金印刷 · 2020

The Birth of a Book 書籍

by Urszula Giren

A' Design Award 金賞 2020 in 印刷
CLIENT: Urszula Gireń
Estimated Number of Design Views: 79,453
Verification code 6167DEEB4A · Verify this award

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About The Birth of a Book 書籍

『書物の誕生』は、16世紀ポーランドにおける書籍デザインを扱った印刷出版物です。本書は古版本を実寸で掲載し、読者が本来の判型をそのまま確認できるようにしています。ダストジャケットには、かつての八つ折判に用いられた面付けの方法が示されています。スピン（しおり紐）は、二つ折判・四つ折判・八つ折判それぞれの書物の高さを示す目印となっています。扉ページの木版画は色を反転させて印刷され、黒インキで覆われた版木を想起させます。判型は256×320ミリメートル、560ページ、約1200点の図版を収録しています。ルネサンス期の印刷技法を幅広い読者に伝えることを目的としています。

About the A' Design Award 金賞

The Birth of a Book 書籍は、まさに素晴らしく傑出した第一級のデザインに授与される、計り知れないほど権威ある評価である A' Design Award 金賞の受賞作品です。金賞の受賞作品は、きわめて革新的で、先見性に富み、きらびやかに輝く創造物であり、デザイナーの天才性、叡智、卓越した技量を映し出しています。The Birth of a Book 書籍は、最も称賛される、流行を牽引する記念碑的な発明であり、前例のない価値をもたらすことが期待されます。この A' Design Award 金賞を受賞したデザインは、壮観で尊敬されるプロジェクトであり、芸術・科学・デザイン・技術の境界に大きく寄与し、それを前進させます。The Birth of a Book 書籍は、強い欲求を生み出し、情熱を呼び覚まし、創造性を促し、私たちを引きつけます。

Press Kit

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.
Dimensions & Packaging: 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.
Tags: renaissance book, first roman typefaces, old prints, typography
Production 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. Covering: Geltex Negro Antracita 191 Embossing LS 115 g (beater-dyed paper), silver color - screen printing, binder's board: spine board 2 mm, base case 3 mm, Dust Jacket: Color Style Black Smooth 120 g (beater-dyed paper) silver color - screen printing, Endpaper: Geltex Negro Antracita 191 Embossing LS 130 g (beater-dyed paper), Book-block: Pergraphica Natural Smooth 120 g, CMYK - digital printing, HP Indigo, printing according to fiber direction, PUR glue, Headband: Black, Ribbon bookmark: Black, silver color
Design 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. The search for systematization the surrounding world by the renaissance artists was huge inspiration. Each element in the world has its place and meaning, nothing is accidental, everything is connected with each other and interacts with each other. I also wanted to build a relationship system in the design of my publication, where the smallest part would result from the structure of the whole.
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.
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.
Project Duration: The project started in May 2017 in Bialystok and finished in February 2019 in Katowice, Poland
Operation Flow: 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.
Image Credits: Urszula Gireń / 2019