Man Makes a Superhuman Type Specification
Strategy
3
Margins
4
Grid
5
Grid Variations
6
Colour
10
Typography
11
Indicators
15
Expressive Typography
16
Cover
20
Printing and Finishing
21
Oversights
22
Strategy This book is in answer to the brief, ‘And the winner is…’ , to celebrate the Nobel Prize. To date there have been four Irish winners of the Nobel Prize for Literature: William Butler Yeats; George Bernard Shaw; Samuel Beckett; and Seamus Heaney. This is a significant number for the size of our country and perhaps reflects our literary past. This book celebrates the work of these four writers. In his last will and testament, Alfred Nobel wrote that the Nobel Prize for literature should be awarded to the person who “produced in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction”. These words came to be an important factor in the decision making process for the awarding of the Prize. The contents of this book link the work of the four Irish winners of the Literature Prize to the phrase “an ideal direction”. Each of them continued to strive towards ever greater work throughout their career, developing themes further, developing or changing their style, constantly striving towards that ideal direction. The content chosen for the book include later pieces of work which show a change in style from earlier work; or work which shows themes that re-occur and are developed throughout their life’s work. At the same time, the themes evoked in the content are ones such as life and death; ageing; beginnings and endings and the cyclical nature of life. The format of the book is an optical square (it is about 2% wider than it is tall). A square was chosen because of its relationship to a circle, as a perfectly symmetrical shape where end meets beginning. The four sides represent the four writers. The orientation of the page spreads rotates clockwise through 90 degrees each time the reader moves from one writer to the next, so the reader moves from one to the next in a circle. The order of the book reflects the order in which each of the writers won their Nobel Prize. The final pages return to the original orientation. These last five pages contain a short quote from each of the four writers, with the very last one containing the words “noli timere”. These were Seamus Heaney’s last words, meaning “don’t be afraid”. These words sum up the feeling to be taken from the book: don’t be afraid, in the face of death or failure, or to move away from what is known towards the unknown. The typeface chosen for the body copy is Akzidenz-Grotesk. This was chosen because it was the first widely used sans serif typeface and has links with the German Modernist movement, so even though it was designed in 1856 it has a progressive and modern feeling. This reflects the work of the four writers as each of them was modern and groundbreaking for their time. The typeface was also chosen for its legibility and lightness on the page. A modular grid based on squares is employed to give flexibility to how the content is presented and to allow rhythm be implied through the placement of blocks of text at different positions in the grid. White space is used to allow for breaks and pauses. The act of turning and rotating the book is designed to allow or force the reader to think about the content they are reading, rather than flicking through the book. Bright colours are used to contrast with the white and to indicate a chapter change. Expressive typography is employed in each chapter, to amplify meanings and to try and convey the essence of the writer or the work. This helps to give consistency to each chapter and distinguish it from the others.
Margins
Page size: 205 mm x 200 mm Top:
20 mm
Inside:
20 mm
Outside:
29.412 mm
Bottom:
24.512 mm The above dimensions are in relation to the book when it is oriented the ‘right way’ up.
Grid
7
Text area:
155.488 mm square
Grid:
Modular grid 11 x 11
Module:
10.848 mm square
Baseline:
10.25 pt
Gutters:
10.25 pt (3.616 mm); horizontal and vertical The above remain constant in each orientation.
Grid Variations
Spread:
12 – 13
Chapter:
William Butler Yeats
Orientation: Horiztonal Use:
4 columns, varying lengths Regular column width to express regular verse length Longer column to express rhythm
Alignment: Flush left, ragged right; texture and rhythm.
Spread:
32 – 33
Chapter:
George Bernard Shaw
Orientation: Vertical Use:
6 columns More columns used for longer body copy Column aligned along the vertical layout
Alignment: Flush left, ragged right; texture and rhythm.
Spread:
44 – 45
Chapter:
Samuel Beckett
Orientation: Horizontal Use:
6, 8 and 9 columns Variety of column numbers used, to create rhythm on the page Different starting columns used and some blocks of body are in bold, this is to relect Beckett’s writing. There is no plot, use of repitition and other devices to create a circular piece of writing.
Alignment: Flush left, ragged right; texture and rhythm.
Spread:
64 – 65
Chapter:
Seamus Heaney
Orientation: Vertical Use:
4 columns and 4 rows Reflecting the regular structure and line length of the poems.
Alignment: Flush left, ragged right; texture and rhythm.
Colour
Light blue
Bright pink
Bright yellow
Deep blue
C: M: Y: K:
C: M: Y: K:
C: M: Y: K:
C: M: Y: K:
78 0 0 1
William Butler Yeats Use:
0 99 37 0
George Bernard Shaw
6 0 97 0
Samuel Beckett
Seamus Heaney
Two pages of solid colour preceding each chapter; to indicate to the reader they are entering a new section of the book. Also used in the chapter heading, i.e. the name of the author for that chapter. The use of these bright colours contrasts with the white space in the main spreads and the dark colours used for expressive typography.
