the different production steps (paper choice, binding, distribution).

In artist books the maker uses the objectas a container to express his/hers ideas and thoughts. Finitude and sequence-the two main characteristics that define a book-have been respected, but explored in endless ways, deconstructed and investigated.Artists books are a hybrid of images, text and materials that reflect the investigation and rethinking of the traditional concept of the book (p.299 Hellion and Carrion). They are a dynamic form of codex which rather that being considered uniquely vessel of information, float between two different categorization. Where it is possible to find them? In a library or in an art gallery? Being classified as “books” has allowed many libraries around the world to have a rich collection of them. Some examples could be Virginia Commonwealth University Art Book Collection, Joan Flasch Artists’ Book Collection  , Princeton University’s Firestone Library and many more. The Victoria and Albert museum in London contains the biggest collection of art books in England, with a collection of more than 2000 artists books.

Even if the materiality and physicality of a book can be seen as a limit to the infinity of possibilities, artists book show us how much the boundaries of the definition as a finite object can be broken. Looking at a book like Measure, Cut and Stitch of Ruth Laxson (Image p. 16 and 17) which is a beautifully crafted book where the content and the form are a perfect marriage. The grey cover is made of the same kind of cardboard used by stylists to create models and the binding is created with a red wool thread, in a fine Japanese style. The paper inside is rough and white, black or grey and reminds of a familiar material, probably a wallpaper. The content is made by unfinished typeset or handwritten poems, sentences, notes, musical notations, short stories: everything look unfinished, cut. The layout and the way the page is treated gives it a sense of unfinished roughness: the typography is untidily, sometimes quite ragged. Also

Artist books

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the way the artist treats the page conveys the feeling of the title: some pages are cut in beautiful triangular shapes, giving the book different dimensions similar to layers of a dress.

Another book that plays and explores its physical structure as a medium to communicate the message is ‘Aunt Sallie’s lament’ by Margaret Kaufman (Image 7). The book contains a poem of a southern American quilter reminding herself of an old but not forgotten love (V and A web page). In this book the paper reflects the characteristics of a quilt for its tactile and visual sensations: it is soft and heavy and the colours are vivid. Also the shape of the book with how the pages regain the shapes of the elements of the quilt which assumes the form of a diamond. The structure of the book is a concertina that folds out for 105 inches, which let the reader experience the content all at once. If the book is experienced as a sequence of pages, lifting each of them is a discovery of one part of the poem. Once you go on to the next page, all the previously read poems remain hidden just leaving some words visible, which frame the various parts of the poem like an echo.

Experiencing these books has been essential in confirming what has been written before. Both of them have been produced by the single author and they are mixed media objects, combining different processes in their production. They are intended to be touched and interacted with, using their structured physicality to express and underline their content like layout, typography, and materials. Each of their elements are used to support the content and help the artist to communicate his ideas in a more effective and striking manner.

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“The way the artist treats the page conveys the feeling of the title: some pages are cut in beautiful triangular shapes giving the book different dimensions, similar. to layers of a dress .

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“The way the artist treats the page conveys the feeling of the title: some pages are cut in beautiful triangular shapes giving the book different dimensions, similar. to layers of a dress .

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Once you go on to the next page, all the previously read poems remain hidden just leaving some words visible, which frame the various parts of the poem like an echo.

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The denial of the content

In the book-object the relationship between the function of the book as a vessel of information and its material feature of being an object is one of the key investigations of many others. The main difference between an artist book and book-object is the fact that the latter one denies the basic connection with the idea of the book, most of the time offering the text to the viewer, but simultaneously stopping him from reading and understanding it.The pure objectivity of books has been explored by many modern and contemporary fine artists in different ways and from different analysis starting points. When books are used as a unit to build up architectural structures and installations, the content is completely abandoned as a focus point and the book is treated uniquely for its physical solidity and book-ness (p.360Druker), symbolizing the genre book rather then the single specific one.Transforming the book as a pure unit, leads to the inaccessibility of information. In Matej Kren’s work (Image 8 and 9) titled Book Cell a big amount of information is displayed but made inaccessible and each part of the book is a grounded brick of the construction. The viewer enters it and feels surrounded by inaccessible information (Sloman and Antaya p.136, 2010).Other artists decided to explore the beauty of the materials and shape transforming it into a sculpture, leaving out the content. Reflections upon the preciousness and materiality of the book have been made by the artist Georgia Russell through a finicking technique of dissection, shredding of second hand French books, preserving them in glass jars and treating them as taxonomy objects (Sloman and Antaya p. 30, 2010). The viewer is pervaded by the unsettling beauty that floats in a limbic position between a vandalism to the book and conservation of a its physical features.(Image 12 and 13).

