Judge's comments:

A very clever piece of editorial design. We loved the deconstruction/reconstruction idea and the timeless execution.

Description:

‘If the book appears to be only a paper machine, produced at their own convenience by other machines, only machines will want to read it’

— Robert Bringhurst, ‘The Elements of Typographic Style’

‘A Book With No Orientation’ is a collaborative exploration into the potential of a deconstruction and reconstruction of a 21st century reading experience. Through a series of experimental volumes, elements of the traditional book are pulled apart to be examined, questioned, and challenged.

We chose 24 of the most crucial characteristics of a book, both physical and non-physical, to be the inspiration for what ended up being a total of 14 volumes. These characteristics soon became the bones of a manifesto, turning A Book With No Orientation into the beginning of a debate regarding the relationship between content and form. The structure for how we navigated an ambitious and open-ended project like this was heavily inspired by the French literary group, the Oulipo. They resolved to invent novel literary forms, new ways to tell stories. Their work may be rooted in the construction of a piece of text rather than the format that the text takes but their ideologies of a playful Avant-garde still resonated with us.

Each volume carries with it a unique concept, ranging from complex and serious to simple and light-hearted but no matter the scope, the underlying idea needed to be sound. Concrete Principles mimics architecture's use of light as material to create shifting focal points within its text. 45 Personal Epitaphs stretches the intimate nature of the book to create a format for multiple readers. Beneath The Surface enhances its narrative by showcasing multiple viewpoints through a deeper utilization of the page. Coalescence 01 & 02 symbolizes the ‘coming together’ that occurred, capturing the shared blood, sweat, and tears that we both poured into A Book With No Orientation.

It’s fitting that this project ends on an opening statement rather than a closing one. As newly emerging designers we were not ready to accept the rules already written regarding book design when we had no say in their conception. A Book With No Orientation was our chance to proclaim what we think book design should look like, however naive. As with any opinion, we are aware that it will drift, morph, and solidify as time passes and as such we are not finishing with A Book With No Orientation but merely starting it.