April 24, 2008
“Many prophesied that the printed book would be doomed by developments in digital media. Far from it! The book has not only survived, but – as tactile qualities have gained significance in our increasingly digital world – there is also more unhindered experimentation with bound paper pages now than ever before. The materiality of the medium can give sensual emphasis to complex visual and textual content or appreciate its value. Some content isn’t even apparent until it takes the form of a real object – the printed book. Fully Booked is devoted to current cover and book design. It presents material from printed publications that succeed in striking a crucial balance – between the market’s demands for availability, legibility and durability on the one hand and sophisticated visual and content design on the other. By featuring projects in this experimental field that combine enormous creativity with skilled craftsmanship, Fully Booked also reveals trends in today’s graphic design.” —Die Gestalten Verlag
Fully Booked, edited by R. Klanten and M. Hübner, is a newly released title from publisher Die-Gestalten Verlag. The format of the book is divided down the middle, with half of the book focusing on contemporary book cover design, while the remaining pages are devoted mostly to artist books created by hand or printed in limited editions (almost all exemplifying meticulous craftsmanship). An Address Index listing the web addresses and country location for most of the designers included in the book serves as the main divider for the two sections. This hardcover is full color, with 272 pages. The design concept and art direction for the book was by Robert Klanten.
In the area of book cover design, Fully Booked showcases the almost expected line up of Gray318, David Drummond, David Pearson, Rodrigo Corral, Paul Sahre, Peter Mendelsund, Keenan, Helen Yentus and other well known designers in the industry (coming from the perspective of a designer working in New York). I was very happy to see work from Isaac Tobin and illustrator Lauren Nassef. For me, this book then goes slightly beyond AIGA’s 50Books/50Covers and The New York Book Show to represent a more international survey of current book publishing trends and anomalies (though mostly from English speaking countries). One highlight for me is discovering the work of Jenny Grigg from Australia, whom upon further research is a household name in the Australian book jacket design niches.
Since I usually wander at B&N at least once a week, I actually find the second section of the book most inspiring. The artist books and limited editions section proves that there are still designers (and publishers supporting) that are finding innovative ways to breakout or reinterpret the usual 6x9 format.
Below is a small sampling of what to look forward to in this new must-have book on for designers.
01 Collected Stories Author/Editor: Peter Carey, Cover Design by Jenny Grigg
Illywhacker
Jack Maggs
True History of the Kelly Gang
The Unusual Life of Tristan Smith
Oscar and Lucinda
Bliss
(on a side note: the author Peter Carey has a great personal website where you can see jacket designs for most international editions side by side. Here you can compare Jenny Grigg’s Australian packages with other countries, including Japan, China, and Russia)
02 Theory’s Empire Author/Editor: Daphne Patai and Will H. Corral, Cover Design by David Drummond
Published by Columbia Unversity Press in 2005
03 Sun and Shadow Author/Editor: Ake Edwardson, Cover Design by Helen Yentus
Published by Viking in June 2005
04 Backstory Author/Editor: Ken Auletta, Cover Design by Gray 318
05 Fascination Author/Editor: William Boyd, Cover Design by Gray 318
06 Otherwise Pandemonium Author/Editor: Nick Hornby, Cover Design by Keenan
01 Great Ideas—Series I
02 Great Ideas—Series II
published by Penguin, Design Concept by David Pearson
“All the books of this series share idealistic and often revolutionary principles, but none of the books are directly related to each other, they each just happen to have had a huge influence over human development at various points in history. So the covers pull the texts together into a cohesive series, and yet allow each book be fiercely individual, which is a tricky starting point for any design project.”
03 Great Ideas—German Series
published by C. H. Beck, Design Concept by David Pearson
Tiling Books Author/Design Concept: Pete Sampson Binding: Perfect-bound by hand
“These books are explorations into objects and processes that are defined by their context. They make little sense unless they are juxtaposed together so that their meanings become clear. Nine books were hand-made, in three different sizes. Each book was in five sections, defined by the colour of the paper stock. An image was spread over each of these sections. By placing the books together the whole image is revealed.”
01 Portrait/Landscape Design Concept by EricandMarie, Print Volume: 1
“The cohabitation of vertical and horizontal formats dictates the general form of this Single book presenting the work of EricandMarie.”
02 Jekyll & Hyde Design Concept by Matilda Saxow, Print Volume: 2
“Matilda Saxow’s interpretation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s “The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde” is part of a series of works exploring structural elements in print design. The book is based on the conventions of classic novel design, but is subverted so that its physical form reflects the main character’s multiple personality disorder; a single short fold down the centre of each page effectively splits the content area into two planes.”
03 Florence Lehmann / Elle était une fois… Design Concept by PIPI
all images © Gestalten 2008
Link: Fully Booked: Cover Art and Design for Books
Tags: book covers, graphic design, print, publishing
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