Clouds
A book imagined, designed, and crafted entirely by yours truly, Clouds is a project that blends my fascination with nature and my love for visual design. The book is organized into four sections: sky, earth, human, and space. Using various materials and book binding techniques to influence the texture, form, and reading experience of the book. Each section allows the reader to expand their perception of what a cloud can be, while providing meditative pacing through intentionally placed descriptive language that amplifies and complement the curated imagery of each cloud.
Time Frame
Six weeks
Year
2024
Tools
InDesign, Figma, PVA Glue, X-Acto Knife, Needle and Thread, Beeswax, Vice, Rasp, Folding Bone
Team
Solo
The Process
The Mood
One of my main goals for this project was to make a book where the physicality of the subject matter was an integral part of the reading experience. To accomplish this I started with a mood board, a method that I use often to narrow down and sharpen my initial concepts.
The Plan
Once I was satisfied with where the mood board was taking me, I listed the content I wanted to include and organized each topic using a page map to visualize the book’s layout and features.
The Materials
I experimented with the construction and materials of the book, playing with how I could invoke the physicality of a cloud through the way the book looked and felt to use. After experimenting with different solutions, I decided the most effective way to evoke clouds for this project would be through manipulating paper materials. I used torn paper, which mimics the shape and appearance of cloud tops, and thin, translucent paper to communicate the ethereal and permeable nature of clouds.
Proof of Concept
When I felt confident about the final design I made a high fidelity prototype by making the book in miniature. This process was inspired by Dutch graphic designer and bookmaker, Irma Boom’s practice of making miniature books.
Making the miniature book allowed me to confirm two primary concepts: first, if the torn pages separating the four sections of the book provided the unique visual experience I was seeking and second, if the deckled texture of the page edges made by clamping the book block and rasping the edges would present the way I hoped.
The Outcome
The Cover
The cover was something I had considered throughout the entire process of designing this book. The embossed title and textured white cotton paper serves as a direct visual reference to the form of clouds.
Four Sections
The four sections are each divided by a ripped page, creating a visual element within the book itself that replicates the fluffy and irregular outline of cloud tops.
The smaller cropped image communicates to the reader that they are leaving one section while the full bleed image behind the torn image shows what is next in this journey through four distinct types of clouds.
Section typography
Each section has around nine different types of clouds, each with a description that uses typography and unique word placement that responds to and interacts with the imagery.
In spreads like this one the typography is mimicking the action of the cloud pictured, such as tumbling down the page and breaking apart.
Often in the first spread about a type of cloud, I left the typography for later pages in the sequence.
In this instance the image is already fairly symmetrical and on a grid so I made sure the text was also symmetrical and on a grid.
Another spread with very little type, this time the description is spread throughout the next couple pages to give an airy and light reading experience for the very airy and light cloud it is describing.
In spreads like this the type is responding to the image in a way that annotates different parts of the cloud.
Vellum Articles
The goal with the transparent articles was to invoke the sense of movement, time, and dimension that clouds have as they move through the sky.
As you turn the page...
It's like watching the clouds slowly change shape,
or like diving through a foggy cloud structure.
The Final Deliverable
Clouds is a project that reflects my appreciation for the mystery of the physical world and my journey as a design student. In creating this almost 300 page book, I worked to express my creative vision through newly honed skills, each technique and application chosen with care to best communicate the information I wanted to share and feelings I hoped to evoke.
