Visual Storytelling

Publishers sell stories, yet they are seldom the topics of them. This is not the case of a new British publisher, Visual Editions, nicknamed VE. Visual Editions was born in 2009 out of a joint love for books, when owners Britt Iversen and Anna Gerber wondered why there was such a large divide between text-driven literary books and image-driven art and design books. They now edition beautiful, smart and well-crafted books which are nearly theatrical experiences. They consider this amalgam of text and image as visual writing, and see a rich literary heritage of this kind of writing. Their vision is to make great looking stories—where the words and pictures meld and the act of reading becomes an experience. Here is a glimpse of Tristram Shandy, their first editioned book.



You can also see some of their favorite examples of visual writing (including some of their own) in their Flickr group.

Take a look at a short video of some reactions to VEs second book, Tree of Codes, just released in the UK on November 15th:

Tree of Codes by Jonathan Safran Foer - Public Reactions from Visual Editions on Vimeo.

In Tree of Codes, author Jonathan Safran Foer uses an existing manuscript and carves out an entirely new story by die-cutting out portions of the text. The original book is one of his favorites—The Street of Crocodiles by Bruno Schulz and Foer claims it is a completely different story with a different arc and characters even. In the process of producing this unconventional book, Visual Editions got turned down by every printer they approached—the stock line being the book you want to make just cannot be made. Their luck turned when the Belgium printer, die Keure rose to the challenge of making a book with a different die-cut on every page. This book, or paper sculpture, defies all literary and design conventions, took over a year of writing, cutting and proto-typing and it was not without production perils. The book's designer is London-based Sara De Bondt Studio. De Bondt is also a teacher at The Royal College of Art who co-curated The Form of the Book conference at St. Bride Library in 2009. The paperback cover of Tree of Codes was designed by Jon Gray of Gray318. A remarkable acheivement all! I cannot wait to hold it in my own hands to experience the reading myself. Note to self...add to wish list. It will be available in the states soon!





Listen to what Jonathan Safran Foer has to say about the concept of his new book and the process of reading it:

Tree of Codes by Jonathan Safran Foer from Visual Editions on Vimeo.

Tiny vs. Zepto

If I could, I would output this in 2 pt Tiny font (with expanded options for the aged and visually-challenged surely). Google are you listening? There is a licensing opportunity here. About 3 days ago I wrote the post Honey, I've Shrunk The Declaration of Independence, about the design of the Tiny font and today I've received notice from Makezine there is a teeny imposter of the Tiny font by the name of Zepto, available for free on MyFonts. Teeny font = teeny price! Perlin's font on the other hand is not for sale at this time.

Look closely at the images above for comparison. Zepto is similar in size to Ken Perlin's font, Tiny, but it is made of black pixels only. Tiny is created with differently-colored pixels, which are not entirely identical. (Check out the o's and n's.) One could say Zepto is slightly more readable than Tiny at the enlarged size shown above, however just the opposite is true when printed in the 2 pt. range. In this battle of the fonts, I'd say Tiny scores BIG.

1936 First Edition

I have to wonder if the author, Gertrude Stein had any influence on the design of this book. It is beautiful even by today's standards. According to the post on the Soulellis Studio site where this originated, it is a 1st edition of 2000 copies, and most were evidently destroyed. Note Thorton Wilder wrote the Introduction.

The Colophon

One of the assignments this week is to write and design a colophon to add to your book. The Colophon is an opportunity for the designer, the publisher or sometimes author to add production notes about the book's design. It can also provide specific information regarding the typographic style of the book, and may identify names of the primary typefaces used, a brief description of the type's history and designer, and a brief statement about its most identifiable physical characteristics.

This colophon example is by Mary Louise Killen which was part of a 2009 MFA Exhibition at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC). She letterpress printed nine existing colophons with handset type to better understand the role of the book designer and the type designer as author.

The Colophon Part 2

From the unforgettable New Yorker cartoonist, Roz Chast.

May The Force {of Typography} Be With You

Typographical brilliance from Creative Director Matteo Civaschi
at H-57 Creative Station, Milan, Italy, Earth.

Blexbolex

Last week I stopped into one of my favorite actual bookstores and chanced upon a brilliant little book called Seasons from Blexbolex. I was unfamiliar with the illustrator, Blexbolex and decided to explore. Watch the book trailer for Seasons, but trust me, the book is far better than the movie.


Blexbolex (born Bernard Granger in 1966) is a french comic artist and illustrator who studied at Ecole des Beaux Arts d’Angoulême where he graduated in 1984. There he studied screen printing which has strongly influenced his industrial style of illustration over the years. He first began designing books in 2006 and has since worked with numerous publishers including Le Dernier Cri and Enchanted Lion Books and Nobrow Press. In 2009 Blexbolex received the prestigious Leipziger Buchmess award for the most beautiful book of 2008 for his book, L’imagier des gens. I'm a huge fan.

You Too Can Draw Just Like Jessica

omg. i love illustrator cs5 from Jessica Hische on Vimeo.