In an era in which the content of a book can be easily and successfully absorbed on screen, these artists re-imagine the functions of these objects. While in artists books the form helps the content to be understood, in book-objects the form occupies the centre of the investigation of the artists.The way the form is treated and displayed conveys the message and digitizing this category, would be likedigitize a sculpture: possible but pointless as the two striking characteristics that this form of art owns: three-dimensionality and tactility.

Book-Object

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Matej Cren

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Georgia Russell

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Industriallyproduced books p. 32-39

Talking to people p. 40-47

Conclusion p. 48

Appendix p. 49-58

Bibliography p. 49-58

The importance of the physical experience as a key of the surviving of the book and how designers are engaging with that.

Talking with the expertsExperiencing the industrially made book

Intro p. 8-11

Artist books p. 12-19

Book-Object p. 20-29

Physical experience as key to interpretation of the content

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In dustriallypr oduced books

The beauty of industrially produced books

Beautiful and tactile books are not a business related uniquely to artists. Many contemporary designers interested in print are using paper,inks and materials as tools to help the content to get through the reader and making the reading experience unforgettable. Even if there are more limits compared to the production of artists books (it will impossible to find blood or pieces of stitches like in the artist book “X-Ray” from John Paul Bichardin), the fast development of new technologies of printing and choices of paper-stock and inks, give designers a lot of freedom in expressing the content through these techniques. Probably for this reason and as a reaction to an progressively digitization, the editorial and publishing activity is flourishing healthier then before: increasingly more small independent publishers are being born, every year books exhibitions and fairs happen all around the world celebrating the physicality of the book (issue 14 kaleidoscope p. 84). Everyman Library, Penguin,Virago are just some of the famous publishers that are focusing on the importance of the good look that a book has to have in a digital age and “building their marketing strategies around form rather than content”as says (Hughes K. 2011) . Not just the cover is cured, but each single part of the book. “Our pleasure in reading is enriched by the book itself in which typography, illustration, paper, printing and binding, all play a part in creating an harmonious whole” (Folio society website). This is how the Folio Society introduces their activity in their website. This publishing house founded by Charles Ede on 1947 deals with the production of beautiful and affordable masterpieces of the literature, fictional and non. In their careers Designers from Folio society designed a vast array of books on which tactility and beauty have been the main goals. Each physical element of the book is well thought, from the high quality paper, finest binding and incredible typography. Most of their books are bound in cloth, blocked with foil or with an illustration or typography and paper finely chosen. Persephone publishes novels written by women using simple and elegant grey covers contrasted by beautifully printed endpapers (image 13-14-15) which includes patterns that match each publication to date; even elements considered marginal as the endpapers, are paramount to the meaning of the story that they tell (Hughes K. 2011) .

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12. Birdsong by Sebastian FaulksBound in cloth, blocked with a design by Swava Harasymowicz.

11. Relativity by Albert EinsteinBound in Kephera, printed and blocked in holographic foil with a design by Jonathan Kitchen.

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14- SaplingsNOEL STREATFEILD 1945A 1938 fabric by Marion Dorn was chosen for Saplings. It is called ‘Aircraft’ and shows pairs of stylised pigeons in flight on a background of natural linen. It contains the imagery of

aircraft being readied for war yet of birds freely in flight.

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15- Someone at a DistanceDOROTHY WHIPPLE 1953The 1950s linen furnishing fabric by Ashley Havinden is based on drawings done in the 1930s when Ellen furnished her house; it combines a menacing feel with a hint of the domestic.

