Book Design Show

On Friday I went to the Book Design Show at the University Press of Kansas.

They gave me a free book showing the winners from the 2011 Book, Jacket, and Journal Show!

After looking through all the books on display, I thought I would make a comparison of some of the Table of Contents since this is one aspect of our upcoming project. I thought it was interesting how, although they all share the same function, they look so completely different.

      One book in particular really struck me-- called Infinite City by Rebecca Solnit. Initially its cover caught my eye. It had some really interesting textural elements; the cover felt like a cardboard material, but the text on the back was printed on a smooth paper.

When I opened it, I discovered it also had a very unique layout and design. 

(sadly however, the pictures are not very high quality considering they came from my phone)

The book also had some very interesting and amusing maps:

And speaking of amusing (though unrelated)... I also found this silly little cactus: