Apr 6, 2017

ON TYRANNY – Timothy Snyder

Much has been said about this fascinating project - check out the links below:

https://electricliterature.com/a-new-book-on-resisting-tyranny-will-appear-in-poster-form-around-london-f0cb929647cc

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/a-book-about-resisting-tyranny-has-turned-into-an-incredible-public-art-project_us_58d53a53e4b03692bea50fd8

http://www.itsnicethat.com/news/vintage-publishes-on-tyranny-book-as-posters-in-london-240317

Essentially what started as an Ad campaign to publicise Timothy Snyder’s important new book about resisting tyranny, became a fully-blown art piece –
a complete book including epilogue and prologue in A0 poster form. The whole project took over Leonard St in East London for one week. The images above show the posters in situ.

So how did the CMYK team go about designing these?

We were briefed in-house to design one poster per chapter. Each member of the team designed one poster, and an extra - such as the epilogue, prologue and the quote at the beginning of the book. Our remit was to visualise the message of our given chapter however we saw fit – though there were some parameters to work within: the posters had to adhere to the colour palette of the cover – red, black and white; and biblio details at the base of each poster and the body copy of each chapter were standardised. 

The remaining posters/chapters were offered to the students on the second year of the Graphic Course at Kingston University. They split into groups of 3 or 4 for each poster. Each designer in-house and the students at Kingston were given the same brief.

The resulting artworks were varied and dynamic – each having their own visual character – however, as a set they work together. For a book of such importance this was a wonderful project to work on.

On Tyranny is published by the Bodley Head.

Mar 29, 2017
A LITTLE HISTORY OF BRITISH GARDENING - Jenny Uglow
Jenny Uglow’s potted history of gardening in Britain takes us on a tour from the thorn hedges around prehistoric settlements to the rage for ornamental grasses and ‘outdoor rooms’ today.
Illustrator...

A LITTLE HISTORY OF BRITISH GARDENING - Jenny Uglow

Jenny Uglow’s potted history of gardening in Britain takes us on a tour from the thorn hedges around prehistoric settlements to the rage for ornamental grasses and ‘outdoor rooms’ today. 

Illustrator and print-maker Nadia Taylor has beautifully imagined a tableau of gardens and gardeners, from early Roman settlers through to modern city gardens. However, we couldn’t contain the whole history of our love for gardening within the boudaries of the book jacket, so we had to continue these glimpses into our gardening heritage not only onto the flaps but also to fill the endpapers.

Mar 23, 2017

JOSÉ SARAMAGO - Vintage Classic Backlist

José Saramago’s writing has a surreal, dystopian feel, and the books often have a magic realism element to them, which can be difficult to illustrate in a conventional way. Some early Harvill editions of his books incorporated Saramago’s initials into the cover imagery. So, for these Vintage Classics re-issues, we wanted to see how far we could take the idea of ‘illustrating’ the books using just the author’s initials. This immediately suggested the idea of creating colourful covers using old wooden letterpress characters.

Using only ‘J’ and ‘S’ woodtype blocks, we hand-printed them in-house, and then combined the results to create striking designs, inspired by the content of each book. The first few titles have just been published with the rest of Saramago’s backlist to follow soon.

Mar 15, 2017
Do you Mr Jones? Bob Dylan with the Poets & Professors
In 2016, Bob Dylan received the Nobel Prize in Literature ‘for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition’.
Do who is Dylan? How do you convey such an enigma...

Do you Mr Jones? Bob Dylan with the Poets & Professors

In 2016, Bob Dylan received the Nobel Prize in Literature ‘for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition’.

Do who is Dylan? How do you convey such an enigma on a book cover? His image is universal so it seemed this 1966 portrait from the Michael Ochs Archive (Getty Images) was perfect –  hypnotic, and hinting at the light and dark in his songwriting.

Serious Dylan criticism is rare. These fascinating, specially commissioned essays by leading poets and critics examine his poetic genius and astounding cultural and musical influence.

A fascinating insight into the man Leonard Cohen referred to as 'the Picasso of song’.

Published in August 2017 by Vintage.

Mar 7, 2017
FROM THE HEART - Susan Hill
You’re a young woman. You can choose. Which career to pursue. Who to have sex with. Who to marry and have children – or not – with. This is now.
The new novel from Susan Hill however, takes us back to the 1950s, a time...

FROM THE HEART - Susan Hill

You’re a young woman. You can choose. Which career to pursue. Who to have sex with. Who to marry and have children – or not – with. This is now.

The new novel from Susan Hill however, takes us back to the 1950s, a time when these choices were not necessarily available to all women.

The book jacket was designed using a striking period fabric designed by Ruth Adler Schnee. The fabric together with the folded letters, evoke both the time and atmosphere of the novel in which communication and relationships are central.

Ruth Adler Schnee’s personal story and contribution to design are extraordinary and inspiring: she escaped persecution in Nazi Germany with her family and settled in Detroit, USA at the age of 16. After studying design she went on to become a pioneering textile designer standing at the forefront of postwar modernism.  Her bold, abstract and rhythmic designs are based on the forms of the world around her.  She is still working today at the age of 94.

Read more about this remarkable woman and view her beautiful work here.

Mar 3, 2017

ABCD Book Design Awards

Last night at The Academy of British Cover Design Awards we won in 3 categories, thanks to all that came and voted it was great celebration of last years book covers.

Winner in the Womens Fiction category - Vinegar Girl Designed by Kris Potter

Winner in the Series Design category - Virginia Woolf series Designed by Suzanne Dean and Illustrated by Aino-Maija Metsola

Winner in the Literary Fiction category - The Start of Something Designed by Suzanne Dean and Illustrated by Marion de Man

See all the designs shortlisted here

Mar 2, 2017
World Book Day 20th Anniversary
From Chile to China, Iberia to Liberia, CMYK are celebrating #WorldBookDay with a selection of continent-crossing treasures.

