London-based graphic designer and founder of magCulture, an editorial design consultancy and an equally-informative magazine design blog, Jeremy Leslie is channeling 25 years of experience into his newest book, “…
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If the look of a new book containing two essays by the author Albert Camus is anything to go by, Penguin seem to be embarking on a subtle repositioning of the Algerian-born absurdist…
Typically, Camus’ output has been shrouded in fairly bleak photography of isolated figures (see The Outsider or The Rebel from Penguin’s most recent series, below, and The Fall), or the odd illustrated metaphor – from a scythe for his book The Plague; to an enormous boulder for The Myth of Sisyphus.
The most recent Penguin Camus series, designed by Angus Hyland (image: Theo Inglis)
But with The Sea Close By, a 27-page publication that introduces Penguin Classics’ relaunch of the novelist and playwright’s works for his centenary this year, the direction is anything but dark.
On the cover there’s a sun, a boat and a line of blue for the sea, effortlessly sketched by illustrator Alice Charbin. And on the back, the sun reappears as a ‘Camus Centenary’ logo – “100 years!” it says.
Of course, while book covers are designed to entice new readers – often hinting at the subject matter or themes within a book – they are themselves ultimately subjective readings of its contents. For one reader/designer, a book’s sentiments may be more positive; for another, more negative.
The subjects of the two essays that make up the new Camus booklet, The Sea Close By and Summer in Algiers, are light and meditative in nature, but it’s still interesting to see a cover deviating from the accepted standards of what Camus ‘looks like’.
For Charbin, she saw an opportunity under the editorial direction of Alexis Kirschbaum, “to convey [Camus’] great humanity and clarity of thought, as well as the warmth and light of the country he loved”.
Bleak but funny. Cover designed by Mother. Photography by Jacob Sutton with styling by Gary Card
The works of Franz Kafka are a good example here, too – as covers for his books have differed greatly in terms of those that position the writer as a dark and foreboding presence; while others are keen to tap into and reference his satirical, surreal humour (Gary Card’s sculptures were used in a photographic Penguin series, above).
US designer Peter Mendelsund decided on the latter when he created a series of covers for Pantheon books in 2011, which we featured on the CR blog.
Covers by Peter Mendelsund for Pantheon
While the image of the eye is dominant throughout the series, “I also opted for colour,” Mendelsund wrote in a post detailing the project. “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 mischaracterisation, Kafka’s books have a tendency to be jacketed in either black, or in some combination of colours I associate with socialist realism, constructivism, or fascism – ie black, beige and red. Part of the purpose of this project for me, was to let some of the sunlight back in.”
The new editions of Camus’ works are set to be published in October; for now, those covers are under wraps, but Penguin say they will feature the work of a host of different photographers.
Whether that means they’ll be drawn to the darkness or to the light, we’ll see in a couple of month’s time.
The Sea Close By is out now published by Penguin Classics; £1.99. Penguin Classics will publish The Outsider, A Happy Death, Caligula and Other Plays, Exile and the Kingdom, The Fall, The First Man, The Plague and The Rebel on October 31.
In 1963, Yale University Press published a book that would change the way people approached color. Now, in partnership with The Josef and…
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Earlier this month, the post “Books: To donate or not to donate?” provided insider information on donating books to libraries. Many of us love our books, so pruning the collection can be difficult. Still, it’s sometimes useful to do a little discarding and donate books to your local Friends of the Library or other group — such as when you want to make room for new books. And, you’ll likely have a good feeling when you let go books that no longer serve you.
In my latest round of bookshelf clearing, I found 25 books I really didn’t have any reason to keep. Maybe you have similar books taking up space on your shelves:
I really enjoyed reading The To-Do List, but I’m never going to re-read it; someone else may as well enjoy it! I’ll never re-read The Poisonwood Bible or The Tipping Point, either.
