Process Volume II: Creation by Alison Rowan

Process Volume II: Creation ALISON ROWAN

Process Volume II: Creation

Process Volume II: Creation ALISON ROWAN

“To do a great and important work, two things are necessary—a definite plan, and not quite enough time.”

Teacher’s Treasury of Stories for Every Occasion Millard Dale Baughman, 1958

Introduction THE BEGINNING OF THE SECOND SEMESTER marked the start of the most exciting part of this year for me: the actual production of the books that I had been conceptualizing for months. The concept was set—as I explained in my final presentation, “The premise is that each book attempts to encapsulate a particular asset of digital texts—think the ability to search for a word in a document, or your dashboard’s infinite scroll. Of course, this produces some awkward, unwieldy and illegible books because print and digital forms are different. Print can’t do everything digital can, and that’s okay, because these books also demonstrate what print excels at: engaging you with texture and pattern and the physical experience of 70 accordion-folded pages falling directly into your lap.” Of course, this stage was also plagued by a certain amount of paralysis. How do you begin to design something that you have been vaguely, amorphously envisioning in your mind for months, unsure of its concrete appearance but settled on a conviction that it will be your favourite thing you’ve designed yet? That’s a lot of pressure on a blank Illustrator document. To relieve some of that anxiety, I chose to take care of the book interiors first, while cover concepts slowly formulated in the back of my mind. Beginning with the texts with more standard page structures, such as the miniature book (simply a typical book scaled down), I established a basic typographic system that was then refined over the course of several weeks to accommodate the unique characteristics of each of the texts. I focused on creating a design rooted in printing tradition, appealing without being overly distinct, so that the concept underlying each book and its implications on the structure of the book as object would be the focal point, with the familiar typographic treatment acting as a baseline for comparison both between the different books in the series, and between the series and other books in general. I had anticipated from the beginning that the books’ covers would follow a similar course. As a commentary on the book itself, it felt crucial to reference the book in its archetypical form through my series’ design. What was unexpected, however, was the degree to which I became involved with traditional methods in the pursuit of a traditional aesthetic.

As a commentary on the book itself, it felt crucial to reference the book in its archetypical form through my series’ design.

My initial plan had been to involve a specialty print finish of some sort—the elong ated timeline for the project enabled the involvement of a specialty printer that a typical four-week project does not, and the word “thesis” sounded like the best excuse to splurge on a project that I was likely to get. It would add a level of detail and dimension to the books I had never had the opportunity for before. I considered options from foil stamping to spot gloss to laser cuts, but given the fact that I was designing five entirely different books, not just printing several copies of a single one, the need for a more cost-effective alternative became obvious. (Alas, I was not prepared to bankrupt myself in the pursuit of my art.) In hindsight, the impact this had on my cover process, and as a result, the process of designing these books in general, was invaluable. At that point, with my heart set on using metallic ink for its dynamic, luxurious effect, I came to screen printing as an alternative. My experience with the medium was limited to a single project in high school, the design for which was nowhere near as detailed as the covers I would be aiming to produce, but I decided to give it a shot on the basis of three things: 1. I have a close friend with some experience whom I knew I could pester for advice. 2. Since trying it in high school, I had been wanting to get into it more seriously (This seemed as good an excuse as any to do so). 3. If all went horribly wrong, I could always modify my design a little and revert back to a standard inkjet print. All I stood to lose was the cost of the screens and their exposure, which felt like a worthwhile risk given the potential reward that I envisioned. Continuing the analogue trend, I soon came upon the idea of using paper marbling by fluke. A bookbinder whose YouTube channel I subscribe to uploaded a tutorial for a makeshift version of marbling using shaving cream and food colouring. While it seemed like a bit of a hack job, more suitable to an afternoon craft experiment than a finished book, it prompted me to begin researching the process of true marbling, something I had never fathomed could be learned with minimal time and materials. When I discovered it was something I could try in an afternoon for under $25, I was immediately fixated on the idea of integrating marbled papers, even though I had no idea how it would work with the cover designs I was developing, initially

Bringing the marbling to the covers felt both like an appropriate homage to the tradition of bookmaking and ... something unexpected for contemporary viewers.

imagining them as end pages. The results of the marbling quickly took over—both my design and my bedroom. Bringing the marbling to the covers felt both like an appropriate homage to the tradition of bookmaking and, given its declined popularity in recent decades, something unexpected for contemporary viewers. While neither the screen printing nor the paper marbling were part of my original plan, they have both become critical parts of the way I conceptualize my finished work. The tactile, hands-on nature of these processes directly parallels those same qualities of the physical book itself, which my project set out to address, and the end result satisfies a nagging concern that I had had—that the critique of print’s limitations was obvious in my project, but that the simultaneous celebration of its strengths was perhaps less so. The metallic ink in particular creates an effect that simply is not achievable in a digital form, and by making full use of these physical elements, the work’s advocacy for the printed book as worthwhile in its own right becomes clear. This is not all to say that the process of producing the books was consistently a fun, creatively challenging one. Between marbling, screen printing, stitching, accordion binding and everything else involved, much went wrong. Book blocks I had prepared weeks in advance were remade at the last minute when the inevitable slope from spine to outer edge made a clean trim apparently impossible. For every usable screen print I got, there are at least two botched ones in my recycling bin. Easily half of the various papers I bought over the course of the semester were consumed not by the final books, but by issues and failed experiments. This project involved far more time to be spent after the computer work was done than anything I have made before, and the resulting unpredictability never failed to pose new challenges—including the brand new glue I opened to find completely rotten and unusable at 2:00 a.m. the night before I planned to bring finished books to class. There were periods where the semester felt like no more than an endless string of visits to Aboveground to replace whatever materials I had somehow gotten messed up this time. The end result, though, reminds me just how untrue that impression is. This project encapsulates me as a designer more than anything else I could imagine. Its process, beginning back in first semester, pushed me conceptually, critically and creatively,

