Better by Design: The role of design in the making of five modern photobooks

other books

Other books that come to mind and coincidentally both come out of the realm of Dutch-Design and use the gradual change of paper to support the content are Kadir van Lohuizen's book "Diamond matters" and Henk Wildschut's "Sandrien".

The first follows the route of diamonds from the mines to their decadent display at high-society gala's. In this book the paper undergoes the same transition as the diamond, mirroring the surrounding the stone is wandering through: from rough to high carat, from matte to glossy.

In "Sandrien", a trade-ship in the Amsterdam harbour with an ominous cargo, the paper illustrates passage of time and the crews immersion with the fate of the ship: the pages turn from a cream coloured paper to a toxic orange, slowly but steadily taking on the colour of the vessel.

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While this is an interesting article in general, and an interesting choice of books, i find the author to be not very precise on details. Such as Capitolio being "almost" a Provoke-style book, which after comparison with the ideas behind the Provoke-group and the books they made simply doesn't hold true. While this is sentence with a certain ring to it, it's far more just to write that Capitolio is influenced by van der Elsken and Klein directly and aims at achieving what they had wanted to achieve. And to claim that American Photographs is a simple book is such a silly oversimplification that it's nearly a crime. Consider the fact that Evans in his show at the MOMA back in 1938 put up framed, unframed photographs and prints directly on the Wall (Wolfgang Tillmans-like) and consider the edit of this book and it's integrity - it's simply a book where there's less "design" in the choice of paper, but then it has not become a classic for lack of design, neither.

Simplistic

This is the equivalent to photobooks that John Hedgecoe's Guide is to 35mm Photography.

BTW - compare Soth's green paper to Eggleston's guide green paper??

Where? Photo book making

I am wondering where you can get the best quality photobooks made, as I am always disappointed with the results in photo analysis.
Any suggestions are welcome.

what about graphic artists?

totally left out how a graphic artist can "knit" pictures and text. our eBook "Synergy" (iTunes store) is a case in point. we fused pictures and poetry/short essays by using a top notch graphic designer. with traditional publishing stood on its head, this works for us.

Photo Book short run production

Intersting article and no surprise that Steidl get an early mention. Design is crucial just as is good paper and binding; the books illustrated all open flat, something usually impossible with short run on-demand books. Hurtwood Press are launching a new range of beautifully designed photo books that will also lay flat.