16 ways to do a book

15 ways to do a book
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
day 2, 30.01.2007

etc publications host a workshop about making books with 15 students
at the art school in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| day 1 | day 2 | day 3 | day 4 | day 5 |

Day two was dedicated to the concept development for books. We discussed one recent etc project in detail and the focused on understanding better what the qualities of the different reference books are. After that we started developing the core aspects to work on until the end of the week, in other words 15 unqiue book concepts were created.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"If your book gets copied in China... at least you made a good book."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Arnaud

Title: Deutsche Bildhauer um 1900 (German Sculptors around 1900)
Concept idea: My book is about sculpture and I brought with me a sculpture of my uncle which somehow reminded me of the sculptures in the book. It also tells me more about how one looks at a sculptures and what the book is currently not showing. E.g. if you look at a sculpture you always see it in landscape format, that is why I will use the landscape format as well. Firthermore I will redo the layout of the book and work more actively with the images to get a better rhythm. In the book layout there is a second frame and I want to work inside of this frame. Cover some of the page and through that focus more on certain parts. I found some clippings in the book which I also might integrate, not sure if I am using the side which relates to the content of the book or the other side. Maybe that is more interesting.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Caroline

I will analyse the visual language and the picture editing in the book. There are a lot of different images, like photographs in black/white and color, maps, technical drawings, etc and it seems as if there are several different grids. I feel it could be a little more organized.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Christian

Title: Amateurfilmbuch für alle (Amateur Film Book for Anybody)
Concept idea: I will enforce the current strucutre of the book and split the book in two. One for the beginner and on for the advanced filmer. The advanced book will be a straight forward guide book, while the beginner issue will be more emotional to establish the passion for a new hobby. I will also change the cover to being more contemporary, but I also will try to make sure that both books are understood as a series.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Dimitri

Title: Bildwörterbuch Deutsch-Französisch (Ilustrated Dictionary German-French)
Concept idea: I will extract some of the images from the book and turn them into posters, so that the benefit of the dictionary can be available where people need it the most - in public, mostly touristic places. I might also do little extract poster or some flyers that people can get at the station and then take with them during their journey. I will also add some old photography to make the posters more appealing to the audience.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Eleonore

Statement:

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Géraldine

Title: Jahrbuch zur Pflege der Künste (Yearbook in Support of the Art)
Concept idea: I will make the book more precious, so that I keeps up with the promise of its title. I will make it a little bigger and change the cover. I think I will keep the text layout, but I will definitly work on the presentation of the images.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Géraldine

Title: Burt Reynolds – Portrait of a Superstar
Concept idea: I have several ideas but I think I will use the book as a canvas to work on. I will add bits and pieces to make it even more of a personalized fanbook – but maybe with a bit of irony as well. The images are all so funny I want to emphazise their quality. Maybe I can add some interacitve elements as well, as in kids books.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Julien

Title: Schiffe auf Siegeln (Boats on Seals)
Concept idea: I will focus on the type of the book. There are three parts in the book : a text part, a part with photography and a part with reproductions of the seals. The first part is very text heavy, but I some how also like it. I will try to improve the type and layout. The part of the repoductions I will leave out. But I guess I will bring the photography and the text closer together.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Ludovic

Title: Der Wandel des Weltbildes. (The Change in the Worldview)
Concept idea: I realised that there were some production mistakes in the book. Some pages were not cut properly and create unwanted folds. I want to make a concept out of that. I will cut the book a little and hide information behind folded parts of the page. So that the content becomes a little more interesting and the book gets the unique character it is currently missing.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Matthias

Title: Enfantines (3 issues)
Concept idea: I will focus on working and reinterpreting the content. Text, type and images. I found a whole archive of these childrens books online and I want to make something like a collectors item, but with a contemporary touch to it.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Namir

Title: Finnland – Kunst in Handwerk und Industrie (Art in Craft and Industry)
Year: 1956
Quality: softcover, number of pages 28
I like... : the layout is nice, but the hirarchy of the different parts of the text is not clear enough
I dislike... : I think the format is difficult. It does not work well with some of the images and the text is really stretched.

Concept idea: I realised that the images are not really connected with the text. And I would like to transform the format into something more interactive. Maybe a leporello. Maybe a leporello, that somehow refers to the actual space as well, so that I really is a catalogue about that specific exhibition in that one specific space.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Thibaud

Title: Halle – Saale
Concept idea: I want to take the idea and feel of a guide book further. I will reduce, focus and structure the content in a better way, so that It will also be appealing to a younger audience. I might add some content also to make it more relevant, because people are not only interested in curches but maybe also in shopping or picknick.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Valentine

Title: Flugzeugbau (Aircraft Construction)
Concept idea: I will try to enhance the navigation in the book, so that a reader can find the information more easily. Right now the information is all very much the same and therefore it is almost hidden. Images and text are often linked, but not presented on the same page. That is confusing.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Waleska

Title: Der Flug zum Mond (The Flight to the Moon)
Concept idea: There are a lot of strong images, but they are not presented in the best way possible. I want to reduce the content on each page and create a better type for it. Basically I wil take the content – which originates from a magazine called "Bunte" – and make a real book out of it. I guess I will also need to work on the cover and maybe the format to acchive this.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Yassin

Title: Kleine Holzfachkunde für Berufsschulen (Small qualification on wood for training schools)
Concept idea: This is a book about working with wood, but I would rather like to turn it into a book that can get the reader passionate about wood. It should show the variety, quality, emotionality of wood, forrest etc. I think it could be a book which has only images. I am sure that this wood book needs to be a little larger than the original one.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Favourite books of the day:

Dimitri: on air, Robert Klanten, Cristian Jofré, Birga Meyer (die Gestalten Verlag, Berlin, 2006)
Ludovic: Cailler de la vallée de Tavannes, year book (private collection, 1951)
Thibaud: The Elements of Typographic Style – Version 3.1, Robert Bringhurst (Hartly & Marks Publishers, Vancouver, 2005)
Yassim: Five hundred years of book design, Alan Bartram (The British Library, London, 2001)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
< back to top