The tactile, hands-on nature of these processes directly parallels those same qualities of the physical book itself, which my project set out to address, and the end result satisfies a nagging concern that I had had.

studying a subject I had long been close to from new angles, and getting my hands (and everything within reach) dirty with artistic practices I had never properly tried. Meanwhile, the end result is a demonstration of my strongest and favourite skills as a designer, including the use of typography and lettering. More than that, though, I would argue that it encapsulates me as a person. Over the last eight months, this project has had me reading, writing, typesetting and lettering, studying books and discussing them with others. In short: all of my favourite things—a list that just grew by five books. I’m relieved to say that I think the series achieves what it was intended to. Thus far, it seems to resonate with people—even people who haven’t gotten the formal spiel seem enamoured with the physicality of the books in spite of their impracticality, intuitively experiencing the tension these books set out to address even if they have not analysed their meaning in a conscious, intellectual way. In the end, the project might not fit clearly into either category of art or design, but it does hit the target that I set out for myself at the beginning of the year: to create something that was critical and considered without requiring a year’s backstory to comprehend, and to achieve this approachability without sacrificing strength of concept. So, to answer one of my workshop instructor’s most frequently asked questions: Yes, Lewis. I’m happy.

Table of Contents Text Selections Interior Book Design Reading & Tutorials Midterm Presentation Visual Research & Inspiration Cover Design Production Process Final Presentation Finished Work Bibliography & Credits

13 21 33 43 51 69 83 99 107 121

Text Selections Over the course of a few weeks, several different works were considered for the contents of the various books in the series.

Early considerations for the stories to be used in the series were tongue-in-cheek, playing clearly off the edition they were chosen for.

The final selections are less obvious, chosen to make most sense to those who are already familiar with them, as a bonus level of interest, since most viewers are likely to know Peter and Wendy or Harry Potter at the least.

The Catcher in the Rye Various covers

Anyone who has read The Catcher in the Rye is intimately famliar with its narratorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s tendency to go off on tangents. As a result, its pairing with the skimmable book makes for an affectionate parody, emphasizing through the highlighting of the storyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s action just how little there really is, as Holden hops from cab to cab, almost making phone calls.

Peter and Wendy Various covers

Peter and Wendy was chosen for the portable book because of the sense of synonymity between a boy who can never grow up and a book that can never be read. The two are locked in an infinite state of potential which can never be fulfilled.

Animal Farm was chosen for the shareable book in reference to the propaganda and conversion that takes place within the story as increasingly harmful ideas spread from one animal to another, the integrity of their original values degrading just as each carbon copy loses some of the originalâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s detail.

Animal Farm Various covers

Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead, belonging to the absurdist art movement, is every bit as ridiculous as the idea of an accordion book for long-form text. Constantly running in circles, both phsyically and linguistically, Rosencrantz and Guildensternâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s futile adventures are comfortably at home within a book this impractical.

Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead Various covers

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone Various covers

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was chosen because the school setting is appropriate for the research applications of the searchable book (which would, I’m sure, delight a certain Hermione Granger). The prevalence of world-specific language also contributes to the suitability of the story to this format, whose index includes everything from the mundane “and” to the magical “Alohomora”.

Interior Book Design A flexible typographic system was designed for the interior of the series in order to accommodate the unique structural needs of each bookâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s concept.

Penguin Classics Roundels Penguin, 1947â&#x20AC;&#x201C;1959 Reproduced in Penguin By Design

Roundels, circular illustrations commonly found in mid-20th century books, inspired the chapter headers for the books.

Like Pixel, Like Paper Illustration sketches

My own iterations pair the classical shape of the roundel with a cleaner, more graphic style to reference the historical book while maintaining a contemporary appearance.

Like Pixel, Like Paper Skimmable edition page design iterations

Early versions of the design used the dagger symbol traditionally associated with the footnote to connect the highlighted text with its context within the page.

I’m not going to tell you my whole goddam autobiography or anything. I’ll just tell you about this madman stuff that happened to me around last Christmas just before I got pretty run-down and had to come out here and take it easy.† CHAPTER I If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don’t feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth. In the first place, that stuff bores me, and in the second place, my parents would have about two hemorrhages apiece if I told anything pretty personal about them. They’re quite touchy about anything like that, especially my father. They’re nice and all – I’m not saying that – but they’re also touchy as hell. Besides, †I’m not going to tell you my whole

CHAPTER I

goddam autobiography or anything. I’ll just tell you about this madman stuff that happened to me around last Christmas just before I got pretty run-down and had to come out here and take it easy. I mean that’s all I told D.B. about, and he’s my brother and all. He’s in Hollywood. That isn’t too far from this crumby place, and he comes over and visits me practically every week end. He’s going to drive me home when I go home next month maybe. He just got a Jaguar. One of those little English jobs that can do around two hundred miles an hour. It cost him damn near four thousand bucks. He’s got a lot of dough, now. He didn’t use to. He used to be just a regular writer, when he was home.

If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don’t feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth. In the first place, that stuff bores me, and in the second place, my parents would have about two hemorrhages apiece if I told anything pretty personal about them. They’re quite touchy about anything like that, especially my father. They’re nice and all—I’m

These symbols were later exchanged in favour of the simpler, clearer solution of bolding the text.

