PROJECT DESCRIPTION

The book is a catalog reference of 200 photo books, from the very first photo book by Anna Atkins in 1843, to photo books published in 2018. The project was commissioned and published by the nonprofit 10x10 Photobooks in New York, who are publishing a series of photo books under various categories. This one contains all photo books of female photographers' work.

The design is subtle, straightforward, but rigorously organized to make all the information incredibly accessible and clear, almost like an encyclopedia. Design can create space for others—my intention was to use a fairly subtle design voice in throughout book to allow the individual voices of the photographers shine through.

Further, I thought about this book being an honest attempt to ‘expose’ brilliant photographic voices that may have been overshadowed or less celebrated while being equally important in the history of photography.

Silver became a material I wanted to work with because of its photographic historical significance and metaphoric implications. Silver was used in photographic black and white printing around the turn of the 20th century. Silver halide crystals in film change when they’re exposed to light, recording an image. I was interested in the subtlety of using silver ink throughout as a metaphor for exposure.

Silver ink is printed in some way on every page in the book, but most notably as the drop shadows behind all the images. Typically in books that catalog other photo books, all images of books are masked out, their backgrounds deleted, and given black drop shadows to make them appear like objects on a table rather than flat photographs. I wanted to use this standard language but shift it to silver, as if these works are emerging out of the shadows and into their rightful historical significance.

Printing the silver shadows was challenging. In book printing, silver ink is actually an opaque aluminum paste that is mixed with transparent white ink to make it less viscous. Because it is actually metal, it also has opacity properties that are difficult to predict when going from a digital design file to a printed book. The first shadows we printed were almost totally opaque. I worked closely with the printer to discover the proper opacity gradients to allow the silver ink to read as subtle shadows on the printed page.

Silver also became a default material for the cover, endpapers, endnotes, tabbing systems, and categorical data—essentially all of the support material which aids in the ‘development’ of the photographers and their work.

BOOK INFORMATION

Trim Size: 6.75 x 9.65

Number of Pages: 304

Binding Method: Sewn signatures, Soft cover with flaps

Paper: Arctic Volume

Typefaces: Times Seven, Arial Bold

CREDIT INFORMATION

Creative Director: Laura Coombs

Art Director: Laura Coombs

Book Designer: Laura Coombs

Jacket/Cover Designer: Laura Coombs

Illustrator:

Photographer: Jeff Gutterman

Picture Editor: Russet Lederman, Maxwell Gutterman

Production Director: Russet Lederman, Laura Coombs

Production Coordinator: Laura Coombs

Production Artist:

Other Credits:

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