Design Challenge and Design Ideas

Paul Yates is a Belfast born poet, artist, and filmmaker, with a body of work spanning almost six decades. Aptly put by his patron, Lord Glentoran, ‘Paul has intuitive gift for language and remarkable imagination’. His career began at an early age, spurred on by his English teacher at the time, artist Jack Pakenham. He amassed a significant body of work throughout his career and has had multiple books of his poetry published. He sought to capture his life’s work in one piece however, which is where we enter his story.

How the brief was fulfilled

Key to our design approach was restraint, allowing the artist’s work shine and not distract from it. The text style and layout are minimal, stocks and materials were selected to harmonise with the content. The size and proportion of the book were chosen to best represent the poetry. The book is laid out in reverse chronological order – though the poet was keen that the reader could explore any section at will. To this end, we introduced a thumb tab device, something generally reserved for bibles and address books. Paul is analogue in his approach – drafts of amends would arrive to us printed and neatly marked up in a binder. The thumb tab device is a nod to that aspect of his personality, as well as serving a navigational function.

We made some design decisions to pace the book and create rhythm. We selected some of Paul’s paintings for display on section divider pages, a little of each is visible through the thumb cut outs. The haiku section is distinguished by a change in paper stock. Paul’s handwriting is unique, and he writes with red ink. It features at scale on sub divider spreads and on the cover, and his distinctive blotting paper on the end papers. The book is protected by a slipcase featuring a full wrap around of his painting ‘Marine Tattie Bogle’. The burst of colour contrasting with the sparsity of the cover design. Altogether, it is a book designed in concert with the artist’s work.