Magic Realism: Material Illusions
How do you make a book that isn't a book?
Not only did the Wood Turning Center ask me to design the exhibition catalogue for their upcoming show, they asked me to create a catalogue that would also act as one of the pieces in the show. I was given only one primary objective: design a book that isn’t a book.
Is a book that can’t communicate still a book?
Since I am in the communication business I wanted to explore the concept of communication. As a book designer, my main goal is always to communicate a message in an engaging and thoughtful way. It was exciting for me to think about creating a piece that couldn’t communicate—exactly opposite of what I am trained to do.
The words on this page are just a pattern which we have learned to derive meaning from. If you don’t know what the pattern represents then it is useless in its ability to communicate. What if this page were printed in Greek? What if they were Japanese symbols? What if it were in braille?
Braille is a form of printed communication recognizable by most of us, yet unintelligible to us in the printed form. It is not meant to be comprehended using the sense of sight, but instead the sense of touch.
Since printed communication is all about the pattern and what that pattern contains, I chose to have the entire content of the exhibition catalogue transcribed into braille. The pattern is then silk screen printed on four 22 by 30 inch pieces of print making paper. It is important to note here that the braille pattern is printed, not embossed, thus making it unintelligible to everyone, sighted or blind. The pattern is still there though, teasing us with the knowledge that it must mean something, we just don’t know what.
One further step is taken to inspire a simple question in the mind of the viewer—what is a book? Each art print has a large letter form contained in it. The letter forms become visible by hand-embossing the printed braille dots contained within the letter form’s shape. The shadows created by the braille bumps cause the printed dots under them to look slightly darker. Subtly creating one simple word—BOOK.
Prints are still available so contact Dan Saal if you are interested in purchasing a set.
Since I am a communicator I figured there should be a book that could actually be read. I decided to have the book be just a scaled down version of the art prints. Each print is divided into four horizontal strips which become the pages in the book. Each page of the book with the braille dots has a semi-transparent sheet above it that has the English roman letter forms to translate the braille on the page beneath it. You will see through the roman letter form page to see a faint image of the braille on the pages below.
The back of the catalogue contains images of all of the works in the exhibition.
Along with this book there was a fully embossed braille book available at the exhibition for reading by the blind.