There were a number of books I realized I’m just not going to read. I’m sure Stilwell and the American Experience in China, 1911-45 is a wonderful book (it won a Pulitzer Prize), but given how long it’s been on my bookshelf, I thought it was time to admit I’m just not going to read it. I had a few other history books in the same category: good books that deserve to have an owner who will read them.
The Synonym Finder was recommended to me as an alternative to a thesaurus. While it sounds like a book that a writer would find quite useful, I only tried using it twice in all the years I owned it — and it didn’t really help me. Different tools work for different people, and this was a tool that didn’t work for me.
I had two books related to green cleaning. After writing about uncluttering your cleaning supplies, I realized I can easily find equivalent information on the Web.
These are books that are good, but just not right for me — and I should have realized that before I ever bought them. Home Comforts got rave reviews, but I’m just not the type of person who needs or wants an 837-page book on “the art and science of keeping house.” I’m much more casual about housekeeping than the author is. But, I’m sure someone will love this book, so I’m glad to let it go.
I had some really nice books about places I’ve been — with the kind of information you don’t easily find online. But, I’m highly unlikely to ever go back to those places or refer back to these books (which are likely outdated). Even through they served me well at the time, there’s no reason to keep them now.
Next steps: After I identified the books I was happy to remove from my shelves, I sold some to a local used bookstore and freecycled others. The remainder went to a local charity that is about to have its annual book sale — I’ll get a small itemized tax deduction for that donation.
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Hat-trick design has created a charming children’s book, playing on kids’ habit of reading by torchlight under the covers after bedtime.
Hide & Eek! contains 21 hidden illustrations that reveal a spooky added layer to each page when the reader shines a torch behind them. Thus kids can discover the elephant hiding in the closet, for example, the nest of birds hiding in the old man’s bird, or the sea monsters lurking under the water’s surface.
Hat-trick’s Jim Sutherland had the idea with illustrator Rebecca Sutherland a few years ago. “It is a really simple idea, based on those Victorian see-through peep show cards,” says Jim Sutherland, who worked closely with Rebecca on the ideas and illustrations. Those were designed as “simple, strong silhouettes with just enough detail and surprise in them”.
One of the biggest challenges was the production process, as the illustrations are hidden within french-folded and partially glued pages, which needed to be the perfect thickness to conceal the images printed on the inside. “It was very tricky to get right,” says Sutherland. “We tried a lot of different colours and paper weights – we wanted the illustrations inside to be invisible to the naked eye, but to show strongly when lit by torch.”
The book was art directed by Sutherland and Gareth Howat and designed by Sutherland and Laura Bowman, and is published by Californian publisher Knock Knock. It is published in the US this week and launches in the UK in the autumn. And Hat-trick is keen to turn the idea into a series of books, says Sutherland, “Hide & Eek! – Under the Sea, Hide & Eek! in the Jungle…”
For a sneek peek of the book, see also Knock Knock’s teaser film below.
Want to learn a new skill? Hone your craft? Or just switch off that Mac and do something a little less boring instead for a while? Then our August issue is for you with details on workshops, short courses and a host of ideas to reinvigorate the creative mind. You can buy the August issue of Creative Review direct from us here. Better yet, subscribe to make sure that you never miss out on a copy – you’ll save money too. Details here.
Bar graphs and pie charts are all very well, but in a world that is ever increasingly saturated with new ways to receive and share information, with endless streams of data and insights forever at our fingertips, this new book packed with beautifully and cleverly laid out infographics, provides a refreshing exploration of the history of the world.
A feast of facts, data, trends and timelines spanning 13.8 billion years, are explored in a collaboration by graphic designer and infographic artist Valentina D’Efilippo and Guardian data-journalist James Ball.
With a strong belief in visual explanations of events and facts being far more engaging than their written counterparts, editor Craig Adams approached Ball with his plans to produce a book that documented a history of life on Earth through the medium of infographics.
D’Efilippo was then chosen to design the infographics after responding to a data visualisation brief. The cover design, over 100 graphics and 112 spreads were to be produced over just 28 weeks – quite a feat for first time book designer D’Efilippo.
