It is hard to believe that we ever thought the internet would spell the end of printed publications. This book proves the opposite – the medium has flourished as artists and designers have continued to exploit the tactile appeal of holding a book, while pushing the capabilities of materials, paper stocks, cutting and folding techniques, embossing, bindings, and special finishes. The variety of graphic styles featured within this book spans from recognisable mass-market titles to handcrafted or limited edition artist books. I’m not going to dwell on specific examples within this book as this is a publication that works as a visual treat in its entirety, and one that deserves a thorough thumbing.

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Product Description

Many prophesised that the printed book would be doomed by developments in digital media, but the Book has not only survived, it has enjoyed a renaissance. Unhindered experimentation with bound paper pages and the materiality of the medium gives sensual emphasis to complex visual and textual content. Some content isn t even apparent until it takes the form of a real object the printed book. Fully Booked is devoted to current cover and book design. It presents material from printed publications that succeed in striking a crucial balance between the market s demands for availability, legibility and durability on the one hand and sophisticated visual and content design on the other. By featuring projects in this experimental field that combine enormous creativity with skilled craftsmanship, Fully Booked also reveals trends in today s graphic design. In addition, Fully Booked presents a choice selection of artist books. Created by hand and printed in limited editions, these publications push the boundaries of conventional book design. Fully Booked also has a unique book design of its own and is a turn-around book with one side focusing on cover art and the other revealing today s unprecedented experimentation with the creation of book design as artistic objects. Its range of inspiring examples not only makes this book a must-have for graphic designers, book creators and publishers, but also for every booklover.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #106513 in Books
• Published on: 2008-05-27
• Format: Illustrated
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 272 pages

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Customer Reviews

Perfect bound
Cultural commentators frequently write about the potential decline of books in the digital age and they might be right as far as literature is concerned. The arrival of the Sony Reader, Amazon's Kindle and other electronic readers could mean that today's young grow up reading literature on anything other than paper. Perhaps not so easy to present visual books in an electronic format but I expect it will come but what can't be digitised is the feel of a book: the weight, texture of quality paper, pictures printed in four colour with a varnish fifth printing, binding and even the aroma gives a bound book something special. You can hear them say "Open me!"

The editors of Fully Booked like create the impression that books are alive and well though I thought the message was rather diluted because so many of the wonderful examples shown exist as just one copy. So these artists and designers have used the medium of bound paper to create works of Art rather than beautiful examples of printed art run of in hundreds or thousands of copies and available to a wide audience.

Whether it's one copy or thousands there is no doubt that the pages display some quite amazing and fascinating creativity on paper. Is there one example that sums it all up? For me that would be `Your Home' by Olafur Eliasson, a nine hundred page oversize book that features various cross-sections of a house which have been laser cut into the pages so that you physically pass through the building as the pages are turned.

Other intriguing books include Susanna Berkenheger's `Time for the Bomb' which has large die-cut holes punched through many of its two hundred pages though it does seem that these eliminate lots of text. Robert The creates art by using books as objects like a gun shape stamped out from a novel, Jason Salavon cleverly uses an IKEA 2007 catalogue minus the photos and text so all that is left are 374 pages of the background color panels (yours for $500) Tank Books had the neat idea of publishing classics that fit inside flip-top cartons with clever packaging design that combines the author and title in a cigarette box style graphics.

Fully Booked is a visual feast of one edition books and others published in many copies but it is unfortunate that the book's production takes on some of the experimental design that is apparent in many of the titles illustrated. For a start the book is printed in two sections, look through the first 141 pages and then you'll have to turn the book over to look at the other 121 pages. I can't see any reason for this other than designer whimsy! There are two contributors essays filling sixteen pages throughout the book, none of them have page numbers even though one essay refers to the others by page number. The illustrations are keyed to the captions with a numerals set a five point light face so you'll have problems reading these in a domestic lighting environment. The middle of the book has a ten page designer index and oddly the book's imprint is part of this. All of this suggests to me that the publishers seem rather unprofessional in the way they present information book buyers.

Apart from the lapse in some of the editorial production (so four stars) Fully Booked will amaze anyone interested about contemporary book creativity.