CHAPTER I

They’re quite touchy about anything like that, especially my father. They’re nice and all—I’m not saying that—but they’re also touchy as hell. Besides, I’m not going to tell you my whole goddam autobiography or anything. I’ll just tell you about this madman stuff that happened to me around last Christmas just before I got pretty run-down and had to come out here and take it easy. I mean that’s all I told D.B. about, and he’s my brother and all. He’s in Hollywood. That isn’t too far from this crumby place, and he comes over and visits me practically every week end. He’s going to drive

the catcher in the rye

the catcher in the rye 7

I’m not going to tell you my whole goddam autobiography or anything. I’ll just tell you about this madman stuff that happened to me around last Christmas just before I got pretty run-down and had to come out here and take it easy. If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don’t feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth. In the first place, that stuff bores me, and in the second place, my parents would have about two hemorrhages apiece if I told anything pretty personal about them.

not saying that—but they’re also touchy as hell. Besides, †I’m not going to tell you my whole goddam autobiography or anything. I’ll just tell you about this madman stuff that happened to me around last Christmas just before I got pretty run-down and had to come out here and take it easy. I mean that’s all I told D.B. about, and he’s my brother and all. He’s in Hollywood. That isn’t too far from this crumby place, and he comes over and visits me practically every week end. He’s going to drive me home when I go home next month maybe. He just got a Jaguar. One of those little English jobs that can do around two hundred miles an hour. It cost him damn near four thousand bucks. He’s got a lot of dough,

CHAPTER I If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don’t feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth. In the first place, that stuff bores me, and in the second place, my parents would have about two hemorrhages apiece if I told anything pretty personal about them.

the catcher in the rye

Printed mockups and the input from others helped to refine the page designs into their final formats.

Like Pixel, Like Paper Trial prints and edits

All fully-typeset books were printed out for a full review, looking for any errors or inconsistencies that were missed onscreen.

CHAPTER I

Like Pixel, Like Paper Close up of searchable edition page design

The Boy Wh Lived

Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were p they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. They wer you’d expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterio just didn’t hold with such nonsense. The entire series uses Mr. the old- Dursley was the director of a firm called Grunnings, w style serif typeface Janson for its body text and chapter was titles. He a big, beefy man with hardly any neck, although he large mustache. Mrs. Dursley was thin and blonde and had usual amount of neck, which came in very useful as she spen time craning over garden fences, spying on the neighbours. Th small son called Dudley and in their opinion there was no fine The Dursleys had everything they wanted, but they also h their greatest fear was that somebody would discover it. T 28 they could bear it if anyone found out about the Potters. Mrs Dursley’s sister, but they hadn’t met for several years; in fac

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRS TUVWXYZ 1234567 890 abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

Janson Nicholas Kis, 1685 Recreated by Linotype, 1985

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST UVWXYZ 1234567 890 ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

Act One Two ELIZABETHANS passing time in a place without any visible character. They are well-dressed - hats, cloaks, sticks and all. Each of them has a large leather money bag. Guildenstern’s bag is nearly empty. Rosencrantz’s bag is nearly full. The reason being: they are betting on the toss of a coin, in the following manner: GUILDENSTERN (hereafter ‘GUIL’) takes a coin out of his bag, spins it, letting it fall. ROSENCRANTZ (hereafter ‘ROS’) studies it, announces it as “heads” (as it happens) and puts it into his own bag. Then they repeat the process. They have apparently been doing it for some time. The run of “heads” is impossible, yet ROS betrays no surprise at all - he feels none. However he is nice enough to feel a little embarrassed attaking so much money off his friend. Let that be his character note. GUIL is well alive to the oddity of it. He is not worried about the money, but he is worried by the implications; aware but not going to panic about it - his character note. GUIL sits. ROS stands (he does the moving, retrieving coins). GUIL spins. ROS studies coin.

ROS Heads.

Like Pixel, Like Paper Infinite scroll edition early page design

(He picks it up and puts it in his money bag. The process is repeated.) Heads. (Again.) ROS Heads. (Again.) Heads. (Again.) Heads. GUIL (flipping a coin) There is an art to the building up of suspense. ROS Heads. GUIL (flipping another) Though it can be done by luck alone. ROS Heads. GUIL If that’s the word I’m after. ROS (raises his head at GUIL) Seventy-six love. (GUIL gets up but has nowhere to go. He spins another coin over his shoulder without looking at it, his attention being directed at his environment or lack of it.) Heads. GUIL A weaker man might be moved to re-examine his faith, if in nothing else at

Act One Two ELIZABETHANS passing time in a place without any visible character. They are well-dressed—hats, cloaks, sticks and all. Each of them has a large leather money bag. Guildenstern’s bag is nearly empty. Rosencrantz’s bag is nearly full. The reason being: they are betting on the toss of a coin, in the following manner: GUILDENSTERN (hereafter ‘ GUIL’) takes a coin out of his bag, spins it, letting it fall. ROSENCRANTZ (hereafter ‘ ROS’) studies it, announces it as “heads” (as it happens) and puts it into his own bag. Then they repeat the process. They have apparently been doing it for some time. The run of “heads” is impossible, yet ROS betrays no surprise at all—he feels none. However he is nice enough to feel a little embarrassed at taking so much money off his friend. Let that be his character note. GUIL is well alive to the oddity of it. He is not worried about the money, but he is worried by the implications; aware but not going to panic about it—his character note. GUIL sits. ROS stands (He does the moving, retrieving coins). GUIL spins. ROS studies coin.

Like Pixel, Like Paper Infinite scroll edition final page design

ROS: Heads. (He picks it up and puts it in his money bag. The process is repeated.) Heads. (Again.) Heads. (Again.) Heads. (Again.) Heads. GUIL: (Flipping a coin) There is an art to the building up of suspense. ROS: Heads. GUIL: (Flipping another) Though it can be done by luck alone. ROS: Heads. GUIL: If that’s the word I’m after.

Like Pixel, Like Paper Close up of portable edition page design

CHAPTER II

The Shadow

Mrs. Darling screamed, and, as if in answer to a bell, the door open Nana entered, returned from her evening out. She growled and Contemporary sans serif Texta atthroughout thetheboy, who leapt lightly through the window. Again Mrs. D appears series as an accent to Janson, usually for chapter numbers or other screamed, this time in distress for him, for she thought he was kille small text to be distinguished from the body. she ran down into the street to look for his little body, but it was not and she looked up, and in the black night she could see nothing bu she thought was a shooting star. 32 She returned to the nursery, and found Nana with something in her which proved to be the boyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s shadow. As he leapt at the window Na

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

Texta Daniel Hernรกndez Sรกnchez & Miguel Hernรกndez Montoya, 2014

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

Reading & Tutorials As last semester wrapped up most of the conceptual research, this semesterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s consisted primarily of more concrete research specifically about books, their design and history, and guides for the various new production processes I would be trying out.

