Design and Creative Books
Speaking on behalf of the design community here – but I'm sure we've all licked our lips at new offerings on layout, grids systems, logo, album cover artwork and advertising round-ups. With fewer bookshops and design being a niche audience (yes, we can wrap that in brown paper for you pre leaving the store) it's hard to get a fix of what's new and worth getting to support our creative growth and input.
Last week I visited Waterstones in Birmingham and got lost for 30 mins in the design section, as well as the other shelves. Such beautiful things!
Book design has come a long long way over the past 20 years, there's such a plethora of creative visual, illustration, typography and photography being used. And overall great insight and content. I was lucky enough to work on a big one years back (XL: Forty Years of the Super Bowl – The Opus) – so I know the amount of work and effort throughout a team that goes into them. Great to also in glorious technicolor the print industry is still very much knocking it out the park with some stunning special inks, stocks, folds and finishes. We love you printers! You really do feel like you are getting something for your money when have these book projects in hand.
So next time you get the urge, may I suggest an alternative to just online purchasing (a satirical observation here... it might stop people sending ego trips into the edges of space) go flick some pages and maybe buy on the high street. We may then see less empty shops and more jobs for humans – creating, producing and selling the end results.
