Hasta La Ideas

Penguin has revealed the process behind the making of its paperback cover for new book Stuff Matters by Mark Miodownik. It involved working with photographer Dan Tobin Smith and carefully arranging an awful lot of, well, stuff…

Stuff Matters documents the ‘Strange Stories of the Marvellous Materials that Shape Our Man-made World’ and features a cover filled with various objects grouped by colour.

Briefed by editor Will Hammond to “make the reader feel more in touch with the physical world around them, to make them grasp its materiality,” the Penguin design team wanted to work with Tobin Smith because of his ability to turn intricate concepts into simple images, designer Richard Bravery told penguinblog.co.uk.

The brief interview explores the team’s initial ideas and details the eventual two-day shoot – timelapse below – with Tobin Smith. More of Tobin Smith’s work at dantobinsmith.com. Set design: Leila Latchin. Retouching: Martin Pryor.