The Elements of Typographic Style LIKE ORATORY, music, dance, calligraphyâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;like anything that lends its grace to languageâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;typography is an art that can be deliberately misused. It is a craft by which the meanings of a text (or its absence of meaning) can be clarified, honored and shared, or knowingly disguised. In a world rife with unsolicited messages, typography must often draw attention to itself before it will be read.

The Elements of Typographic Style Excerpt from Robert Bringhurst

Yet in order to be read, it must relinquish the attention it has drawn. Typography with anything to say therefore aspires to a kind of statuesque transparency. Its other traditional goal is durability: not immunity to change, but a clear superiority to fashion. Typography at its best is a visual form of language linking timelessness and time.

DIY Marble Pattern with Shaving Cream Video stills from Sea Lemon, 2015

This is the video responsible for initially piquing my interest in marbling, while the others are resources I found to learn basic techniques and patterns.

DIY Paper Marbling â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Instructions & Supplies Video still from DIY Projects, 2014

Marbling Prep and Method Video still from Sue Zajac, 2015

How to Marble Paper: Step By Step Video stills from EDavid, 2013

A History of Reading MY HANDS, choosing a book to take to bed or to the reading-desk, for the train or

A History of Reading Excerpt from Alberto Manguel

for a gift, consider the form as much as the content. Depending on the occasion, depending on the place where I’ve chosen to read, I prefer something small and cosy or ample and substantial. Books declare themselves through their titles, their authors, their places in a catalogue or on a bookshelf, the illustrations on their jackets; books also declare themselves through their size. At different times and in different places I have come to expect certain books to look a certain way, and, as in all fashions, these changing features fix a precise quality onto a book’s definition. I judge a book by its cover; I judge a book by its shape. *** The unwieldy scroll possessed a limited surface—a disadvantage we are keenly aware of today, having return to this ancient book-form on our computer screens, which reveal only a portion of text at a time as we “scroll” upwards or downwards. The codex, on the other hand, allowed the reader to flip almost instantly to other pages, and thereby retain a sense of the whole—a sense compounded by the fact that the entire text was usually held in the reader’s hands throughout the reading. *** The first-century poet Martial wondered at the magical powers of an object small enough to fit in the hand and yet containing an infinity of marvels: Homer on parchment pages! The Iliad and all the adventures Of Ulysses, foe of Priam’s kingdom! All locked within a piece of skin Folded into several little sheets! ***

At the end of the fifteenth century, even though printing was by then well established, care for the elegant hand had not died out, and some of the most memorable examples of calligraphy still lay in the future. While books were becoming more easily available and more people were learning to read, more were also learning to write, often stylishly and with great distinction, and the sixteenth century became not only the age of the printed word but also the century of great manuals of handwriting. It is interesting to note how often a technological development—such as Gutenberg’s—promotes rather than eliminates that which it is supposed to supersede, making us aware of old-fashioned virtues we might otherwise have either overlooked or dismissed as of negligible importance. *** We read to find the end, for the story’s sake. We read not to reach it, for the sake of the reading itself. We read searchingly, like trackers, oblivious to our surroundings. We read distractedly, skipping pages. We read contemptuously, admiringly, negligently, angrily, passionately, enviously, longingly. We read in gusts of sudden pleasure, without knowing what brought the pleasure along. “What in the world is this emotion?” asks Rebecca West after reading King Lear. “What is the bearing of supremely great works of art on my life which makes me feel so glad?” We don’t know: we read ignorantly. We read in slow, long motions, as if drifting in space, weightless. We read full of prejudice, malignantly. We read generously, making excuses for the text, filling gaps, mending faults. And sometimes, when the stars are kind, we read with an intake of breath, with a shudder, as if someone or something had “walked over our grave”, as if a memory had suddenly been rescued from a place deep within us—the recognition of something we never knew there, or of something we vaguely felt as a flicker or a shadow, whose ghostly form rises and passes back into us before we can see what it is, leaving us older and wiser.

How to Start Screen Printing & Learn How to Screen Print Video still from Ryonet, 2013

Screen Printingâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;A How To Video still from Nick Jones, 2012

These videos helped serve as refreshers before I dove back into screen printing, having not done it in several years.

Midterm Presentation This presentation, summarizing my topic and my progress to date, was presented on February 10th, 2015 as a short video. To see it as it was originally presented, please visit: vimeo.com/124096780

FRAMES 1–3 Statement of Purpose

To quickly summarize, I began last semester planning to explore the different ways that written language is affected by chosen media. This shifted gradually into something more concrete, but my fundamental intent has remained consistent. As I wrote in my process book, my goal is to find a way to celebrate the legacy of print without vilifying technology, and to welcome technology without relegating print to obsolescence. My focus has now landed squarely on the popularly-enforced dichotomy between print and digital texts, specifically the book and the screen, which my final project, currently underway, seeks to address. The basic concept of this project is to create a series of printed books which each try to emulate a particular characteristic of digital texts, each of course failing miserably, producing impractical, ridiculous, but intriguing objects, thereby acknowledging the robust capabilities of digital texts while simultaneously showcasing print’s unwavering tactile charm. In the midst of competitive dialogues full of market projections and death forecasts, whether for the printed page or the allegedly plateaued ereader, this project, which I’ve decided to entitle Like Pixel, Like Paper, is a waving white flag.

FRAMES 4–5 Concept Development

When I first conceptualized this project, my plan was for the text of these books to be comprised of a series of personal essays that I would write on the subject of written language in its various forms, and my own experiences with it. Once I had written these essays, though, they no longer seemed like the right answer. They were invaluable to me in terms of parsing out thoughts, and analysing my own motivations behind this year’s focus, making me only more committed

to realizing this project as best I can, but I concluded that the project would be better served by using other texts. Using well-known novels both gives viewers a potential point of connection to the project, and allows the formal qualities of the book series, which is where the concept lies, to take precedent, rather than competing with original content inside.

