Books

At this point i must hold my hands up and say, i am not a big reader. Personally, I find it hard to get into books, because they lack visual stimulation. It requires a lot of patience to read long novels, and i guess I'm not a very patient person! however, the books i have read and enjoyed have been very inspiring.

'TYPE AND TYPOGRAPHY' By Phil Baines and Andrew Haslam

 Typography is an area of Graphic design that inspires me and really gets my imagination going, its such a versatile thing to play around with and matching copy writing with typography is really interesting. 

This book is very useful as it has many examples of unique typefaces designed by artists from all over the world, and it also provides essential information about constructing letters, kerning and spacing which is really good if you need to make reference to a specific typeface. 

'WHAT IS GRAPHIC DESIGN?' By Quentin Newark 

This is one of the books on the 'Reading List' for my course. Essentially, it has everything we need to know about design and advertising, and most importantly, the differences (or should i say lack of differences) between design and advertising. This is very important to me as I

 want to delve into this matter for my dissertation.

Another reason why this book is so good, is the tone of voice. Its very light hearted and Witty which makes an interesting read, and there is a lot of information about other design agencies, artists and exhibitions. If you don't have this book, i would recommend buying it as it is an 'essential' for our Graphic and Communication design course.

STEPHEN KING

Probably my favourite author! Stephen King is world famous for his horror novels, many of which have been made into film. I must confess that Ive seen more film adaptations than read the novels, but those i have, are far superior to the films.

The first time I came across Stephen King was after watching a mini series in 1994, based on his novel 'The Stand', and this remains my absolute favourite to this day. I hope the BBC show a repeat soon because its such an intense and dark story that everyone should check it out. 

A brief summary of the stand is so hard to explain as so much happens, but basically, a human made biological weapon wipes out most of North America's population, and is soon spreading all over the world. The few survivors that remain embark on a journey to see a 108 year old woman who haunts all of their dreams to see if she can help them. King also highlights social issues such as violence and martial law. 

His writing is just so inspiring. King goes into so much detail about the characters personality, but it is never tedious. I really felt a connection to certain characters, especially Nick Andros, a deaf mute. Stephen King's imagination is really something special, often very dark at times and surreal but it really hooked me so if you haven't read any of his books, i would advise you to, especially 'The Shining' as it is very  different and SO much better than the film, also this is a classic too!

JAMES FREY, 'A Million Little Pieces'

A couple of years ago I read Frey's autobiographical novel, 'A Million Little Pieces' and was truly touched by his style of writing and the subject matter. The book follows Frey's time in rehab to help him overcome alcohol and drugs abuse. The tone of voice and style in which it is written is very original and personal which really inspired me, as i enjoy writing pieces of copy for design projects, and like to combine quotes from people, books or films where possible.
In this book, Frey combines his initial thoughts with direct speech from himself and others, which to begin with was slightly confusing, but once you get used to it, the 'stream of consciousness' style is very unique.
here is a quote i found particularly poignant, as it reflects his emotions whilst in the rehabilitation centre:

"I would like to be soft and warm. I would be terrified to be that way. I could be hurt if I were soft and warm. I could be hurt by something other than myself. It is harder to be soft than it is to be hard. I could be hurt by something other than myself."

However, it recently emerged that the book was not autobiographical, and was highly fabricated by Frey. Many fans were outraged by this, but doesn't it suggest that if the book is purely fiction, then Frey's imagination and skills as a writer are even more impressive to think up a character like that, and make the audience believe he went through such torment. Personally, as an author, i find his style of writing incredible, and due to the fact that I'm not a big reader, James Frey really captured my imagination.


CHIP KIDD, Book Cover Designer

'Don't a book by its cover', we've all heard that saying, but as designers, how true do you find it?
As i've mentioned, im not a big reader, however, when I am in a book shop, the book with the best cover will automatically stand out for me and make me pick it up to read the blurb.
Chip Kidd, an American editor, author and probably one of the most famous book cover designers in the world, has created around 800 designs for endless authors.
His designs are innovative and eye catching which is something i think authors should really think about when they are about to get a book published. Obviously press releases can get a book a lot of media attention and they may not need a eye catching cover, but if i were to write a book, i would make sure the front cover was inspiring!

Here are some examples of Chip Kidd's Front cover designs. I particularly like the design for the book 'Dry, A Memoir', as it is so simple, yet so effective...