Designblog

I looked up books with my first keyword: soft.
Soon I got guided to the first floor in the library section 779,0 .

It was my first time in that section of the library, and that somehow made it feel like an adventure. A search for something I didn’t even know yet.
The section is all about textiles, wowing, carpets and all subjects related to fabrics. That pleased me, and I would occasionally take out a book I found interesting.

But then as I was gliding my hands though the shelf, I found it: A soft velvet book, in the shade of deep marron red. “De fluwelen verleiding” by Hans ferrée.

My immediately impression of the book reminded me a lot of my previous choice. A5, slim and with an unfamiliar language on the cover.
But the more I looked the more it gained its own personality and charm.
It makes quite an impression: velvet make one think of value and the rich cursive letter speaks of abundance. It claims your attention – this book is far from modest.

The nature of the velvet welcomes you. It felt like it had been waiting there for me, begging to be touched. The color made it immediately important – royal.  Such a deep red color gives it a certain association with power, history, strong emotions, and even a touch of danger – a blood red warning. A glimpse of fobidden fruit.

The title “De fluwelen verleiding” is written in clear-white cursive and quite demanding, as the take on a certain space on the cover. The text quickly realized to be Dutch by Henk Groenendijk, and translated to: “The velvet seduction”. Amazing. Suddenly the book seems more erotic and sensual.

In the middle of the front there is an odd symbol: an interesting graphic mark in black and white. It is the only shiny part of the book, which only adds to the mystery. The pattern of the mark reminds me of a small carpet on a loom. A quite nostalgic feel.

The back is without words, as to say that red velvet is enough information, and the spine quite worn, the letters almost dissolved. Maybe from the tool of time, or maybe from greedy hands?

You could imagine such a book to be too much – distasteful and kitsch.
But for me it is quite the opposite. I see this book as a classic.

779,0 fer 1.

In the library, I was first overwhelmed by the fact that I had to make a choice.
…
Because of my mood, I was drawn to all the books which seemed to hold a certain amount of history – in other words, old and mysterious.
I was lingering at a big blue book with no inscriptions, when I first saw it:

SCHRIFTKUNDE, SCHREIBÛBUNGEN UND SKIZZIEREN
Ein kleines Lehrbuch der Schrift für Setzer und Graphiker
– Von Jan Tschichold
Almost too thin to be of any importance. A5, 77 pages, and rather uneven around the edges. The color is a light slightly yellow brown, the main title in black capital letters and the further inscription in dark toned orange cursive.

Maybe I felt a bit of myself reflected in the design, or maybe I was drawn by the nostalgia and romance I often ascribe to objects which are a bit ‘old-fashioned’.  A weakness of mine.

Immediately I felt the need to give this book a certain personification.
To claim that this book has a character, and with it a history hidden in its scruffy pages.  It is almost stoic, with its simple design.
Moderate, German = serious, important.

The plastic cover for protection is exhausted, and has been repaired, giving the book an even dodgier look. The plastic reflects the light and makes me think of grease shining on the forehead of old sweaty men.

Although my German is a bit rusty, I try to decipher the title; SCHRIFTKUNDEN – ‘the art of writing’.
The text on the back is a bit more confusing, but overall I get some words: Typographic, graphic art, learning and maybe something about photography too.

The backside only confirms my notion of this book and its author.
Jan Tschichold makes his own introduction of the book, mentioning its precise size (148 x 210 mm), number of edition (112), publisher, something about the paper and the prize of the book (5 Franken), which I find amusing.

Typography – the artwork of creating letters and numbers.

The beauty of an alphabet has always fascinated me.
I remember making up my own alphabets as a child:
Aa, Bb, Cc, Dd, Ee, Ff, Gg, Hh, Ii, Jj, Kk, Ll, Mm, Nn, Oo, Pp, Qq, Rr, Ss, Tt, Uu, Vv, Xx, Ww, Yy, Zz, Ææ, Øø, Åå. I would write them over and over again.
Different sizes, lengths of the lines, curves, dips and turns,
Words as drawings, numbers as symbols. Somehow it was important for me to claim the letters. Taking over, making it into my personal alphabet, in a sense conquering the language.

After this notion I felt softness. A sense of safety mixed with the slight sadness of nostalgia. I remembered other things. Smells, touches., sounds.
And I felt grateful.

Book number, 757.4-tsch-5

Purple Rain

I had to look for another book based on the keywords of 40 years of Chinese rock’n’roll. First I tried all my chosen tags. But nothing came out of it, so I just typed in Rock and then I got the title The art of Rock. I found the book easily. But the first thing I noticed when I actually saw the book was the weight of it.
The colour purple remind me the most of royalty and Prince. Maybe the two things go together. Prince has something royal in his way of performing. On the book cover the colour white turns into deep deep purple. The hair exists out of flames. If you look long enough you can read: the art of rock posters from Presley to punk. I saw the cover maybe 15 times but never saw the text into the fire hair flames. That’s some nice graphic art work! My first thought was that the man on the cover is still smiling with his head over his shoulder, but his hair is fire? Also he looked pretty pleased with himself. Most people whose hair is on fire don’t smile that cool. So is it sacrifice for being cool or is he just being stupid?

Tina Turner also smiling over her shoulder but with some more sexiness and joy. Wearing clothes that you normally don’t wear to the supermarket.

But then Jimmy Hendrix his hair turned into snakes.

There are some similar connections between these 3 pictures. But there are also other images on the back of the cover. I have to mention the rolling stones with the two falling dices poster. Because I have to mention them.

Rietveld Library cat.nr: 754.1