Publication Design / Production
During my time spent working at Ten Speed Press, I had the pleasure of designing Jessica Marquez’s ‘Make and Mend’ The book is a thoughtfully curated guide to Sashiko, the Japanese stitching technique that uses pattern to decorate and repair clothing and other textiles. Th e book is broken into two chapters - ‘Make’, which provides readers with 8 thoughtfully designed sashiko projects, and ‘Mend’, a collection of tips and techniques for mending textiles. With two distinct camps of educational content, it was important the design helped guide the reader through the book without overwhelming them.
Following a review of the content and photo assets, I got to work compiling a tear sheet of comparable titles. I found that most craft books use simple grid structures and thumbnail images to guide the user through the content.
I worked closely with the editor to create a book map that allowed us a macro view of the books content. I started by sketching a rough map, which I then formalized to share with the author for approval.
Once we the book-map was reviewed and approved by the author, I got to work building a variety of grid systems to best present the different types of content. From here, I built out a set of sample pages to ensure consistency and content flow.
My type choice needed to reflect the delicate detailing of the sashiko patterns featured throughout the book. I opted for a light rounded sans-serif with delicate tall ascenders.
Once a type choice was made, I worked to define a typographic hierarchy for application throughout the book.
Most book covers in the Japanese craft space are delicate in design and in color. I knew I wanted to feature a stitching style as part of the cover design, and opted for a full-bleed image, using the shape of the stitches to define a color block for the title to sit.
The red title type is the only instance of the color throughout the book, but its impact and contrast help make up for it’s small scale.
Shot by the talented Berkeley based photographer and stylist Erin Scott, the project photography was light and aspirational.