13- A Woman’s Place: RUTH ADAM 1910-75Lucienne Day has combined a successful professional life with a domestic one and her ‘Palisade’ (1952) hints at encirclement and fencing-in, while the abstract shapes evoke the domestic.

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In reference to a specific designer that uses all parts of a book to produce outstanding and unique publications, is the Dutch graphic designer Irma Boom. As she stated in one interview “ The type of book that I make tends to have an object-like quality. I think that is important both to me and to the book existence. A really good book has a permanent quality I think” (Holtman, 2010). In her career she has made 250 books, 50 of which are conserved in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York (it is interesting to see how books from a graphic designer are considered as museum pieces and exhibited like artists books and book-objects). In all her work, form and content match together and are indistinguishable one from another. Her books have to be industrially made as she hates handmade books considering the imperfections that they carries “disgusting”(Holtman, 2010). Furthermore, being handmade would stop them being spread around the world, and this is what books are for.One of her most famous and awarded pieces of work is the catalogue for the Textile designer Sheila Hicks: Weaving as Metaphor (Image 16-17). The book is a bulky volume, with unique rough edges representing the tactile feeling of the material used by Hicks in her artwork. Apart from this exquisite detail, Boom created a simple and beautiful layout through a linear sequence of text, on the left, and image on the right. The cover is pure white with an embossed name of the artist and a representation of the image of one of her art pieces printed in full colour on the back of the book. The colour of the cover got her discharged from her work, as the publisher was completely against it, due to the ease with which the white could get stained. The stubbornness of the designer in making a book with the physical features she felt where the only correct ones adapted for this book, made her book a success (D and AD, 2008).

Books are progressively becoming something beautiful to collect and admire. All their physical features carefully cared by designers celebrate the love for reading. As the artists books details, like paper choice and layout are chosen to underline the importance of the stories that they tell, express meanings and enhance the content. The strength of these kind of books in comparison to the artist books, is the ease and lower cost way of producing and distributing them. It seems that now is a golden age of print in which mediocrity is going to be abandoned, substituted by carefully and strongly designed books (p. 8 Robert, Losowsky, and Bolhöfer. 2010) in which the form will be what will save physicalbooks from a complete digitization.

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Ta lking to people Talking to people

Testing people while experiencing book

My primary research was divided in two parts. The first one was conducting a live test on graphic design students and other. I interviewed people between the ages of 22 to 34 years old, including friends and family. All of my interviewed had a medium to high culture background and all of them were book readers, of an average of five to eight books per year. The interview consisted of recording one person a time, while they were experiencing three designers’ books. The criteria for choosing these books were their physical features, which are important to a better understanding of the content of the books and enhancing their experience. I scanned approximately twenty pages of each book and put them into a PDF. This is was not a true translation of a physical book into a digital format - an idea always introduced before each interview test started. It was rather useful to start a conversation about what kind of features were missing in the general experience of an e-book and what the interviewee thought about the two mediums. It is possible to find the interviews on Vimeo at the channel ITC 2011/2012.

I choose three titles that present different physical features. One is “KAWS” (Image18)containing the work of artist Brian Donnelly. I choose it for the different paper stocks used, as each of the elements help to define a different section and enhance the meaning of the content (the paper is rougher when the author is presenting street art, and glossy when he is presenting more commercial work). The second one is the masterpiece of Marian Bantjes “I Wander”( Image 19), an arresting book which got the feeling of an ancient mystical manual. The book is embellished with a black silk cover onto which gold foil arabesque pattern is printed. The spine is gold too, and inside the book gold and coloured patterns alternate themselves in a complexity that could be hard to appreciate by an untrained eye. The graphic elements are combined with the written words to express the thought of the designer about many different topics. As she said “As a book experience, the relationship between the content and the graphic is very important. They are totally interdependent and neither the articles, nor the graphics, can live without each other” (Banjtes website). The third and last book is “The Art of Looking Sideways” by Alan Fletcher. (Image 20). It is a over a thousand pages long, as this book is about many different topics. It is full of challenges and uses its physicality to make them possible. Apart from different paper stocks, I chose it for its enormous size and weight that gives to it a sense of importance. Observing the way people interact with both versions of my books clearly shows that the physical versions of them request a more engaging bodily activity. All of the interviewed were flicking through the pages front and back and vice versa, getting closer to the book, using their fingers tips to feel the paper. Some of them all during the observation, others from time to time, some of them caressing

