One of the major projects I’ve worked on at Manasc Isaac is the redesign of Vivian Manasc’s book Agora Borealis: Engaging in Sustainable Architecture. The concept behind the book’s design comes from the idea of conversation and dialogue as a means to achieve more sustainable buildings. The book itself is a type of conversation; multiple authors tell the story and quotes from writers, architects and project stakeholders are smattered throughout the text. A simple speech bubble, repeated and varied endlessly throughout the book communicates this concept and serves as the building block for illustrations, the root of patterns, the carrier of pull-quotes and the structure for layouts. I did all the design and illustration for the book, and also contributed some of the photography.
The author wanted the book to read more like a magazine—which is generally scanned quickly and non-linearly—than a book, which is read cover to cover. She suggested ‘multiple points of entry’ that would catch the reader’s eye as they flipped through the book, and make them stop and read a section or quote. Colour is used to delineate chapters, and to carry the aurora theme through the book. A two column grid helps the book read like a magazine, as do the energetic pull-quotes and bold spot illustrations.
By carefully researching local printers and press sizes, and having the book printed on a larger press, I was able to save the company over 20% in printing costs. Not only did the 218 page book cost 4/5 the price of the first edition, it’s also in full colour—with 17 times more colour pages than the previous edition in 2002.
I’m also proud to say that book is about as sustainable as it gets; there wasn’t a single tree used in its production. After hours of research into the credibility/effectiveness of the various forest certification programs, examining the sustainability differences in coated vs. uncoated paper stocks, tracing and factoring in distances travelled from forest to pulp mill to paper mill to printer, and researching local printers and the impact of their operations, I specified an uncoated, 100% post-consumer content, FSC certified stock, manufactured in Canada using biogas energy. The book was printed using vegetable based inks, at a local FSC certified printer.
Buy a copy here.
