Sunday, 4 January 2009

What is a book?

Researching and finding ways to identify what a book is and where it's boundaries lie. 


Asian Punk Boy 
Wooden box with diverse handmade contents 
Love the handmade/ personal touch to this design!


FANZINE 137 
A double page or poster per contributor in a plastic envelope 
I really like how the contents often expand out of the page's restricted size by folding out into it's full size poster



FIDGET 
New York magazine sold in a canvas - type bag, one of the container changes undergone with each issue


GUM 
A sheet of stickers, and a slab of old school gum. Al mylar wrapped for your protection
The outcome of packaging a book in this format gives the book quite a fun image. Our attention is drawn by the fact that it's sealed and we don't know what's inside. The contents are all visuals, which i interesting as they all carry a different style.



JE T'AIME TANT 
A collection of images that takes the form of a little exposition, which everyone can rearrange to make their own 
This book challenges the idea of having loose leaves and seeing each page as individual piece of work. Something that I quite like as it pushes the boundaries of the idea of what a book is. 



Kilimanjaro 
An oversized printed space dedicated o visual culture and editorial experimentation 
I really like the idea of experimenting with the size of books and being folded like a newspaper. 


MCSSWEENEY's 
A journal created by nervous people in relative obscurity 


stereo 
The title refers to the interdisciplinary nature of the publication 
Another another book, that demonstrates the use of unconventional materials for a book design. The idea that the book is sealed just makes it that little bit more special when opening it for the first time! 


SHERBERT 
Based on a loose theme and features emerging talent in the fields of illustration, photography, design, literature


Un Paquet de Schismes 
Artist box, featuring independent projects. 
Nice use of books within a book. How about dividing chapters into seperate books?


BILBOK 
Wanderlust in the contemporary world 
Just a book I found that contains some really nice photographs annotated with handwritten notes. Very slick! 


OJODEPEZ 
An undisciplined vision of documentary photography journalism 
Can the packaging of the book itself become the design of the book?


Refill 
Portfolio like magazine featuring the work of illustrators and graphic designers 
I've just thrown this one in because I really like the minimal yet well considered layout design on this book. 



FOUND 
FOUND STUFF. ANYTHING THAT GIVES A GLIMPSE INTO SOMEONE ELSE'S LIFE. ANYTHING GOES. 
People ARE noisy and it is programmed into us that we just want to find out things about other people. This book acts as a scrapbook of found objects that tell us something about someone. Although none of it may concern us, we are still drawn to find out and read about it. The book is arranged in quite a carefree way, which reflects the idea of a scrapbook of thoughts. I really like the concept of the book and will be an area that I will look into. 


DOTMOV FESTIVAL 2004 - IdN 
Again the book is designed around the topic of it's content. The way it is designed in the form of a cassette tape tempts you to pick it up and find out more. Without even opening up, you'll know straight away what it'll be about. The materials used emphasize the form and textures of a cassette tape. 






LowFat - A Visual Journey taking you to 96 hot motion graphics destinations 
The book is designed around the unusual and distinctive theme of transport, which is reflected from the title of the book. I really like the book due to it's unusual format. The book is designed almost like a parcel, which opens up into a fold out CD sleeve, book and a section for a flip book. 











Vinyl will kill! - Systems design - publisher of Idn magazine 
This book looks into into the designer toy phenomenon that first spread from Hong Kong and Japan, it looks into the works of 44 vinyl toy designers around the world and provides an interesting overview of the subject. I really like the way the book is packaged in a box as if it's actually a toy. The packaging makes it seem quite unusual and makes it stand out in a stack of books. 

Looking at the actual contents of the book, there is a lot of content and even more in visuals, which keeps viewers interested. The layout throughout the book is in 2 columns on each page, its quite simple but the book is decorated with vibrant illustrations and experimental compositions that gives the book quite a fun and unpredictable theme that I might consider exploring for my own book ideas. 





Within the box, consists a pack of web cards, one for each designer. I quite like the idea of this - having something that you don't expect inside a book. I like the idea of unwrapping / unravelling something, so maybe I could experimenting with packaging, which requires the user to unravel the contents inside the book. 

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