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the object intensely and others more subtly. Many interviewed affirmed that the experience of the composition of the layout is different from the physical books to the PDF version. For most of them the perception of the layout of a paper book bigger than an A5 is more complete as the elements of the layout are perceived in a more balanced way and these are considered essential in the understanding the meaning of the book.The majority of the people interviewed stated the irreplaceability of these kind of books by a digital format due to the essentiality of a physical experience with them. These books have been considered not only containers of text to be read, but objects to look at and that is durable and permanent. At the same time, cheap paperbacks were automatically put under discussion and their digitization allowed.In my test most of the people considered the digital experience flat and cold, while the books were friendly, emotional and with many dimensions. All these feeling were given by irreplaceable elements like the smell of paper, the paper stocks, the gold shining inks, the size and the covers made of a extremely tactile material. Like Michael said “they are certain colours and certain emotions that cannot be put on a screen” . The importance and authority of these elements were perceived by most as a thought-through process which includes the craftsmanship of the object.Few people talked about the physicality of books not just as important for the individual reading experience , but also as a social feature. They consider them beautiful objects to display in their bookshelves and from which to gain an understanding of the reading taste of the others. They also borrow and give books as presents, which is a different thing from giving away a e-book. Another important factor lost with the digital is the pleasure of discovering surprises, as on the screen you get all the content at once. Some of the interviewed felt the familiar relationship with the bound object one of the reason for a complete irreplaceability of it.

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Talking with the experts

The second part of the primary research was addressed to established graphic designers with an experience in book making and in general editorial design, for longerthan 5 years. My interviewees were Cristina Bria, designer at Tate Modern, Mark El-khatib, Art Director at Tate Modern and designer at Sara De Bont studio, Johannes Ritzel working as a freelancer between Oslo, London and Berlin,Remco Van Bladel director of. Remco Van Bladel in Amsterdam, Houman Momtai freelance designer based in London. It was interesting to investigate what these people were thinking about my topic, since they devote big part of their career to such a medium. Few concepts previously analysed in the other research, were spontaneously discussed by the interviewed.

Beauty and tactility were confirmed as good reasons to keep producing print publications by all the interviewed. As Remco says “Probably paper is my first love. I like to feel the paper of a book. It needs to be pure and easy for the entire concept”. Also the endless treatment that can be applied to a book like paper stocks, inks, folding, layouts and formats, have been recognized by some of the designers as a factor uniquely related to books.Another recurring concept from the previous test was the idea that books own emotional value, as Bria stated, saying that “(the book) is an object therefore it carries emotional and aesthetically values that just cannot be replaced on screen”. For all the interviewed a coexistence of both digital and paper version of the medium is possible. One of the ideas discussed was the irreplaceability of the concreteness of the object. The ability of making books is a form of craftsmanship which is part of the tradition of human beings and as Remco Van Bladel says “The tradition and symbolism of our books throughout history makes it impossible to just let that concept go”, words confirmed by Mark El which also underlines the fixity of the books compared to the ease to edit the digital data. This physicality ,which allows a slow way of accessing information, would get lost if they were to be replaced.

The need of certain kinds of books to exists physically has been generally confirmed from these two different types of research. The physical format is useful when the book is larger than an A5 and the content of it is composed by images and text, where the layout is perceived in a more complete way. The need of certain emotions that comes from the physicality of the object, have been underlined by a few people: the digital experience is cold and flat compared to the warm and friendly one of the book. These emotions are generated by the use of four of the five of the senses that the human beings have, compared to the two on five of the digital. In both of the tests the idea that digital and physical can survive together came out quite often. Cheap paperbacks can be digitized, but the digitization of books which employs their physicality to convey or enrich

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the content such as the ones I offered in the test or others that the designers interviewed, was impossible. All the elements are cured to produce one complete experience.

