Memories of Mukden 书 by Na An and Yiting Cui

Memories of Mukden 书 by Na An and Yiting Cui is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2021 A' Design Award 银奖 in 印刷与出版媒体设计 Competition Category.

银印刷· 2021

Memories of Mukden 书

by Na An and Yiting Cui

Client: Luxun Academy Of Fine Arts

A' Design Award 银奖 Winner in 印刷 Category

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Colors

The Design

About Memories of Mukden 书

这些是关于这座城市的历史和地区文化的书。全书共八册，分别介绍盛京八个名胜古迹。盛京是清文化的发祥地，也是中华民族重要的文化遗产。书采用折叠装订，材料有金属、宣纸、锦缎等。书本造型为八角形宫灯，表达了宫灯承载旧时代记忆，灯光照亮历史文化的寓意。书中的内容使用数字插图来描绘场景。

The Recognition

About the A' Design Award 银奖

Memories of Mukden 书是 A' Design Award 银奖得主，这是授予顶级、华美而令人印象深刻的设计的极为崇高的认可。银奖得主是极其卓越、极具创造力的作品，展现出其设计师杰出的专业技能、才华与敏锐。预计Memories of Mukden 书将成为一件出色的典范之作，兼具非凡的专业性与深刻的创新性。这件赢得 A' Design Award 银奖的设计是一项备受瞩目、令人钦佩的发明，造福并拓展艺术、科学、设计和技术的边界。Memories of Mukden 书是一件令人羡慕的创作，它唤起渴望，带来积极的情感，并激发惊叹与赞叹。

Behind the Design

Press Kit

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

Unique Properties: These are books about the city's history and regional culture. There are eight volumes in total, the content is eight scenic spots in Mukden. Mukden is the birthplace of Chinese Qing culture and the capital of two generations of emperors, it has a profound cultural heritage. Therefore, the book uses the folding form of ancient Chinese binding, materials are rice paper, copper, brocade. The appearance of the book is a palace lantern, which meaning that a lamp illuminates the memory of history.
Dimensions & Packaging: Books in the design of interactivity, display and assembly fun. There are a total of eight books, each volume introduces a place of historical interest, each volume size is 80mm wide × 200mm long × 20mm thick. As the book is bound by folding, the size of the expanded page is 800mm wide × 200mm long. The books were assembled together in a metal frame to form an octagonal palace lantern, the physical size is 360mm high and 180mm in diameter.
Tags: city history, regional culture, Mukden, Qing Culture, palace lantern, bind in folding form, rice paper, metal craft, assembly interest and interactivity, artistic
Production Technology: Books are made of rice paper, special paper, copper metal, brocade and so on. Manufacturing processes include laser printing, metalworking, indentation, and folding loading. In layout design, the page uses flat graphics, illustration and light gray tones. The software being used are Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop.
Design Challenge: First of all, the most difficult part of the design is the accurate expression, integrating the form of the book, the way of binding, the use of materials and the communication of content. Secondly, in the layout design, how to skillfully combine modern elements with historical culture. Finally, digital illustrator drawing places of interest is also a challenge.
Research: The purpose is to redesign the regional culture. Data are gathered from field surveys, interviews, books and online searches. The digital illustration, information graphics and words are not just in these books, but also make motion graphics. They will be used in web pages, e-books, etc. It adds commercial value of books, paper books and digital media coexist. Socially, it promotes the preservation of the city's history. In design, it promotes the multi-dimensional development of books.
Inspiration: First of all, the preservation of urban history and regional culture is an important background factor for book design. Secondly, the research on ancient Chinese books has given a lot of technical support to the project. Third, with the development of the media, physical books should constantly enhance its artistic and collectable. Finally, the integration of heritage, history, geography and aesthetics is the inspiration for launching the project.
Project Duration: The project began in January 2020 and was completed in China in June 2020.
Operation Flow: Interactivity is reflected in the browsing process. First, books are collected in metal shelves as they are folded and placed, they are combined into an octagonal palace lantern. Secondly, the book is used by the fold binding, reading can be partial or all spread out, the layout in the change to form a lot of continuous space. Whether it's closed or opened, it will have different interactions with the fingers. This book has artistic, interactive, display and collection value.
Team Members: Yiting Cui
Image Credits: Yiting Cui, Na An