The end of last semester wrapped up the majority of the project’s conceptual development, and the last six weeks have been dedicated to the internal design and typesetting of the book series, which continues to be a work in progress.

FRAMES 6–8 Design Considerations

This process has been guided by two main considerations. First, by the need to establish a consistent but thorough typographic system which can respond to the sometimes radically different structural and hierarchical needs of each text while maintaining a sense of unity throughout the series.

Second, because this project is so much about the concept of the book as a category of objects, the series aesthetic aims to capture a classic, archetypal quality, but enlivened with small contemporary gestures. All six books use the same two typefaces, Janson as the serif body type and Texta as its sans serif accent, and each book has its own icon, designed to match the others stylistically, which mark the beginning of new chapters.

FRAME 9 Infinite Scroll Edition

FRAME 10 Portable Edition

FRAMES 11–12 Skimmable Edition

The first book I began to work on was the one designed to emulate the screen’s infinite scroll: In this case, an accordion book. For this, I chose Tom Stoppard’s famous retelling of Hamlet, a play entitled Rosencrantz and Guildestern are Dead. Its absurdist, rambling style seems to suit the idea of a book whose pages fall out in a giant, cascading pile the moment you open its cover.

The same week, I started on the portable book: translated to print, this means a book roughly the size of an SD card, and thus completely illegible. If you were able to read it, you would be reading J.M. Barrie’s story of Peter and Wendy, or Peter Pan as it’s popularly known. Given the themes of the story, it seemed apt to produce a book that could never be read, just as Peter could never grow up. The next week, I moved onto the skimmable book, which features J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye. Each page features a small excerpt from the text reproduced at a large scale, containing only the most basic events of the story, followed by the full text of the book underneath, treated as a footnote.

Among those familiar with the book, its narrator, Holden Caulfield, is notorious for his tangents and his inability to follow through on his hopes and plans. The skimmable text plays off this idea—reading only the highlighted excerpts emphasizes his almost complete lack of meaningful action, as he wanders from one place to the next with little consequence, while his famous tangents are relegated as footnotes.

At the same time, I began work on the shareable book, designed to be a crude replica of social media sharing, using oversized margins for notation, and carbon transfer paper to allow passages of George Orwell’s Animal Farm and the reader’s own marginalia to be shared. The idea of the shareable text plays off the ways the animals influence one another, and the decaying quality from one copy to the next reflects the gradual distortion of the the values of Animalism in the book. Next came the searchable book—a book whose index catalogues every single word that appears in the text, and its every single occurrence. For J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, a book appropriately centred around education, research and academia, this produced an index more than half the length of the text, itself.

FRAME 13

Last came the paperless book, which I plan to ultimately produce out of metal. This one will involve the most logistical challenges, but my current hope is to have the text engraved directly into the metal sheets, which will then be hinged and bound as an entirely metal volume. As as result, the book will contain no flammable materials—an ironic fit for Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451.

FRAME 15

Right now, I’ve finished the basic interior design for each book, as well as the preliminary typesetting. All that’s left to do is any minor adjustments, followed by the final line-by-line review to perfect the details—fixing orphans and widows, checking hyphenation, things like that, which I plan to have completed by the time we’re back from reading week.

FRAMES 16

Shareable Edition

FRAME 14 Searchable Edition

Paperless Edition

Current Status

FRAMES 17–18 Next Steps

After reading week, my focus will turn to the cover designs for the series, and actually producing the books, which will be a lengthy process of printing, binding, and bothering my dad for help working with metal.

There is also the odd minutiae to take care of, like writing concise descriptions for each book, as well as the series as a whole, to accompany the work at GradEx. There’s a lot to be done between now and our final class, but I’m on track thus far for for where I wanted to be by week 6, and I’m at least 50% more excited than I am daunted.

Visual Research & Inspiration The following works contributed to the aesthetic outcomes of my project through tonal, stylistic or conceptual influence.

Alice in Wonderland Zs贸fia Szab贸, 2014.

Folio Society Cover Designs Anna & Elena Balbusso, 2010â&#x20AC;&#x201C;2014.

American Literature Book Covers Zahit Yavuz, 2013

Domingo basak nur vanl覺oglu, 2015

Where There is Smoke, There is Fire Trapped in Suburbia, 2009

There is a Line Book Sara Westermann, 2014

Poetry Restyled Penguin, 1963

Peter Pan Laura Palumbo, 2015

The Bible of Barbecue Lucas Reis & Olho Bala, 2014

Tr채ume von R채umen Katrin Grimm, 2014

Eur贸pa Student Editions Akos Polgardi, 2015

Design Conference Branding Gabriel Schut, 2015

Personal Book Collection Designers Unknown

Cloth Bound Classics Coralie Bickford-Smith, 2008

F. Scott Fitzgerald Coralie Bickford-Smith, 2010

Cover Design The series covers underwent a complex process involving various different techniques and printing processes to arrive at the finished product.

Like Pixel, Like Paper Lettering roughs

Each title was sketched in pencil and refined in ink before being scanned and traced in Illustrator to produce the final lettering piece.

Like Pixel, Like Paper Lettering roughs

Once the drawings have been scanned, they are carefully redrawn in Illustrator for clean edges, and to edit the design, slightly altering positions and evening out line weights as much as possible.

Lettering styles were chosen to suit the subject, tone or atmosphere of each text, whether itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the whimsical, dreamlike treatment of Peter and Wendy, or the agressive, domineering appearance of Animal Farm.

Like Pixel, Like Paper Lettering roughs

Like Pixel, Like Paper Cover layout sketches

The initial cover concepts were inspired by classic printing layouts, and centred around each bookâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s roundel illustration.