The tradition and symboli of our books and printed material throughout hist makes it impossible to just let that concept go. W ill still appreciate a ‘neatly designed, perfectly printed, well bound super book. ”Remco Van Bladel

The tradition and symbolism of our books and printed material throughout history makes it impossible to just let that concept go. We will still appreciate a ‘neatly designed, perfectly printed, well bound super book’.R

-Remco Van Bladel

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Conclusion

The finding of this report shows the need of certain kinds of books to exists physically. One of the categories that if to be digitized would lose its purpose would be one of the artist books. They are meant to be touched and interacted with, using their structure and physicality to express and underline their content. Each of their elements is used to support the content and help the artist to communicate his ideas.In this report it has also been discussed about another category of books which are hard to replace, the industrially produced and well designed ones. All the elements of this category are carefully thought through to convey the content in the best appropriate way and to guide the reader in a whole experience which involves most of the senses. The book then becomes a nearly complete sensorial experience, full of memories and emotions which are impossible to digitize. Its physicality and the elements that form it, like the materials used or the different inks, if carefully executed and with a meaning behind it, will save it from its announced death.

Conclusion

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Appendix

Questions asked to more twenty-eight affirmed editorial designers. Only five people amswered back.

1. Could you tell me a bit about your story, like your background, and anything you think has been important in your life to make you become what you are now?

2. When and why did you start to design books?

3. Which parts of a paper book (like spine, covers, layout) do you like to design most and why?

4. Could you tell me among all of your editorial design work, which one has been the most enjoyable and why?

5. Could you tell me the reasons why you are still designing physical books rather than moving on to the digital?

6. Do you think that all printed books will be digitalised and our future reading experience will be uniquely on screen?

7. If this happens, what do you think will get lost?

8. Could you tell me the title of any books that you think will never be digitalised due to the importance of their physical features?

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Cristina Briacristinabria.com

1. I grew up in Florence and came to London 5 years ago to study graphic design. Moving to this city on my own certainly had a big impact on my personal and professional development. Studying, meeting and working with different people, traveling and having had the opportunity to tip my toes in very different waters are shaping me to who I am and will be..

2.I started designing books in my first year of uni. I found it the most complete outocome/way of showing and sharing my ideas.

3. I like designing the content (researching/writing it) the layout and the cover the most. I also like the finishing, like trimming the pages with the guillotine when its all in place. It’s rewarding to have a freshly cut piece of print in your hands.

4. A book I did in my 3rd year on bridges of Florence and London. I enjoyed every part of it, going back to Florence to collect info and take photographs, writing the content, designing the format, the layout, screenprinting the cover and binding it. Also I liked a book I did on abandoned byclycles in London, 3 years ago. I had the chance to explore/research/collect data on a topic I wanted to talk about and had to design ways of showing all this information; it was the first time I did info graphics and really enjoyed it.

5. I like printed things and thankfully many other people still do too.

6. There are so many sorts of books though; text books, pocket books, artists’ books… and many more so I guess it depends. If you study law or so, I think its great to have access to thousands of pages on screen instead of having to carry a 5kg book around!

7.I think its great that we can make books longer lasting and easier to share and access worldwide. I still don’t believe that people will only want to read

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on screens. The screen is a practical solution, good for sharing quickly and efficiently, but the printed book is tactile, it’s heavy, it smells, it reminds you of things, where you bought it, why you bought it, how much you paid for it or who gave it to you. Its an object therefore it carries emotional and estethical values that just cannot be replicated on screen.

7. Libraries and bookshops.

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Humam Momtazianwww.momtazian.com

1.I was born in Iran, and lived there for the first five years of my life before moving to London. I would say that my life experience has had an impact on what I am doing now, but I am not sure if I can point it to a specific event. I think that Middle Eastern countries are very dense visually particularly in terms of shapes and patterns — you only have to look at Persian rugs — I have been brought up amongst this and in turn this could of potentially had an impact on my path.

2.I would say I really began to enjoy book design and typography at the end of my second year at Central Saint Martins. I felt that there were endless solutions to working out the treatment of a book and you could be very creative in applying different typographic styles to various pieces of content. It almost became like a puzzle — figuring out the best solution for the given content. 

