The Birth of a Book Книга by Urszula Giren

The Birth of a Book Книга by Urszula Giren is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2020 Золота нагорода A' Design Award in Друк Competition Category.

ЗолотоДрук· 2020

The Birth of a Book Книга

by Urszula Giren

Client: Urszula Gireń

Золота нагорода A' Design Award Winner in Друк Category

79,453
Verified Award Winner
Verify Award Status for #97144

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

Colors

The Design

About The Birth of a Book Книга

«Народження книги» — це друковане видання про дизайн книги в Польщі XVI століття. Книга представляє стародруки в реальному розмірі, тож читачі можуть побачити оригінальні формати. Суперобкладинка демонструє метод спуску шпальт, який використовувався для старовинного формату октаво (in octavo). Стрічкова закладка-лясе позначає висоти книг форматів фоліо, кварто та октаво. Гравюри на дереві на титульних сторінках надруковані в кольоровій інверсії, нагадуючи матриці, вкриті чорною фарбою. Формат видання — 256 на 320 міліметрів, 560 сторінок і близько 1200 ілюстрацій. Мета книги — пояснити методи ренесансного друкарства широкому колу читачів.

The Recognition

About the Золота нагорода A' Design Award

The Birth of a Book Книга є переможцем Золотої нагороди A' Design Award — надзвичайно престижного визнання, що присуджується першокласним, чудовим і видатним дизайнам. Переможці Золотої нагороди — це надзвичайно інноваційні, візіонерські та блискуче вражаючі творіння, що відображають геніальність, мудрість і майстерність своїх дизайнерів. Очікується, що The Birth of a Book Книга буде високо вихваляним, трендовим і монументальним винаходом, що приносить безпрецедентну цінність. Цей дизайн-переможець Золотої нагороди A' Design Award — вражаючий, поважний проєкт, який надзвичайно корисний і розширює межі мистецтва, науки, дизайну й технологій. The Birth of a Book Книга викликає інтенсивні почуття бажання, збуджує пристрасть, заохочує творчість і захоплює нас.

Behind the Design

Press Kit

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

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