Recently I undertook a book project of large proportions. Not only was the book quite large, roughly 22″ tall by 18″ wide and 4.5″ deep, designing the structure of it was also a real challenge.

The project came to me from Matt Aaron Templeton, an artist working in Boston.  He sent me 28 drawings on an extremely thick watercolor paper, almost more like board, that he wanted bound together into a book.

I decided to use a screw post binding to join the individual drawings together.  You can see the head of the posts along the spine of the book.  The benefit of this is that he can disassemble the book if he ever decides he wants to show the drawings on the wall, and of course put it back together again in book form when the show is over.

Because I hinged each of the drawings to a stub of thicker board, the pages are able to turn quite easily, despite the extremely thick paper.  When I ran out of the board I needed for these stubs, Monica Holtsclaw of Boom Box Bindery came to the rescue by cutting all 28 stubs and mailing them to me practically overnight.

It is interesting to see how binding the drawings together in this manner changes the experience of looking at them.  As you turn the pages you see two drawings together in a spread, rather than each drawing individually.  Turning the pages is quite a physical experience, given the weight and size of the book, which also significantly alters the way in which you interact with them.

I made a lot of mistakes along the way to completing the book, but I also learned a whole lot about the how books function, how to work more productively and efficiently on a large scale project, and how to manipulate large materials.  Despite the physical and structural challenges of working on this book, it was enormously satisfying to see it finished.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 8th, 2010 at 7:00 am.