Urszula Giren Is Honored with the Golden A' Design Award for The Birth of a Book Scientific Publication in Print and Published Media Design

Urszula Giren honored for print and published media design by the international grand jury of the 2019 - 2020 A' Design Award & Competition

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

COMO, Italy, April 23, 2020 /DesignNewswire/ A' Design Award & Competition has announced that The Birth of a Book Scientific Publication by Urszula Giren, designed for Urszula Gireń, has been granted the Golden A' Design Award in the Print and Published Media Design category. The award was conferred within the 2019 - 2020 A' Design Award & Competition and was decided through blind peer review by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members, who evaluated anonymized entries against predetermined criteria.

What the Golden A' Design Award Means

The Gold A' Design Award is granted to designs that demonstrate a high level of innovation and a significant impact on their intended audience. Recognized as a major achievement by the A' Design Awards, these designs are characterized by their visionary approach and the exceptional skill of their creators. Winners of the Gold A' Design Award are noted for their ability to push the envelope in art, science, design, and technology, delivering solutions that not only meet but exceed expectations. These designs serve as benchmarks for excellence, encouraging further innovation and inspiring future generations of designers.

More About The Birth of a Book Scientific Publication

The Birth of a Book is a printed publication about book design in 16th century Poland. The book presents old prints at real size, so readers can see the original formats. The dust jacket shows the imposition method used for the old octavo format. A ribbon bookmark marks the heights of folio, quarto and octavo books. Woodcuts on the title pages are printed in color inversion, recalling matrices covered with black ink. The format is 256 by 320 millimeters, with 560 pages and about 1200 illustrations. The aim is to explain Renaissance printing methods to a wide readership.

About Urszula Giren

Graphic Designer/Illustrator interested in exploring freelance opportunities or collaborations. I have my hands in quite a few areas, from illustrating, to identity design. My skill set is diverse with concentration on layout and typography. I’m living and working in Białystok, Poland. My initial inspiration is always the subject. A good brief inspires me and gets me thinking about the possibilities.

Award Record

Urszula Giren is a winner of 1 A' Design Award, including this recognition.

About the A' Print and Published Media Design Award

The A' Print Design Award is an international design competition recognizing good printed and published media by leading designers and brands worldwide. It is organized within the A' Design Award & Competition and is open to print designers, published media designers, graphic designers and typography experts from all countries. Typical entries include brochures, posters, magazines, catalogs, flyers and business cards. The awarded print designs are published at https://designers.org/design-category/print

About A' Design Award & Competition

Organized annually since 2008, A' Design Award & Competition is an international, juried design accolade. The competition is open to entries from all countries. The philanthropic mission of the A' Design Award is to advance society through good design, by recognizing and promoting superior products, projects and services that benefit society, and by creating a global awareness and appreciation for good design practices and principles. Nominations are peer reviewed and evaluated anonymously by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members against predetermined criteria such as functionality, ergonomics, engineering, presentation, innovation, usability, sustainability and technology, with score normalization applied to remove biases. Awards are conferred at Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze and Iron levels. Eligible laureates receive the A' Design Prize, which includes the award trophy, the certificate of design excellence, the hardcover yearbook, a lifetime license to use the A' Design Award winner logo, exhibition of awarded works, an invitation to the gala night and award ceremony in Italy, inclusion in the World Design Rankings and Designer Rankings, and public relations and publicity services. Registration, uploading a work and receiving a preliminary score are free of charge, and Professional and Digital Edition laureates are not contractually obliged to pay further fees to claim the A' Design Prize. More information is available at https://competition.adesignaward.com

Press Resources

Winner Page: https://designers.org/97144
A' Design Award Page: https://competition.adesignaward.com/97144
Media Showcase: https://www.designnewsroom.com/!97144
Laureate Profile: https://designers.org/d/267315
Further Information from the Laureate: https://cutt.ly/GrOjpiZ

Media Contact

Giulia Ferrari, Press Office
Designers.Org
Via Leone Leoni 32, 22100 Como, Italy
press@designers.org
+39 031 4491953

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Fact Sheet

The Work

Project: The Birth of a Book Scientific Publication
Function: Scientific Publication
Category: Print and Published Media Design
Discipline: Communication Design
Industry: Branding & Advertising and Entertainment
Colors: White, Dark Slate Gray, Black, Dim Gray and Gray
Images: 5
Client: Urszula Gireń

The Recognition

Laureate: Urszula Giren
Country: Poland
Recognition: Golden A' Design Award
Edition: 2019 - 2020
Design ID: #97144

Credits

Image Credits: Urszula Gireń / 2019

Design Details

Unique Properties: The designed structure of publications presents the old prints in real size and the method of their production in additional elements like a dust jacket which show printing sheet, typographic composition at 1:1 scale. The woodcuts in color inversion on the title pages refer to matrices covered with black ink. The compositions of this pages were plotted on a scheme invented by Villard de Honnecourt, 13th century artist, and refer to the proportions of columns, margins used in the 16th century.
Inspiration: The main inspirations were the general principles of Renaissance design. The first stage of the project included gathering graphic material necessary to conduct research on the old European, Polish books. The study covered individual elements, starting from the materials from which books were created: papers, binding materials, typefaces, ornaments, graphics. Information was also collected on the most well-known Polish and European publishers, typographers and punchcutters.
Research: The first part of book contains basic information about printing, introduces the reader to the general principles of Renaissance design. In the second part of the publication, printing in Poland was discussed in more detail. This part was divided into 5 chapters, four of which have been assigned specific cities. The choice of places was justified by the pioneering activity of the printing houses, which opened there, their size, as well as the quality of the publications they produced.
Challenge: The biggest challenge was complicated structure of the text - a lot of auxiliary and descriptive texts, an unusually large number of various illustrations - 1274. Organizing the appropriate grid required several verifications. I based the project largely on mathematical calculations related to the content of the publication. The divisions and colors used resulted entirely from the content and the assumption of the best possible exposure of illustrations and text. By learning the methodology of 16th-century typographers, you can see frequent references to numbers that have always been present in nature.
Realization and Technology: The work was digitally printed and a hardback, paper binding, thermo-gluing was used. The covering is made of black beater-dyed paper. There are also a dust jacket reflecting an imposition method for the old octavo book format, as well as a ribbon - bookmark, depicting the folio, quarto and octavo heights.
Operation and Interaction: All the elements in the book have been designed to familiarize the reader with the methodology of creating books in the 16th century. Starting from the format of the book showing real formats of old prints, to the dust jacket presenting the printing imposition, or the ribbon indicating the height of old books - folio, quarto, otavo.
Project Duration and Location: The project started in May 2017 in Bialystok and finished in February 2019 in Katowice, Poland
Specifications: Format: 256 x 320 mm in a 1.25 ratio, 560 pages, the page format allowed the calculation of a multi-level grid for the composition of individual elements, including 1200 illustrations.
Keywords: renaissance book, first roman typefaces, old prints, typography