3.My favourite element of designing a book is the actual spreads. I feel that this is the core of a book and the place where you begin to experiment with imagery and text. the ideas I establish here (typeface, columns etc) usually inform the spine and cover so in a way it is the most important part for me too.

4.I would say the publication for Designers in Residence was my most enjoyable. Part of the reason I like it is because it was produced in a week and came together very organically. It was an extension to a project we had happening simultaneously with the production of the book, this was an interesting experience to have gone through and I feel the design of the book is informed by this.

5.I feel one of the most important things about being a designer in the short time that I have been one is to design appropriately for the given project. Yes, print is becoming digital in many areas but there is always room for print when it is the most appropriate option. Just because you can make a digital publication does not mean you should. 

6.I hope not, although I do see this happening with the likes of the introduction Kindle and Google Books. This is a natural thing to happen as technology

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Johannes Ritzelwww.jori-design.com

1.My name is Johannes and I am born in Germany. When I was little I remembered the forms of letters before I was actually able to write or read them. I draw letters because I was fascinated by there shapes. In general I am always trying to see things from a different angle and I strongly believe it is important to have the have a feeling and a good sense in order to be produce any kind of design. 

2. I started to design books maybe earlier then I actually started to think about it. I always liked to layout photos and made many picture books or books with my drawings. I always liked books and my family has a nice collection of very old books which are interesting to look at. The first professional book which was printed was made in 2007. 

3. There is no favourite part of the book which I like to design most, it always depends on the project, the content and the overall idea of the book. I think every part of a book needs to be considered to create an overall experience for the reader and needs to be thoughtfully designed. 

4. There are always up and downs in nearly every project. In my latest project I worked on several books which worked as a series. The idea was to create a book visual silence. This was an interesting task to create something so abstract. The challenge is what made this project for me so interesting. I spent a lot of time thinking of ways how silence can be communicated in different ways through a book. The book is filled with quotes and images. The text is specially layer out to emphasise the space and silence in between individual words.

5. I think it is very important to understand the physical medium first in order to move digital in any way. Each medium has different opportunities and limits. I still design physical books because I like the fact that something digital can be moved into something physical. Today we produce mostly digital and all our layouts might be printed but first we create something digital which then is translated into some lasting and physical.

6. Books will never die out completly, in my opinion. Today we print more books then anytime before. But technology is moving on and we will have different

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ways to get around a book. We don’t need books already today, most content will be moved to screen based media. A book will always have a unique user experience. A book has loads to offer what a digital reading expirence will never have. At the same time there are things which are easily read.

7. No answer

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Mark El-khatibwww.abcmark.co.uk

1. BA Typo/graphics, LCC 2004–2007MA Communication Art & Design, RCA 2008–2010Designer, Sara De Bondt studio 2010–presentArt Director, Tate Etc. magazine  2011–present

2. I started tentatively at university. I enjoy how books allow a sustained engagement with a subject, and there are infinite ways to approach the design: each project provides a different context – a fresh challenge and the capacity to learn something.

3. I don’t really consider the constituent parts (spine, cover, inside etc) as separate..., they’re all connected and inform each other in terms of design - it’s all equal.

4. I can’t think of a specific example for you, but the most enjoyable editorial design projects usually have the  same  ingredients: working on content with an interesting subject matter and working on it with people who are equally engaged with the project (editors, writers, artists, printers etc) who embrace the collaboration. Both  interesting content + engaged collaborators allows me to learn something along the way.

5. With print I like the ‘concreteness’: when something is printed and in a physical form its fixed and can’t be changed, it exists as a kind of record in time. I like this permanence  aspect, working on the craft + materials of a physical book. I think these are important aspects to keep hold of, as they are not offered with digital. With digital things  are so easily  updated, changed, edited - the content is constantly in flux: you design more of a system than can contain such changeable material. However I do work on design projects for both and I think designers should be engaged in working with digital and print. 

