After a Bird Fell Down Bildebok by Shu Wei Chang

After a Bird Fell Down Bildebok by Shu Wei Chang is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2022 A' Design Award i Bronse in Trykk- og Publisert Mediedesign Competition Category.

BronseTrykk· 2022

After a Bird Fell Down Bildebok

by Shu Wei Chang

Client: Shu-Wei Chang

A' Design Award i Bronse Winner in Trykk Category

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Verified Award Winner

Verify Award Status for #130690

Visit Site View at A' Design Award Press Release Award Badge

Colors

The Design

About After a Bird Fell Down Bildebok

Etter at en fugl falt ned er en bildebok som kombinerer strukturen til en hullbok og en pop-up-bok. Boken måler 105 ganger 150 millimeter og er omtrent 27 millimeter tykk, nær størrelsen til en liten fugl. Etter hvert som sidene blir bladd om, blir hullet større og spiren stiger høyere, mens selve boken blir tynnere. Omslaget er hvitt, har en sandaktig struktur og har en gjennomsiktig klistrelapp trykt med en grønn fjær inne i en preget fordypning. Designet viser at tidens gang bringer med seg både tap og ny vekst.

The Recognition

About the A' Design Award i Bronse

After a Bird Fell Down Bildebok er vinner av A' Design Award i Bronse, en høyt prestisjefylt anerkjennelse som tildeles enestående design som utmerker seg ved kreativitet, oppfinnsomhet og skarpsindighet. Bronsevinnere er rikt dyktige og påfallende kreative gjenstander som bekrefter designernes store erfaring, fantasi og ressurssterkhet. After a Bird Fell Down Bildebok forventes å være en høyt ansett, beundret og verdsatt gjenstand som er bemerkelsesverdig profesjonell og nyskapende. Dette designet, som har vunnet A' Design Award i Bronse, rommer beste praksis innen kunst, vitenskap, design og teknologi og utmerker seg ved sin omtanke for detaljer. After a Bird Fell Down Bildebok tilfredsstiller behov på en strålende måte, berører ønsker, sjarmerer følelser og vekker nysgjerrighet.

Behind the Design

Press Kit

Credits, team members and technical details provided by the designer.

Unique Properties: By combining the structure of hole books and pop-up books, this picture book adopts "volume of book pages" into its narrative. While reading, readers would find out the hole bigger and the sprout taller page by page. With A6 size and thickness which is almost three centimeters, the book size is as big as the dead body of a bird. While readers turn each page and make the book thinner, they can feel that the body of a bird gradually disappears at the same time.
Dimensions & Packaging: 105mm x 27mm x 150mm, 15pages, back taping, debossing and a transparent sticker on cover
Tags: graphic design, editorial, book design, picture book, hole book, pop-up book, artist's book
Production Technology: In terms of color, the whole book is purely white as possible. Wish such kind of emptiness could make readers relate to "time," something we cannot see but can feel. Besides, there is no words shown on book cover. Instead there is a debossed rectangular pit where a transparent sticker printed with a green feather is at. It looks like a photo frame sealing a feather, which symbolizes that this book seals the death of the bird in this story.

Second, paper with sand-like texture is chosen for the cover. Hope readers can feel like touching the ground; that is, where this story happens.

Third, the copyright page is decorated with blue sky and is the very beginning of this story as well. So, when readers open this book, they would not only read the sentence, "A bird fell down onto the ground," they can dive into this story from the bird's-eye view from the sky.
Design Challenge: The most difficult part is how to actualize the binding. Before the final version, the design was revised three or four times. At the beginning, this book was envisioned to be the board book for babies. With the binding method which thick cardboard was pasted in pairs, it was planned that there would be a hole within this book. Yet, it would be almost impossible to make holes on each page aligned. In addition, if
chosen paper is thicker than 1 mm, it couldn't be printed or even bound. After long discussions and several revisions, 0.5mm cardboards with spine taping is chosen. Such binding needs more glue than ordinary books to bind pages firmly. It jams pages as well. So, after the printer made several experiments to find out the most suitable way for flipping through, it became the book you see now.
Inspiration: It's a story about seeds germinating after a bird died and fell down onto the ground, and the end but also the beginning of life. Via increase and decrease of its volume, this book want to bring out the plot and core concept: "there are two sides to life.", and make readers realize that time passing are not simply about reduction and death. Increase and birth are also what time passing brings.