This text-only record is part of the interactive AIGA Design Archives where you can view more details, zoom into images and explore other works in the definitive online resource on American design.
 |
Design Category
Book design, 2005
Design firm
McSweeney’s Publishing (San Francisco, California)
Collection
(2006) 50 Books/50 Covers of 2005
|
We began by just fooling around, tearing and folding various scraps of paper. We wanted to create something that initially appeared like a fairly ordinary book, with book dimensions, a spine, etc.—and then mess with that as much as possible. Once we settled on the four-pocket format, we then searched for content that would make it necessary—four different categories of material, works that required a pocket, etc. It all came together serendipitously.
Another elegant book from Mc Sweeney’s, this one in response to a restriction imposed by their supply of bindings cloth, which resulted in the top band. Straightforward and free of design “moves,” McSweeney’s continues to demonstrate the power of “plain-speaking” design.