Alaska Book

The design problem was to create a hand-sized book combining photographs, drawings and writings on Fairbanks, Alaska, that would convey the acclimated life that thrives in the otherwise sunless dormant winter wonderland. The intended audience is consumers with an interest in the tactile quality of a letterpress book and in subject matter dealing with Fairbanks. The photographs and drawings were taken without any final form of the book in mind. They were later edited as the writing and language became clear in direction. Decisions for color, typography and eventually the final layouts were considered for the way each could further tell the story about the presence of the arctic city.

The solution to the design problem began with the letterpress process by giving the book a compelling reason to be held and handled by the audience. The layered forms of type, illustration, texture and color on the letterpress cover began to influence the non-letterpress pages by incorporating graphic forms and patterns using the four-color process. And the cleaner type of the text from the non-letterpress pages found their way into the letterpress cover designs as simple typographic elements of information. The letterpress process also allowed me to become environmentally responsible by printing a limited-edition run based on how many books I thought I should bring into this world.

“Unique from the minute you pick it up. Lovely.” Isabel Warren-Lynch