Like Pixel, Like Paper Cover layout roughs

Early versions of the cover design, based around the lettering and each bookâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s roundel design to create a system that could be used across the series.

Like Pixel, Like Paper Colour scheme trials

A series of different colour options were explored for the series covers ranging from monochromatic to jewel toned to rainbow palettes.

The final colour palette was chosen for its vibrant appearance and cohesion, with colours repeating from book to book. The bright, youthful colours help to revitalize the dated style of paper marbling into something that feels relevant today.

Like Pixel, Like Paper Final marbling outcomes based on chosen colour scheme

Like Pixel, Like Paper Final cover layouts

Like Pixel, Like Paper Final spine layout

The roundels from the booksâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; interiors also appear on the spines as a distinctive element that unites the outside with the inside.

Production Process Creating the physical books combined several different manual skills, from screen printing to (of course) bookbinding.

Paper Marbling ALTHOUGH 19TH CENTURY BOOKS contain some of the best examples of marbled

“The Secrets of Paper Marbling Revealed“ Excerpt from Will Jackson

Once the paper has been coated with a mixture of warm water and aluminum sulfate (known as alum) to help the paints adhere to its surface, the size (the liquid on which the paints are floated) is prepared and poured into a tray. Traditional size was prepared using carrageenan, a seaweed extract, and had to stand for up to 12 hours prior to use. Contemporary alternatives use vegetable matter and a bit of ammonia to thicken the water to the required consistency, and are ready in about an hour.

papers, the history of marbling began several centuries earlier. Suminagashi, a Japanese form of marbling, dates back at least to the 1100s. Ground sumi inks were floated on water, then lifted onto paper. The random patterns formed were revered for the way they emulated natural phenomena such as the waves created by wind in fields of grain. The type we are more familiar with, Turkish marbling, was developed in 15th century Persia, and called ebru (cloud art) by the early artisans. More tightly controlled, it lay within the middle eastern artistic tradition of complex overall patterning. While marbling spread to Europe by the 17th century, the process remained a closely guarded secret known only to a few. For the next 300 years, marbling was primarily connected with the bookbinding trade, decorating endpapers, book covers and the edges of the pages. Changing tastes and the continuing secretiveness of marblers combined to make marbling an almost lost art by the 1930s, but a great revival of interest began in the ’70s. One reason for the current popularity of marbled motifs is the beautiful complexity of the colors and patterns—they cause one to ask “How do they do that?” What most people don’t realize is how easy paper marbling actually is, and how quickly the basics, at least, can be learned.

Specially-designed marbling inks or watered down acrylics are applied to the surface of the size using an eyedropper, or splattered with a paintbrush. Drops of colour expand across the surface, and are shaped by the layering of new colours on top.

The paint is manipulated using any kind of stylus to create a freehand design, or a rake to create more complex, uniform patterns.

Once the design is ready, the alum-coated paper is gently floated on top, peeled away, and immediately rinsed in the sink to remove the excess size. (Yes, I was also confused that this didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t wash away the paint.)

Marbling Round 1 Trying out the medium: Experimenting with layering colours and producing different kinds of patterns

Marbling Round 2 Starting to try mixing particular colours and controlling the dominance of each ink

Marbling Round 3 Settled on the nonpareil pattern, working in the chosen colour scheme for each book to produce the papers used for the covers

Bookbinding Books, Boxes and Portfolios Excerpt from Franz Zeier

Like Pixel, Like Paper Portable edition binding

Cutting and binding the littlest book, Peter and Wendy. Due to its size, Peter and Wendy is perfect bound rather than sewn like the majority of the other books.

AS A MATTER OF COURSE we think of wood, metal, and plastic when we talk about tools. The most remarkable tool of all, however, the one closest to us, is often forgotten: our own hand. During the process of sewing together sheets of paper it picks up delicate needles, guides the thread, positions the metal weights securely, counts the sheets of paper, holds and smooths them, reaches for the bone folder, the scissors, and the cake of wax. The hand acts as tongs, pincers, hammer, container, shovelâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and much more. There is always a connection to the arm, the whole body, and to the spirit.

Based on the number of books I was going to be making, I decided to invest the time in building a book press with the help of my dadâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;as poetic as it seemed to use a pile of books to make a new book, it wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t always the most practical.

Like Pixel, Like Paper Book press construction

Like Pixel, Like Paper Infinite scroll edition binding

The accordion book was produced three separate times, modifying the technique each time for the best results. Individual paper hinges were cut and used to join the pages of the book using double-sided tape.

Like Pixel, Like Paper Shareable edition binding

Because of the required order for the white, yellow and pink transfer papers, this book could not be produced in signatures. Instead, it was printed as single sheets which were perfect bound and then stab stitched for added reinforcement.

Like Pixel, Like Paper Searchable & skimmable edition binding

The remaining two books were produced using standard case binding technique, printed and stitched in signatures to form the book block.

Screen Printing Screen Printing Guide Excerpt from G&S Dye

SCREEN PRINTING IS ONE OF the world’s oldest methods of printing words and images. Its origin can be traced back to early Egyptian and Chinese civilizations. Today it is still the only printing method that allows you to print directly onto virtually anything, including vertical, soft, hard, or round surfaces. Where other methods fail, screen printing often offers the solution.

PROCESS 1. A screen fabric or mesh is stretched tightly onto a square or rectangular frame. 2. Part of the screen is blocked with a stencil. 3. When ink is deposited onto the screen and frame assembly, pressure is required to spread and push the ink through those areas for the screen that are not blocked by the stencil. This is accomplished by the use for a squeegee—a flexible plastic or rubber blade supported by a holder. 4. When the ink passes through to the surface below, that surface (called the substrate) is printed with the image defined by the stencil.

Like Pixel, Like Paper Collection of bad prints

Like Pixel, Like Paper Screen printing process

Like Pixel, Like Paper A final print

Multiple prints were exposed on a single screen, using masking tape to block off the others when a particular one was being used.