World Book Day 20th Anniversary

From Chile to China, Iberia to Liberia, CMYK are celebrating #WorldBookDay with a selection of continent-crossing treasures.

Feb 23, 2017
THE ISLAMIC ENLIGHTENMENT - Christopher de Bellaigue
The Muslim world has often been accused of a failure to modernise, reform and adapt. But, from the beginning of the 19th century to the present day, Islamic society in its Middle Eastern heartlands...

THE ISLAMIC ENLIGHTENMENT - Christopher de Bellaigue

The Muslim world has often been accused of a failure to modernise, reform and adapt. But, from the beginning of the 19th century to the present day, Islamic society in its Middle Eastern heartlands has in fact been transformed by modern ideals and practices, from modern medicine to the emergence of women from purdah and the development of democracy.

This revelatory book shows us how to look beyond sensationalist headlines to foster a genuine understanding of modern Islam and Muslim culture, and is essential reading for anyone engaged with the state of the world today.

The jacket design is adapted from an arabic pattern found in The Encyclopedia of Ornament (1869) by Albert Racinet.

Published now in Hardback by Bodley Head

Feb 17, 2017

KINGSTON ANIMATION PRIZE 2017 - Anna Karenina

The judges said: ‘This was a novel approach. The movement of the figures has brilliant. I thought the idea of handwriting was very original. I particularly loved the wheat flying into the Vintage logo.’

Go to the Vintage Books YouTube channel to see the rest of the animations.

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Feb 16, 2017

IDAHO - Emily Ruskovich

Idaho is the debut novel from Emily Ruskovich.

The illustrator Chris Wormell describes his imagemaking process:
“This was a tricky project. The novel concerned a dramatic and shocking incident that takes place in the Idaho woods, beautiful and remote. The idea was to concentrate on vegetation – brambles, nettles – and insects. Conveying, hopefully, a rank, claustrophobic, ominous atmosphere. I cut the image on lino blocks and printed it in heavy yellows and greens. Then, to clarify the image and atmosphere further, the designer zoomed in closer still by cropping the image. I think it works.”

Idaho is published by Chatto & Windus today

Feb 15, 2017

KINGSTON ANIMATION PRIZE 2017 - Crime and Punishment

The judges said: ‘This was really well realised with a strong graphic sensibility and clever use of the developing cage/prison motif. I also liked the way this hinted at the subject of the book but conveyed the inner experience of the main character largely through gestures.’

We’ll be posting each of the animations this week or go to the Vintage Books YouTube channel to see them all now.

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Feb 10, 2017

KINGSTON ANIMATION PRIZE 2017 - War and Peace

The judges said: ‘The production, sound, colour and storytelling all came together in this video. The waltz music brings a fantastic tempo to the film and cleverly builds in the soldiers marching and sounds of war. The flag motion throughout is inspired and the team did exceptionally well at capturing the essence of this epic novel in 60 seconds. Very filmic.’

We’ll be posting each of the animations this week or go to the Vintage Books YouTube channel to see them all now.

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Feb 9, 2017

HAME - Annalena Mcafee

After the breakdown of her relationship, Mhairi McPhail moves with her daughter to Fascaray, a remote Scottish Island. Commissioned to write a biography on the late Bard of Fascaray Grigor McWatt; Mhairi is keen to learn more of this mysterious poet. Combining Mhairi’s words and the evocative writing of Grigor, Hame builds to become an intricate, multi-layered story of family and identity.

The Scottish landscape forms a focal part of the text, so we asked Joe Mclaren to create a scene to fittingly convey the depth and scope of the book using his typically graphic style. Here, Joe describes  his technique for creating the cover:

“I work in scraperboard, a medium much more popular in the middle of the 20th Century. It consists of a stiff sheet of hardboard, covered in a thick layer of white gesso clay and topped with a thin layer of black shellac. A scraping tool a bit like an old-fashioned dip-pen is used to scrape the black away to reveal the white.

The practice of removing the black to reveal the white is the opposite of drawing on paper - think of it as ‘negative drawing’. It’s like the difference between sculpting in marble and sculpting in clay, but in two dimensions. Every scratch reveals more light falling onto the elements in the picture, and you need to think ahead carefully as you work.

I often work smaller than the finished artwork requires, and then scan at a very high resolution to enable the image to be blown up and exaggerate the naturally texture of the linework.”

Hame is published by Harvill Secker and is and out now.

Feb 6, 2017

KINGSTON ANIMATION PRIZE 2017 - The Master and Margarita

The third place for this year’s prize was awarded to The Master and Margarita.

The judges said: ‘I love the procession of the cast in front of the fixed point, really unusual. The book itself is pretty bonkers so it was great to see that sense of anarchical humour coming through.’

We’ll be posting each of the animations this week or go to the Vintage Books YouTube channel to see all the entries now.

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Feb 3, 2017

AGAINST EMPATHY - Paul Bloom

In a divided world, empathy is not the solution, it is the problem; a source of prejudice, not kindness.

Against Empathy overturns widely held assumptions to reveal one of the most profound yet overlooked sources of human conflict. It demonstrates with absolute clarity that, when faced with moral decisions, we must choose reason and compassion, not empathy as our guides.

Whilst we were designing the cover last August, the editor saw Vanitas XVII, a photograph by John Philips at the Royal Academy’s Summer Exhibition. He realised the photograph would eloquently express the tone and theme of the book and advised us to go and see it. The photograph worked really well on our cover and we were delighted to be able to work with John Philips.

The photograph above was taken at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, and the many red dots show just how many prints had already been bought at the time of our visit.

Against Empathy is available now.

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