Sara De Bondt & Fraser Muggeridge
The book the on the left is a refreshed version of an older publication titled 'The form of the book' written by Jan Tschichold that highlighted the modernist rules and canons of publication design.
On the inside sleeve, it lists the 10 common mistakes in the production of books. Even though they're told as rules, every designer is entitled to their own opinion and so do not have to agree with all of them.
1. Deviant Forms
- books have to be handy. not needlessly large, wide or heavy
- good proportions are 2:3, Golden Section and 3:4
- not easy to shelves wider than 25cm
2. Inarticulate & Shapeless Typesetting
- as a consequence of suppressing indents
- agree that indents help
- however, I much prefer text broken up into paragraphs as it's much easier to digest and looks less daunting
3. Opening Pages Without any Initial
- pages that begin bluntly in the upper left-hand corner
- opening must be marked by a wide blank space, by an initial or by something distinctive
- my book won't include thick body text so this won't be a consideration
4. Lack of form
- consequence of stillness of using only one size of type.
- harder for reader to navigate the page without accentuated openings etc. e.g. paragraphs, range of type size
- the form, layout of a page has a huge effect on the comfort and legibility of the read for the user
- I think white space and short blocks of text are more engaging and more comfortable to read
5. White, and even Stark White, Paper
- Highly unpleasant for the eyes
- slight toning e.g. ivory or darker, is usually best
6. White Book Covers
- Equally confounding
- Aesthetically, I think white book covers are effective and would make me inclined to pick it up
- However, difficult to keep clean and presentable, especially if made of textiles
- A book on Japan would suit a clean book cover, possibly white
7. Flat Spines on Bound Books
- spines must be gently rounded
- book will look cockeyed after reading
- middle signatures will protrude
- my publication won't be made up of too many pages and so this issue shouldn't be a limitation
8. Gigantic Vertical Lettering on Spines
- titles on the spine need not to be legible from far away
- a large book with bold title on the spine will stick out a lot more and catch my eye quicker than others.
e.g D&AD annual book
9. No Lettering on the Spine at all
- inexcusable for books more than 3 mm thick
- unless the book is of a vibrant colour or shape, it will be unrecognisable on a shelf with a blank spine
10. Ignorance of or Disregard for the Correct use of Small caps, Cursives and Quotation marks
number of pages
x
weight of paper in gsm
-----------------------------
1,000
= width of spine in mm
Shape & Size
An important consideration when producing a publication is obviously to determine the shape and size of it. This will determine when, where, how etc it is used.
If it's a very large, heavy book then it wont be carried around and is most suitable for a coffee table or somewhere it can be rested on a surface and read as apposed to holding it.
The nature of my publication means that it has to be handy and easy to carry around on the go so the user can frequently refer to it. It either has to fit nicely in a bag or even in a pocket.
A large publication showcasing famous works of modern art and installations.
Hard back edition with curved spine
Longer in length, roughly A3 landscape.
- too long for the book shelf and so sticks out and looks precarious and silly
- not suitable for transportation, too large and heavy and needs to be put down to be read
- white cover has been damaged and dirtied by users
- spine allows pages to open up fully and for the whole image to be seen
Book sticking out on shelf
very small, pocket sized guide to art displayed across London at the time of publish.
- due to size of book, body text difficult to read which is problematic given that it is aimed at an older demographic
- pictured below, when on a book shelf it is almost hidden by its surrounding books making it hard to stand out or find
- hard back means it would be uncomfortable to have in a pocket and also quite heavy
- small enough to carry around and refer to
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