Celebrity Book Deals

Despite admitting she only ever read two books, (Twilight and Dear John), Jersey Shore star, Snooki has signed a deal recently to publish her book with Simon & Schuster in January 2011. Currently titled, A Shore Thing, it revolves around a girl looking for love on the boardwalk. I would have suggested Overexposed for the title with a jacket displaying some serious tan lines.


More on celebrity book deals...Jay-Z gets a literal book jacket from Gucci to commemorate today's book launch of his long awaited memoir, Decoded. As part of this launch, an elaborate scavenger hunt is taking place with clues revealed on Jay-Zs Facebook and Twitter pages. Various pages of the book with clues have been hidden in meaningful places to the hip-hop impresario. Two of these pages are actually decoded in the lining of the Gucci jacket which has been on view in the windows of its Fifth Avenue flagship store in NYC until today.

Etch A Sketch Pad

From the people at Headcase, comes the Etch A Sketch protective case for the iPad and iPhone. Yeah, but can you shake it and erase it?

Honey, I've Shrunk The Declaration of Independence

Ken Perlin, Professor of Computer Science at NYU Media Research Lab, claims to have developed the smallest readable screen font, called Tiny, which is designed specifically for LCD screens. As an experiment, Perlin reduced our 500 word Declaration of Independence to fit a small 320 x 240 pixel QVGA display using his closely-leaded 2 pt. Tiny font with a justified setting. Surprisingly, it is still somewhat readable. The circular magnification inside Perlin's example below provides some hint of Tiny's resolution, however I would dare him to try and letterspace this text any tighter! At best, he would have to answer to the Type Police. And does he have any clue what the Tea Party crowd might do to him when they see how our Declaration of Independence is being further reduced? Just sayin'...














Via Makezine

Dingbats

Dingbats are shirt sleeve relatives to printers ornaments, type ornaments, decorative rules, printers flowers and fleurons. The word dingbat is said to have been coined in 1904 according to the editors at Visual Editions, and just like their counterparts, they are used for spacers in typesetting. They were originally adapted as ornamentation to enliven the layouts and to break up large blocks of text so it might appear less solid. Actual dingbat designs can vary tremendously but they are usually decorative in nature, unlike ornaments which can be pictorial as well. Lucy Brown Studios has made their own interpretation of dingbats in this sweet little film.

Dingbat from Lucy Brown Studio on Vimeo.

Do Not Pass Go

The Monopoly House in Willowdale, Ontario. Needs a silver race car in the driveway.

Angst Inspires

Happy birthday Kurt Vonnegut. We should all be so imaginative.
Via this isn't happiness.

Decorated Papers

The Manchester Metropolitan University Library has a nice collection of marbled and decorated paste papers along with historical decorated endpaper samples in the Schmoller Collection of their image archive. This vast collection is the culmination of a lifelong pursuit by collectors Hans and Tanya Schmoller. Hans Schmoller (1916-1985) was a renowned typographer and was Production Manager, and later Director at Penguin Books. The Special Collections of the library also offers other ephemera, posters and book arts-related materials for viewing as well. Copyright restrictions apply on most images, except for educational use. Other uses require permission and copyright notice. Via Bibliodyssey.

Stand Alone Photo Album

At last a photo album that stands on its own. The Whole Story photo album from Debra Folz stands on one corner due to a reinforced front and back cover and clipped pages. The removable spine allows pages to unfold in an accordion manner so you can view the entire story at a glance. Via Better Living Through Design.

Alphabet Monogram

Created in 1877, when type designers had more time to kill, this monogram is composed from the entire alphabet. It was reprinted again in a 1952 catalog of Modern Signs and Show Cards by E.C. Matthews. According to the catalog it claims the original drawing measured 7 3/8 x 9 inches. Ripley once drew up a simplified version of it for use in his "Believe it or Not." I have heard that the inventor of the linotype machine went crazy because of the very intricate work involved. But I don't know what became of this modest artist who simply signed the monogram with the initial D. I would love to see a full color version of this reproduced with each letter a different color. Better yet, just have each letter change color as you roll over.

Art Directors Club Hall of Fame Campaign

Somehow I wasn't included on the Hall of Fame mailing list so I am pleased to see Pentagram provide a feature on it recently. As well they should, since Michael Beirut of Pentagram designed the identity and campaign for this year's Art Director's Club Hall of Fame ceremony and exhibition. It is entirely typographic, featuring Carter Sans, a new typeface designed by Matthew Carter, one of this year’s Hall of Fame laureates and the recipient of a very recent MacArthur genius grant announced just last month. The Carter Sans is reason alone to give him a genius grant. It will be available for purchase in January from Fonts.com and Linotype.com.

If Superman Blogged

Today I fabricated metal type with my bare hands when typesetters in the composing room of The Daily Planet ran out of 20pt. Clarendon Extra Condensed. Once again my good friend, Clark takes a hit as the fall guy. While he's off on assignment somewhere, I have to step up and fix this typographical trauma just to save Perry White's white ass. With the newspaper's deadline looming, I had no choice but to simply fashion shoulders as graceful as Lois Lane's, and sturdy feet strong enough to support her...I mean Clarendon's long lean legs. It was nothing really. Now if only I can figure out how to kern this darn copy so I can upload this thing onto the internets.

Book Porn

From Diary of a book lover by Jelen.