Like Pixel, Like Paper Left: First test print Right: Printing on bookcloth, which was later replaced with paper due to unsatisfying results

Like Pixel, Like Paper Exposed screen layouts I had the screens exposed by local screen printing shop Kid Icarus.

Final Presentation This presentation, outlining my subject and final outcomes for my workshop class and visiting third-years, was presented on March 31st, 2015 as a short video. To see it as it was originally presented, please visit: vimeo.com/123793756

101

FRAMES 1–5 Summary of Topic

I began this year with a broad topic, and a heavy dose of uncertainty. I knew I wanted my work to somehow revolve around books. My life seems to, so why not my thesis—sorry, workshop—project? The subject nagged at me all summer long, but I kept dismissing it, worrying that the path was too well worn, that too many people had said too many things, and I couldn’t possibly have anything more to add.

Those concerns hadn’t gone anywhere by the time the semester started, but neither had the persistent little voice in my head— the one that’s obsessed with reading and writing and typography and lettering and filling my apartment with more books than I reasonably have space for.

After weeks of approaching the subject of written language from every angle I could think of, reading studies about reading comprehension, books about the impact of texting on language skills, and editorial pieces about the inevitable demise of long-form writing in general, I settled on the particular niche I wanted to focus on, mostly because it was the one that most got on my nerves.

While the “Print is dead” claims have started to dissipate in the last few years, the competitive dichotomy of the publishing world hasn’t. Seeing digital text in its various forms demonized for slowly eroding our attention spans and apparently marking the end of good writing as we know it, and paper books criticized as out of touch or ailing in their relevance, I was struck by the sensationalism of it all.

102

The two don’t have to be enemies, nor are they. I read countless articles about the critical advantages of print, on websites. I read physical books about digital texts. And the world didn’t explode.

That’s what I decided to focus my work on. It’s a simple concept, but it seems the world hasn’t entirely grasped it yet. Specifically, I set out to create a piece that would offer a truce between print, digital, and everything in between. As a bookworm who spends more than her share of time on the internet, I think I’m in a reasonable position to do so. The end result, and the complete sinkhole for my time this year, is a series of books.

FRAMES 6–8 Final Outcome

The premise is that each book attempts to encapsulate a particular asset of digital texts—think the ability to search for a word in a document, or your dashboard’s infinite scroll. Of course, this produces some awkward, unwieldy and illegible books because print and digital forms are different. Print can’t do everything digital can, and that’s okay, because these books also demonstrate what print excels at: engaging you with texture and pattern and the physical experience of 70 accordion-folded pages falling directly into your lap. It’s a tactile experience that my iPhone can’t compete with, just as the phone wins out on the portability front.

103

FRAMES 9–11 Interior Design Process

Since the premise of the series is a traditional format stretching to accommodate more contemporary features, its design is rooted in the traditional, archetypical book. In this way, the books’ aesthetics serve as a baseline, presenting the reader with a not unfamiliar experience, which is then subverted by the treatment of the content inside.

Because all the texts in the series were chosen for their suitability to the concept they represented and not their availability in the public domain, they were sourced from various places online, sometimes as HTML pages, sometimes as PDFs full of forced line breaks. They were all stripped down to raw text and reformatted into a cohesive new interior design set in Janson and featuring a roundel customized to each particular text at every new chapter. Combined with the sans serif Texta, the overall design is a contemporary twist on a classic book interior—which of course is manipulated in a different way for each book based on its digital quirk.

FRAMES 12–14 Cover Design Process

104

The covers were a much more complicated adventure, with the end result requiring three different printing methods. These went through weeks of iteration, starting out by creating patterns with each book’s roundel graphic and working through colour schemes to find a combination that felt cohesive, but appropriately somewhat strange. A night’s venturing down the rabbit hole of researching the art of paper marbling, however, changed their direction.

While at first I intended the marbled paper to serve as end sheets, in deference to the longstanding tradition of their use in bookmaking, it became clear that they would make for much better covers than the repetition of the roundel, leaving that as a subtle identifier on each book’s spine, tying it in to the interior without tiring it out.

The marbled pages were scanned and inkjet printed, and finally silkscreened to add the book’s title, author, and edition name in copper. Each title is hand-lettered in a unique style evocative of the book’s tone or atmosphere, and grounded by a consistent treatment of author and edition throughout the series.

The final series consists of five books. The first is Animal Farm, the shareable book. As the print version of social media sharing, it is produced using carbonless copy paper, with gratuitous margins and perforated sheets allowing for the sharing of marginalia with up to three different people.

FRAME 15

Second is Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. To attempt to emulate the infinite scroll of your online dashboard, this edition is bound accordion-style, so you never have to turn a page—just figure out how to juggle all the ones you’ve already read.

FRAME 16

Shareable Edition

Infinite Scroll Edition

105

FRAME 17 Skimmable Edition

FRAME 18 Searchable Edition

FRAME 19 Portable Edition

FRAME 20 Conclusion

106

The third is The Catcher in the Rye, the skimmable book. One of the advantages to digital texts is the increasing breadth of information that it allows us to take in as a result of its brevity, and our own inclination to scan over text on screens rather than reading it thoroughly. By featuring only the action-related parts of the text at a large size and treating the rest as footnotes, the reader can whiz through at their usual onscreen pace—and realize just how little Holden Caulfield actually does while they’re at it. Fourth is the searchable book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. This book features a complete index of its entire contents—every single word. That’s just like command F, right?

Lastly is the portable book—Peter and Wendy. This one is fairly self-explanatory—you could fit it just about anywhere. If you have particularly good eyes, you might be able to read it, but I doubt your optometrist would recommend it.

Of course, these books are all ridiculous. I wouldn’t recommend that you read any of them—at least not these editions. But they’re only as ridiculous as the debate they represent. Print isn’t going anywhere, if the sheer number of bookstores walkable from my apartment is any indication, and digital might have its issues like anything else, but it offers powerful capabilities print just can’t match—no matter how hard these books might try. You don’t need to pick a side. You just need to know when to use which.