6. I think both digital and physical reading experiences can co-exist quite happily side by side. Both have their advantages/disadvantages depending on context (eg. digital allowing faster speed  for accessing material and specific searches, physical gives a tactile experience and a sense of permanence with a book made

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in a specific time and place. Both give everyone more choice

7. I’m not sure it will happen but If it were we’d lose a sense of permanence and history,a sense of discovery maybe? We’d possibly lose a sense of slowness; a slow engagement with a physical book - turning the pages, and a loss of the tactile element: paper stock, different

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Remco Van Bladelwww.remcovanbladel.nl

1. Probably to first most important thing is my fathers record store where I used to run around as a kid. Music always had a great influence on me and still, also inside my work it’s always a key ingredient. At artschool I started doing graphic design and ended up building performance objects for experimental music combined with custom typefaces. To further stretch this commitment with music, performance and spaces Freek Lomme and I founded Onomatopee in the spring of 2006 in order to combine our love for books, (vinyl)records, visual art and sound art. A hybrid between a record label, publisher and presentation space for contemporary art. All with a punk rock approach. Later on in 2008 I started my own studio in Amsterdam from where I work on both Onomatopee projects and commissions for other (cultural) institutions such as Witte de With, STEIM, Rijksakademie voor Beeldende Kunsten Amsterdam, Kunsthalle Sankt Gallen and a variety of galleries throughout Europe.

2. I just love books and their complexity. It’s hard to make them, let alone earn money making them so I just started to make them for myself (through Onomatopee) and found myself later on being asked to do the same for other people.

3. Probably paper is my first love. I like to ‘feel’ the paper of a book. It’s needs to be pure and an easy for the entire concept. That’s why I hate laminate, it just removes all the tactile quality of a cover. Sometimes I see a book with a brilliant paper choice and then I don’t even care about the typography so much. Secondly the construction of the object, how are the different papers combined and bound.

4. The design for ‘Intimate Stories on absence’ a publication about the Zuidas, the financial district in Amsterdam was a great project. It was great group of artist to work with, they let me do what I wanted to do with the book and editing and discussing all these proposals was a great one on one process. Roger Willems (Roma Publications) made a small little books a few years back to celebrate their 10th anniversary and it was called ‘Books make Friends’. I completely agree with that title. It’s one of the best joys of my work to work and collaborate with so many different artists and to get to know them so well through the process of making these books. The same goes for my partnership between Navid Nuur and me. Making work with Navid is always exciting and the best of fun.

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5. Although I love working on digital formats and websites I love the physicality of that object. It’s something that I want to ‘own’ and ‘hold’. Nothing more nothing less.

6. Yes, they will be all digitalized but the pure, unique ones will remain in different states, just like editions, multiples. Low print run versions with something extra. The tradition and symbolism of our books and printed material throughout history makes it impossible to just let that concept go. We will still appreciate a ‘neatly designed, perfectly printed, well bound super book’.

7. No answer

59Bibliography

Books and magazines

Bondt S.D and Muggeridge F. (2009) The Form of the Book Book. London: Occasional Papers

Carrière J. C., and Eco U., and Jean-Philippe De. Tonnac (2011) This Is Not the End of the Book. London Harvill Secker

Drucker J, The Century of Artists’ Books. (1995)New York City: Granary

Hellion, Martha, and Ulises Carrión. Libros De Artista (2003) Madrid: Turner

Klanten R., Losowsky A., and Bolhöfer K. (2010) Turning Pages: Editorial Design for Print Media. Berlin, Gestalten

Kepes G. (1949) Graphic Forms: the Arts as Related to the Book. Cambridge, Harvard UP

Sloman P. and Antaya (2011) C.Book Art: Iconic Sculptures and Installations Made from Books, Berlin, Gestalten

Sharp, Chris (2011) Why the book, Kaleidoscope ISSUE 12 p.80-84

Web sources

“Artists’ Books - Victoria and Albert Museum” V&A Home Page - Victoria and Albert Museum. available from<http://www.vam.ac.uk/page/a/artists-books/>. (10 Nov. 2011)

Naqvi A. R. “Book Sculptures by Jacqueline Rush Lee available from <http://www.livingdesign.info/2010/05/18/book-sculptures-by-jacqueline-rush-lee/>. (22 Nov. 2011)

