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Influential Typography - Joost Grootens:

Dutch designer Joost Grootens specialises in editorial design, and produces meticulous books with layouts based on the content within them. His choices of stock and treatment of images lends itself to architecture, with the greys and whites of the concrete bleeding over into the overall design.

Influential Typography - Josef Müller-Brockman:

Modernist designer Josef Müller-Brockman has been highly influential in his exploration of typography across his career that flourished during the fifties to the seventies. He is best known for his simple designs and clean use of typography throughout his work, his clinical use of shapes and colour have inspired many designers that came after him. His work is timelessly modern, despite its inception nearly 70 years ago; most of his work remains relevant today.

Treasures of the Library - The British Library:

On the 21st of April 2014, I was fortunate enough to visit The British Library and the Treasures of the Library exhibition in the Ritblat Gallery. There was so much to see in the exhibition, from Galileo Galilei's old scientific documents, to ancient bestiaries, and even some of the first bibles ever to be printed - not to mention the Magna Carta itself.

It was a typography and editorial design dream, and I would recommend going if you are interested in either of the above. Some key books to note, that were especially interesting, are: The Gentlemen's Handbook (1496), James Cook's Pacific Journal (1778), The Worms Bible (1148), Letters to Joseph Bonaparte (1798) and Medieval Royal Bestiary (1200s).

To see a list of everything that is showing in Treasures of the Library exhibition, click here.

I Have Seen the Film, but the Book is Better - Noah:

As I'm researching modern day interpretations of The Bible, the recent release of the film Noah couldn't have been more relevant. However, do people really know the story? Is the film just a Hollywood interpretation of the ancient text? Below is the New International Version of the story:

32 After Noah was 500 years old, he became the father of Shem, Ham and Japheth.

6 When human beings began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, 2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. 3 Then the Lord said, “My Spirit will not contend with humans forever, for they are mortal; their days will be a hundred and twenty years.”

4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.

5 The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. 6 The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled.7 So the Lord said, “I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground—for I regret that I have made them.” 8 But Noah found favour in the eyes of the Lord.

Musician's Union Booklet - Paul Belford:

This booklet aims to help budding musicians research the skills that they will need to promote themselves, playing to large crowds and how to ask for a respectable amount of pay for doing so.

English designer Paul Belford referenced backstage passes heavily throughout this project: the colours, layouts and size of the booklet are all based around them. What's interesting about backstage pass inspiration is the relationship between the manufactured and human elements, the combination of handwritten typography and digitally printed text. The two work together well in this booklet, and it compliments the genre well, whilst remaining respectful to the clientele that it aims to reach.

Common Worship - John Morgan Studio:

Following the main redesign of the Church of England prayer books in 2000 by Derek Birdsall, these well-known books have been designed by John Morgan Studio for over 10 years.

The books bring the traditional, religious texts into the 21st Century through typographic detailing and considered layouts. The combination of spot colours, stock colours, line weights and type weights lend themselves to the readability and immediacy of the book. As it is to be used in Church of England churches across the country, it was important that the books remained in contact with their traditional routes:

'Printing and religion have a long and intimately connected history. The first book to be printed from movable type was a Bible, and ever since then the faiths – especially the Christian faith – have been carried, developed, spread, and challenged by this marvellous human invention. For a typographer, the chance to design a new edition of one of the central books of worship must surely be a forbidding task.

At the designer’s back is a great legacy of publication, the bulk of it from the centuries before “design” came to be a profession separate from the editing of texts and the printing of them. It would seem wrong to impose “design” on such a book. Rather, the book should be allowed to design itself. That is an old credo, and one with which Derek Birdsall and John Morgan, the designers of this new work, have long been familiar.

Though still in his twenties, Morgan grew up with this precept as a student of typography at the University of Reading. Birdsall’s career is now in its fourth decade and he has vast experience. But in no other of the jobs he has tackled can this injunction have been more deeply true.'

- Robin Kinross, Baseline 33

Extraordinary in Ordinary - Albert Cheng-Syun Tang:

Taiwan-based designer Albert Cheng-Syun Tang turned his master's level thesis into a beautiful piece of editorial design in 2011. The thesis examines the similarities, differences and relationship between everyday life and graphic design.

The book itself remains wonderfully minimal and visually impactful throughout, and uses a very well considered use of typographic light and shade. The thesis is broken up by large, coloured pages that pull out quotes from the text, and gallery pages to show the list of figures.

Carefully considered typographic hierarchies are present from the beginning to the end of the thesis, and a well structured grid system is obviously implemented effectively when looking at the body text. A powerful book that evaluates the boundaries of design, and uses them in a way that compliments and evaluates the subject matter - which is exactly the purpose of any piece of editorial design.

Faraday Suit - Lotta Nieminen:

Inspired by her previous work for fashion label Kinnunen, Finnish designer Lotta Nieminen created this book to house K I Kinnunen master's thesis in 2010.

The book takes inspiration from fashion publications with classy typographic choices and overall boldness, and turns this inspiration into a sharp, modern piece of editorial design. The body text effortlessly works with the annotations and footnotes that surround it, and through justification of the text the text is able to remain sharp throughout. The thick black borders and bold typographic usage make the text feel impactful, whilst the spot coloured footnotes help add a typographic hierarchy for readers.