It goes without saying that one of the many reasons book design is so popular amongst designers is due to its versatility. It’s a specialty that the graphic designer Ana Resende knows well, having executed a myriad of book design projects ranging from books on film, architecture, design and art.
Category: Design
Design in general; that is, things, objects, and/or ideas that are designed but that aren’t book design, photography, etc. Generally considered distinct from art.
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It’s Nice That: A lesson in experimental and original book design
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“The evolution of Biden’s visual language is a glimpse of where political branding is heading.”
Joe Biden’s Branding Was Both Traditional and Trippy, and It Looks Like the Future of Politics
AIGA’s Eye on Design takes a look at the beginnings and evolution of Joe Biden’s campaign branding. Great read.
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NPR’s Book Concierge, 2020 Edition
The 2020 edition of NPR’s Book Concierge is here! Take a look at recommended books by category or zoom out and enjoy at look at 2020 in book design, all 383 examples of it. Enjoy!
Bonus: Jason Kottke’s roundup o’ 2020 lists is comprehensive and intelligent, as usual.
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New Mississippi State Flag Design
People in Mississippi have voted to replace the state’s official flag, which incorporated the Confederate battle emblem, with a design that has a magnolia blossom in its centre.
Not every day one of the U.S. states gets a new flag — in this case, a long-overdue update. Read more at Dezeen.
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Dust Jackets: A History
Although books as objects have been around for many hundreds of years, by looking at the history of the dust jacket, we can see how young the modern book design really is.
Book Riot has posted the interesting “The History of Dust Jackets: From Disposable to Collectable” for all of our entertainment, education, and general love-of-books reading.
(Check out their “Why are Books That Shape?” and “The History of Deckle Edges,” too.)
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American Alliance of Museums: Q&A with Book Designer
After reviewing hundreds of entries every year, the jury for AAM’s annual Museum Publications Design Competition awards only one publication with the Frances Smyth-Ravenel Prize for Excellence in Publication Design, recognizing it as the best submission overall. This year, the winner is David Levinthal: War, Myth, Desire, a publication of the George Eastman Museum in Rochester, New York, designed by Design Monsters studio. We recently talked to the book’s designer, George Corsillo,to learn more about the concept behind his prizeworthy design: a four-volume retrospective of the artist David Levinthal’s photographs which took two years to complete.
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Inside Hook on Peter Mendelsund and book design
In fact, for all his acclaim in the field of book design, Mendelsund himself isn’t particularly fond of book covers, generally seeing them as an impediment that inevitably colors a reader’s perception of a book. “As much as I love book covers — I love making them, it’s fun — I don’t love the fact that there’s somebody between me and the text.”
These days, actually, the renowned book designer who never wanted to be a book designer tends to simply rip the covers off his books altogether. “If it’s a paperback, I’ll rip the cover off,” he says. “The books that are most important to me in my life don’t have covers on them.”
I didn’t know Peter Mendelsund’s name off the top of my head [Memory not what it used to be? —Ed.], but we’re sure familiar with his work, such as The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and the Atlantic’s recent redesign. And what an interesting relationship with book design he has. Read more
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The Guardian: Graphic artist Art Spiegelman on Maus, politics and ‘drawing badly’
Forty years on from ‘the first masterpiece in comic-book history’, the Pulitzer-winning cartoonist talks fame, switching styles and why he doesn’t want to draw Trump
Maus on over to the Guardian. (Sorry.)