When Markus first reached out to us to design his photography book, we were instantly captivated by his awe-inspiring landscape photos. Vast and magnificent, yet quiet and humbling—these are the words that come to mind as we imagine ourselves situated inside the 28 landscapes. With our appreciation for Markus’ work, our inclination was to keep the book design subdued with the details shown in the subtleties.
Book Design—Often times as graphic designers, we focus our attention on layout design when it comes to a publication project. Through this project, we were reminded that the concept and creativity can also be expressed in the printing method such as book binding, cover finish, and paper (weight, colour, texture and size).
Book binding—At first, we looked at 3 possible binding options: PUR binding, Germany binding and Swiss binding. We ended up choosing PUR binding in which the spine of the book is glued with a special resin. This method allows pages to open flat and provides a very clean edge finish.
Cover finish—Keeping with the concept of earth tones, we decided to use a grey cardboard stock for the cover. The book is then wrapped with a craft paper jacket. Both the cover and jacket has a simple black foiled title.
Paper—Grey board paper: Takeo paper, GA ボード-FS グレー (2 sheets laminated together). End sheets: Takeo paper, NTラシャ 草 (a green paper stock to represent landscape colour). Body: Takeo paper, ミセスB-F (gently textured uncoated paper that is light yet slightly thicker).