Dark grey
Light grey
Mid grey
C: M: Y: K:
C: M: Y: K:
C: M: Y: K:
Use:
100 100 0 0
10 0 10 90 Expressive typography.
0 0 0 10
0 0 0 30
Typography
ABCDEFGHIJKLMN OPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmn opqrstuvwxyz 1234567890 Name:
Akzidenz-Grotesk BQ Light
Size:
8 pt / 10.25 pt
Designer:
Hermann Berthold
Date:
1896
Use:
Body copy.
Colour:
100% black
ABCDEFGHIJKLMN OPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmn opqrstuvwxyz 1234567890 Name:
Akzidenz-Grotesk BQ Extra
Size:
156 pt /152 pt
Designer:
Hermann Berthold
Date:
1896
Use:
Chapter headings.
Colour:
light blue: 78/0/0/1 bright pink: 0/99/37/0 bright yellow: 6/0/97/0 deep blue: 100/100/0/0
ABCDEFGHIJKLMN O P Q R ST UVW XY Z abcdefghijklmn opqrstuvwxyz 1234567890 Name:
Univers LT Std; 45 Light
Size:
20 pt
Designer:
Adrian Frutiger
Date:
1957
Use:
Titles.
Colour:
10/0/10/90
ABCDEFGHIJKLMN O P Q R ST UVW XY Z abcdefghijklmn opqrstuvwxyz 1234567890 Name:
Caecilia LT Std; 45 Light
Size:
10 pt
Designer:
Peter Matthias Noordzij
Date:
1990
Use:
Roman numerals poem numbering
Colour:
100% black
Indicators Folio
Typeface:
Akzidenz-Grotesk BQ Light lowercase
Size:
9 pt
Colour:
0/74/100/0
Position:
Recto, 2nd gutter from top, aligned to outside margin. Except where it would interfere with imagery.
Expressive Typography
Spread:
14 – 15
Chapter:
William Butler Yeats
Context:
Over-sized type, creating impact and contrasting with the poem both in colour and size. The quotation marks reflect the theme of the poem, Remorse for Intemperate Speech. Large type size is used again in this chapter, specifically the large O in spread 26 – 27 for the poem The Crazed Moon. Here the large size contrasts with the smaller Os on the surface. The uneven sizes and the dark colour reflect the themes of the poem.
Spread:
32 – 33
Chapter:
George Bernard Shaw
Context:
Shaw’s essay, Ideals and Idealists, touches on themes which he returned to in his later work. The three types of people in society that he describes (Idealists, Realists and Philistines) are evoked in his later play Man and Superman, specifically in Act III of this play, called Don Juan in Hell. Man and Superman is often performed without Act III. An exerpt from Don Juan in Hell is included here but on a dark grey background and with the words crossed out. Both pieces are shown on the same spread, to help link the common themes in both. The words from Don Juan in Hell are crossed out reflecting the fact that these words are not often heard, since they are often not performed with the main play.
Spread:
50 – 51
Chapter:
Samuel Beckett
Context:
The letter X is used as an expressive device in this chapter as it evokes negative, crossing out, nothingness, absence which are all themes in Worstward Ho. In the above spread it is used at large scale (continuing the visual theme set in the WB Yeats chapter). Phrases and words, set at body copy size, float across the page through the X and converge towards the edge of the page. The words and phrases are taken from the body copy. In this piece a lot of words and phrases are repeated, and momentum builds through the use of short words and sentences in a stacatto rhythm. The expressive type reflects this. The word ‘Enough’ is placed int he centre of the X to add impact and to allow breathing space, a pause, for the reader. X is used again to ‘x’ out some phrases (spread 48 – 49) to amplify the words (no, cannot, unasking, void) and again in spread 58 – 59 where multiple Xs crowd around the edge of the page. These can be read as the type pushing away the Xs (negativity) or that they are encroaching on the page. This reflects the views people have of Beckett and his work; as he is seen as negative by some.
Spread:
56 – 57
Chapter:
Samuel Beckett
Context:
Two short phrases from the text are set at body copy size, against a dark background. The placement of the words has been chosen to amplify the meaning of the words. So there is space between the words “Vast of void atween”, and the word “void” is dropped down a line. In the second phrase, the word “Blanks” has been replaced with a space; adn the word “gone” has been crossed out. Similar treatment was used for the spread 78 – 79, for the last line of Seamus Heaney’s Squarings poem: “I’ll be in step with what escaped me.”
Cover
Materials:
Cloth-covered hardback front and back Cloth-covered spine
Colour:
Front & back: black Spine: orange
Title:
Blind embossed Franklin 48pt
Printing and Binding Stock:
Indigo uncoated 130gsm
Machine:
Indigo printer
Printer:
Hackett Digital 17 Lower Baggot Street Dublin 2
Binding & embossing:
Duffy Bookbinders Seville Terrace Dublin 1
Oversights
Spread:
20 – 21
Spread:
44 – 45
Details:
The third verse, beginning, “I pace upon the battlements...” should be numbered as section II.
Details:
The third and fourth paragraphs above appear too ragged.