Finished Work The final pieces of my Like Pixel, Like Paper series

109

Like Pixel, Like Paper Skimmable edition

110

111

112

Like Pixel, Like Paper Portable edition

113

Like Pixel, Like Paper Searchable edition

114

115

116

Like Pixel, Like Paper Shareable edition

117

Like Pixel, Like Paper Infinite scroll edition

118

119

120

Like Pixel, Like Paper Finished Books

121

Bibliography & Credits

123

Bringhurst, Robert. The Elements of Typographic Style. Point Roberts, WA: Hartley & Marks, 2004. Print. Bringhurst’s typographic guidelines helped to inform several of the decisions that went into the refining of my typographic systems. DIY Marble Pattern with Shaving Cream. Perf. Sea Lemon. YouTube. N.p., 7 Mar. 2015. Web. 7 Mar. 2015. This video demonstrates the basic concept of marbling using typical household products prompted me to research the art of marbling further. DIY Paper Marbling - Instructions & Supplies. Perf. DIY Projects. YouTube. N.p., 25 June 2014. Web. 7 Mar. 2015. An overview of the materials and techniques needed to produce designs using marbling. How to Marble Paper: Step By Step. Perf. EDavis. YouTube. N.p., 7 Sept. 2013. Web. 13 Mar. 2015. One of the first tutorials I watched, this video outlines the basics of marbling and teaches the bird’s wing pattern. How to Start Screen Printing & Learn How to Screen Print. Perf. Ryonet. YouTube. N.p., 26 July 2013. Web. 27 Mar. 2015. This video tutorial demonstrates both professional and DIY methods for screenprinting, showcasing different ways of approaching the medium. Jackson, Will. “The Secrets of Paper Marbling Revealed.” Daniel Smith. Daniel Smith, Inc., n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2015. Jackson outlines the origins and history of paper marbling and the basics of its technique. Manguel, Alberto. A History of Reading. New York: Viking, 1996. Print. Manguel’s account of reading’s history coupled with his own musings on peoples’ relationships to books and reading over time helped to provide context for the singificance of my own work.

124

Marbling Prep and Method. Perf. Sue Zajac. YouTube. N.p., 29 Jan. 2015. Web. 27 Mar. 2015. Another demonstration of different marbling pattern techniques. Screen Printing—A How To. Perf. Nick Jones. YouTube. N.p., 13 Nov. 2012. Web. 27 Mar. 2015. This video illustrates the entire process of screenprinting using at-home equipment. Screen Printing Guide. Toronto: G&S Dye, n.d. PDF. This guide provides directions for the entire screen printing process, from preparing artwork to exposing prints to the printing stage, itself. Zeier, Franz. Books, Boxes, and Portfolios: Binding, Construction, and Design Step-By-Step. New York, NY: Design, 1990. Print. Zeier teaches the fundamentals of bookbinding using limited tools and manual techniques in an illustrated guide.

Acknowledgements As much as it’s nice to think that I did all this myself, I know that that’s far from true. The following were all instrumental in the process, and deserve to be recognized for their contributions. Sincere thanks to:

MITCHELL, my ever-reliable pep talker, proofreader, and occasional food-maker BROOKE, my unflagging cheerleader DAD, my handyman and trusted consultant and MUM, who only somewhat reluctantly agreed to helped me manually index an entire book before I realized there are infinitely easier ways to do that. And of course both, for supporting me all throughout my OCAD career (and my entire life, but who’s counting?)

CAROLINE, for quietly tolerating the steady creep of my project all over our apartment, and her recluse of a roommate

STEPH & JAN, for fielding my questions and always knowing how to brighten a day AMY, for convincing me not to write this topic off in the first place JAY, for his infinite perseverance (read: endless list of increasingly ridiculous topic suggestions)

JESS, without whose company I probably wouldn’t have made it through a weekly six-hour class

MICHAEL TOROSIAN, without whose mentorship at Lumiere Press I could never have produced these books myself

RICHARD HUNT, for his typographic expertise MY ENTIRE WORKSHOP CLASS, for sharing articles, random thoughts, and the slow descent into collective panic

LEWIS NICHOLSON, for his year-long guidance, feedback and encouragement HONOURABLE MENTIONS also go out to the printmaking students, for only scowling at me slightly every time I infiltrated their studio to use the giant paper cutter, Abraham from Print Zone, who probably saved me hundreds of dollars, G&S Dye, for being one of very few stores in the world to stock paper marbling supplies and

125

just happening to be right down the street, Kid Icarus, for their surprisingly affordable screen exposures, all the other businesses who actually responded to me with quotes on various printing and production methods I could never afford, David’s Tea, for being ridiculously close by and keeping me awake, BMV, Type Books, and the World’s Biggest Bookstore (while it lasted) for indulging my book obsession, the dogs of Wooftown and their humans, for regular puppy therapy, and all of my freelance clients, who have graciously worked around my brutal schedule this year. The process of creating a book series involves a lot of long hours on menial tasks. The preservation of my mental faculties is due in large part to the TV shows, movies and podcasts that kept me engaged and entertained while I typeset, tweaked, stitched, marbled, edited and glued for hours on end. As such, I think they deserve some credit, too. Thank you to:

GILMORE GIRLS, for about the zillionth time THE OFFICE, before it became awful BUNHEADS PARENTHOOD GILMORE GUYS Podcast BEST OF FRIENDS Podcast RADIOLAB Podcast HARRY POTTER Movies 1–4 ...and the endless list of DISNEY movies I cycled through regularly

126

â&#x20AC;&#x153;When I was about eight, I decided that the most wonderful thing, next to a human being, was a book.â&#x20AC;?

Margaret Walker

129

ALISON ROWAN is a graphic designer and book hoarder from Toronto with a focus on typography, lettering and editorial design.