The book covers world history divided into four periods of time – prehistory, pre-civilisation, up to the 20th century, and the modern era. Information was gathered, interpreted and produced across more than 200 pages, which translates as concise yet complex content that is comprehensive and varied in coverage.
Each infographic acts as stand-alone visual essay, with subjects as diverse as asteroids that threaten Earth, the wage gap between the sexes, military conflicts, food consumption, drug-taking and best-selling books.
Even the design and style of the book have been considered chronologically – as human history progresses the pages become bolder, glossier and more minimal, with colours, fonts, and paper stock developing to mirror the content of the title.
As visual data is becoming more highly valued as a source of information, in the press and beyond, it not only allows for more successful interpretation and potentially wider accessibly, but presenting the information in this way can lead to surprising discoveries and reveal new ways of understanding the world and where we might be heading, beyond the statistics.
The Infographic History of the World, by Valentina D’Efilippo and James Ball, ed. by Craig Adams. Available from www.harpercollins.co.uk. For more info visit www.valentinadefilippo.co.uk.
Want to learn a new skill? Hone your craft? Or just switch off that Mac and do something a little less boring instead for a while? Then our August issue is for you with details on workshops, short courses and a host of ideas to reinvigorate the creative mind. You can buy the August issue of Creative Review direct from us here. Better yet, subscribe to make sure that you never miss out on a copy – you’ll save money too. Details here.
For the past two and a half years, Designers & Books has been offering illuminating glimpses into the bookshelves and reading lives of designers ranging from David Adjaye to Eva Zeisel. The website that launched many a book-buying binge has just unveiled a redesign by Studio Kudos, with a host of new ways to browse and view the 170 lists and 1,700 listed books (and counting!), more frequent infusions of fresh editorial content (in partnership with Superscript), and even bigger plans for the future.
“One of the main things the site now stands for is the immense generosity of the design community,” founder and editor-in-chief Steve Kroeter tells us. “We ask world-renowned designers to take time out from their impossible schedules to talk to us about books—and they do it. Amazing!” Among the lists to watch for in the weeks to come are those of Anna Sui, Phyllis Lambert, Andre Leon Talley, and Michael Rock. In the meantime, we asked Kroeter to tell us more about the origins of Designers & Books, what’s next for the site, and of course, what’s on his reading list.
What led you to create Designers & Books?
Over the years I’ve visited many design studios, and one thing I’ve noticed about them all—whether it was an architect’s office or that of a fashion designer or graphic designer—is that books are always everywhere. Whether neatly shelved or scattered about randomly, books are everywhere. When you ask why, you find that designers look to books as sources of inspiration. Books to designers are fuel for creativity, innovation, and invention.
Given the widespread interest these days in creativity, it occurred to me that if I could get well known and respected designers to share the list of books that had inspired them, then there might be an idea in that, that could be developed. Books as a reliable and powerful source of inspiration for creativity—for the design community, yes. But also for everyone in general.
What are some of your favorite elements of the redesigned site?
When we started the site in 2011 just about all we did was book lists. Pretty quickly, though, we began to add many other features—which on the one hand was great, but it also made it increasingly difficult for site visitors to easily see what was new. Our updated design highlights what’s new in a clean, easy way and also neatly shows the full range of what we now offer.
In terms of specific features, we’ve launched what we believe is the first-ever best-seller list for design books—based on sales from 10 top design booksellers (with more to be added soon). We are also working with Debbie Millman on a special series of Design Matters podcasts with authors of design books. The first four of the series are now featured on the new site.
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When viewing adult entertainment through rose-tinted glasses, the longstanding joke about “gentlemen’s magazines” is that the pictures are nice, but one subscribes for the articles. While we all know this is hardly the case with most newsstand nudie mags, the recently published
Today’s guest post is written by Ruth DeWitt, the Friends Coordinator at the Lawrence Public Library in Kansas. She is responsible for overseeing all the book donations that come to the library. We contacted her to give us deeper insight as to what to donate, what to trash, and what to sell or Freecycle. Her insights taught us a great deal. You can learn more about the Lawrence Public Library — an extremely vibrant and technology-driving library — on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.