“Folio Society About Us - The Folio Society.” available from. <http://www.foliosociety.com/pages/about>. (10 Jan. 2012)

Hughes K. “Cover Story: A Year of Beautiful Books” , available from

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<http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/dec/02/beautiful-book-covers>. (Web. 10 Jan. 2012)

Bilak P. “Interview with Irma Boom.” ,available from <http://www.peterbilak.com/readings/irma_boom.html> (10 Nov. 2011)

“Irma Boom: the Book Is a Voyage - News.” available from <http://www.domusweb.it/en/news/irma-boom-the-book-is-a-voyage/>.(20 Nov. 2011)

Banjtes M. “About the Book.” , available from <http://www.bantjes.com/i-wonder/about-book> (10 Nov. 2012)

Videos

“Irma Boom on Vimeo.” Noud Holtman., Submarine, Berlin available from <http://vimeo.com/11869654>. (13 Jan. 2012. )

“‘The Most Beautiful Book in the World’ interview at Irma Boom, D and AD, .available at <http://vimeo.com/703587> (13 Jan. 2012)

Images

1- “Paul Eluard and Pablo Picasso: Les Yeux Fertiles” | first edition.” available at <http://www.mcleanbooks.com/pages/books/23577/paul-eluard-pablo-picasso/les-yeux-fertiles> (22 Nov. 2012)

2- “Paul Eluard and Pablo Picasso: Les Yeux Fertiles” available at <http://jamygalleries.blogspot.com/2009/08/pablo-picasso-sketchbook.html>. (22 Nov. 2012)

3- “Bouquet De Rêves Pour Neila by Joan Miro”  available at <http://www.williambennettgallery.com/artists/miro/pieces/MIRO1051.php>. (18 Jan. 2012 )

4- “Bouquet De Rêves Pour Neila by Joan Miro”  available at <http://www.williamweston.co.uk/pages/catalogues/single/606/19/1.html>. (18 Jan. 2012)

7- “Pitch Design Union » Blog Archive » Matej Kren.”  Pitch Design Union.

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Web. 22 Jan. 2012. available at <http://pitchdesignunion.com/2010/10/matej-kren/>.

8- “Matej Krén’s Book Dwellings.” B-fragile - Somewhere between Art and Design... Web. 22 Jan. 2012. available at <http://www.b-fragile.com/?p=1739>.

9- “Georgia Russel work” available at <http://teagantall.blogspot.com/>(4 Dec. 2011)

11- “Relativity - Albert Einstein” available at <http://www.foliosociety.com/book/REL/relativity> (11 Jan. 2012)

12- “Birdsong-Sebastian Faulks” available at <http://www.foliosociety.com/book/BSG/birdsong>. (10 Jan. 2012)

13- “Saplings by Noel Streatfeild “ available at <http://www.persephonebooks.co.uk/pages/titles/index.asp?id=7> (22 Nov. 2012)

14- “Someone at a Distance by Dorothy Whipple” available at <http://www.persephonebooks.co.uk/pages/titles/index.asp?id=21 (22 Dec. 2012)

15- “A Woman’s Place by Ruth Adam” available at <http://www.persephonebooks.co.uk/pages/titles/index.asp?id=37> (22 Nov. 2012)

16-“Sheila Hicks book: spreads” available at <http://lynettehaggard.blogspot.com/2011/01/sheila-hicks-part-one-worlds-most.html> (08 Dec. 2011)

17-“Sheila Hicks book” available at <http://www.domusweb.it/en/news/irma-boom-the-book-is-a-voyage/>. (20 Nov. 2011)

18- “KAWS: the book”, available at <http://streetgiant.com/tag/kaws/>. 09 (Dec. 2011)

19- “I Wonder, Marian Bantjes” available at<http://www.patternpulp.com/book-reviews/book-review-marian-bantjes-i-wonder/>. (22 Jan. 2012)

20- “The Art of Looking Sideways, Alan Fletcher book” , available at <http://www.nychukdesign.com/the-art-of-looking-sideways>. (22 Jan. 2012)

available at

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