Design Challenge and Design Ideas

The challenge put to photographer Rich Gilligan here was to capture a suite of images through traditional means, depicting life in inner city Dublin. From a design point-of-view this project was an exercise in narrative, how the content would be consumed by the reader. The intention was to create a book that would have spreads presenting themselves in altering states, sometimes hiding information, sometimes developing into new juxtapositions of type and image. From a craft point-of-view this project was about staying true to traditional materials and methods of production, the intention being to bring all aspects of the book together in an holistic, hand-made object.

How the brief was fulfilled

These images were shot on traditional 35mm B&W film resulting in a series which is very raw and direct. The images were framed in shot and no image manipulation occurred. The final edit has been enlarged by hand from the 35mm negatives onto 10×8 inch resin coated Ilford MGIV by Barbara Wilson at her darkroom in London.

This book is presented in a new and interesting format by employing a modular grid system and the use of several narrower pages to allow the reader to engage with the content in a seemingly interchangeable way. Content hides behind several pages and on their turning new juxtapositions form as previous content disappears. Photographs have been hand scored and folded around the edges of some pages, leading the reader’s eye from one spread to the next. The mix of hand-painted bookcloth, soft handmade paper and rigid matte photographic paper adds tactility above and beyond the impression of the letterpress printing. An additional portfolio of photographic prints allows the reader to extend their interaction with the book.

Colophon:
The text has been typeset by hand in metal type and letterpress printed by Jamie Murphy at Distillers Press, NCAD, Dublin. The type is Adrian Frutiger’s *Méridien* printed here in 14 and 24 point (the ‘normal’ weight was released by Deberny & Peignot in 1957 followed by the italic in 1966). Rich Gilligan’s photographs were captured in Dublin city over the last days of 2017. They have been enlarged by hand from the 35mm negatives onto resin coated Ilford MGIV by Barbara Wilson at her darkroom in London. The water-marked 200 gsm handmade paper was commissioned for this book from the Velké Losiny Mill in the Czech Republic. Printed in an edition of 80 copies. The bindings were executed by Craig Jensen, assisted closely by Marc Hammonds, at BookLab II, San Marcos, Texas. Standard copies are bound in painted cloth over boards, housed in a cloth slipcase. Deluxe copies are bound in full alum tawed goat and are each housed, accompanied by a portfolio containing eight additional photographic prints, in a painted cloth covered solandar box.