Uncluttering? One of the hardest things to get rid of is our books. We have emotional ties to our books. Whether we bonded with a character, learned a lesson from the story, or were inspired by someone’s biography, books make personal memories for us — and because of that, they are almost impossible to throw away. But … they take up room, and there are only so many bookshelves we can put in our house, they are heavy to move around, and are we really going to re-read that mystery when we already know the ending?
So, how do you get rid of your books? First, the hard truth is, some books actually can be thrown away. If books have gotten wet in a damp basement, are moldy with brown spots, have covers torn off or pages missing, it is time for them to be recycled. (Note: it is not always easy to find a waste company that recycles books, please check with your local service first.) Even very old books usually lose their value when they are in terrible condition. So, be brave, honestly assess the condition of some of your favorite reads, and if they are bad, please discard.
Second, check with your local library to see if they have a Friends group. Generally, Friends groups are separate entities from your library, which have as their mission raising money in support of the local library’s programming, collections, equipment, or activities. Not all, but many Friends groups resell donated books either through online sales, used book sales, book stores in the library, or honor-system displays scattered around the town, or a combination. In other words, many Friends groups’ very bread and butter are your gently used, donated books. It is a great way to unclutter your space, and feel great about passing your books on to a new home. And, in some instances, you can get a receipt for a tax donation.
But, before you back the moving van up to your library, please check with your Friends group. They probably have a list of what they will and can’t accept, and please respect that list. You can probably find it on your library’s website. If you have a huge donation, please contact them directly, as it is sometimes difficult to accept huge amounts of books at once or there may be a different place to drop large donations, rather than a typical lobby drop box for a couple of bags. Because of liability issues, it is not easy for a Friends group (who are mostly staffed by volunteers) to come to your house and pick up your books. It may be possible, but that is based on the group’s policy. Most likely, you will need to get the books to the library yourself.
Our Friends group in Lawrence, Kansas, recently adopted some guidelines when we moved into a smaller space because of a library renovation. We had to stop accepting vinyl (which we plan to resume when we move into the renovated building), but many Friends groups have stopped taking it all together. We followed the lead of many of our local Friends entities, and are no longer accepting VHS or cassette tapes. We cannot take magazines, yes, even National Geographic, or Encyclopedia sets. A lot of us have found our beautiful Encyclopedia sets are taking up a lot of room, and have been displaced by something called “the internet,” but they don’t sell at Friends sales regardless of what terrific shape they’re in. They do, however, often get snatched up on Craigslist or if you have a local Freecycle network where they can be listed for free. There are some folks out there who are happy to give them a good home. DVDs, Audiobooks, and sheet music are usually good sellers, and we accept both video and board games, and they do very well.
Again, please be sure to check with your local library before you bring your piles of books to them. No matter where you are, it is a guarantee that your library Friends will put your donation to good use by not only selling your books, but giving the proceeds back to the library. The group also serves to promote literacy by getting low priced books into the community, and makes reading and the love of books accessible to all. There is hardly a better cause, and you’ve created more space in your living area at the same time.
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Once upon a time, creating signage involved more than Microsoft Word, 72-point Comic Sans, and an inkjet printer. Everything from storefronts to street signs were hand-lettered—with brush and paint. But all is not lost. Even as staid (and quick-and-dirty DIY) signage proliferates, there’s a revival afoot in traditional sign painting. Dedicated practitioners get their close-up in Faythe Levine and Sam Macon‘s Sign Painters, published last fall by Princeton Architectural Press. But with a subject as scintillating as hand-lettered signage, why stop at a book? The anecdotal history of the craft and stories of sign painters working in cities throughout the United States comes to the big screen in a documentary that is now making the rounds (next up: screenings in Orlando, New York, and Seattle). The trailer is bound to inspire you to drop that die-cut vinyl lettering:
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