SPINELESS CLASSICS

These books have the most cunning binding of all - none!

Spineless Classics are posters that contain the entire text of classic works of literature, cunningly set so that the text creates a silhouetted shape related to the book. They are primarily meant as decoration, rather than to be read, but it is possible to read them if you don't mind climbing a wall and squinting at them. I will focus on their design, both how well it looks and how it relates to the book's content.

As with all endeavours, some are more successful than others.

... I'm going to try really hard not to just repost their entire list, but bear with me. Here goes:

Peter Pan, 700x1000mm

PAT THE ZOMBIE, Aaron Ximm and Kaveh Soofi

Like Paper Blossoms, Pat the Zombie uses a children’s book format in a book for an adult audience. Pat the Zombie is a parody of children’s tactile books; a ‘cruel adult spoof’, as it styles itself. The book’s design aesthetic successfully mimics the spoofed genre, but poor production means Pat the Zombie the book looks even tackier than its premise promises. Sadly, Pat the Zombie fails where Paper Blossoms succeeded. Both tactile and pop-up books require design and construction to work together, but Pat the Zombie’s design fails to take into account the limitations of its construction, and its construction is flimsy and poorly designed.

Pat the Zombie in its presentation box. 

ATHFIELD ARCHITECTS, Julia Gatley

Books about design bear the greatest expectations when it comes to their own design – it’s hard to sell a reader on your subject if you fail to live up to it yourself (and you are a book). Athfield Architects ably lives up to the challenge. This solid coffee-table book has slick design inside and out, with plenty of well-presented images and attention to detail.

BILL HAMMOND: JINGLE JANGLE MORNING, Jennifer Hay et al

This book has one distinctive feature that differentiates it from the other coffee-table art books I have seen: its jacket doubles as a poster but, rather than the poster image being on the inside of the jacket, the poster has been folded so that it creates the jacket cover, complete with title. This is an appealing concept, as the purchaser gets a ‘free’ print of Hammond’s Jingle Jangle Morning to hang on their wall and accompany the book. 

RADICAL SKUBIC JEWELRY

This jewelry art book’s deconstructed design is interesting, but has a negative effect on its presentation of images and heavy text.

THERE WAS AN OLD WOMAN, Gavin Bishop

This board book for toddlers is based on a traditional nursery rhyme, illustrated by Gavin Bishop.

The book’s construction is typical for books aimed at this demographic: square, chunky, small enough for the toddler to turn the thick pages without help, durable enough to withstand enthusiastic gnawing. The corners not attached to the spine are rounded, preventing their use as eye-poking devices and reducing the risk of them becoming worn and frayed over time. 

BRIEFCASE, John Adams

This slim book of poetry by Auckland judge and poet John Adams marries text and design to create a pleasing whole.