“The Dance of the Frogs” Booklet
Typography | Book Making
The creation of a booklet converying how humanity has deviated from their natural roots. The essay, “The Dance of the Frogs” by Loren Eiseley, considers that though human awareness brings important advancements, it also isolates them from belonging to the natural world.
Process
Thumbnails
Within my initial ideas, I decided to use different aspects of each in my final booklet. From my sketches in my final, I used a five-column grid and both the type sketches that are structured around paragraphs and the free-flowing sketches where type is set more poetically. I went through many iterations, having the type structured but also in smaller paragraphs; however, in the final, the result was larger paragraphs of text to mimic scientific textbooks. Each of the thumbnails represents a different idea of how to structure the text from structured to free flowing, and ulimatley from my thumbnails, the most accurate to the final would be the free structured type setting and the isolated sentences on pages. I created revisions based on my concept, and my thumbnails were a starting point for exploration as the ideas became more refined. Elements of the final can be observed in the thumbnails as the exploration of how to organize the type became clearer.
Dimensions
Dimensions :: 4.5" x 6"
Binding :: Saddle Stitch (5 Holes)
Paper Type :: Arches Watercolor Paper Hot Press 90 Lbs
Cover :: Arches Watercolor Paper Hot Press 90 Lbs
My choices for size, binding, and paper are intended to subvert the typical expectations of a booklet over the course of reading. The margins and size suggest a small research novel or field guide; however, as the reader becomes immersed in the story, the poetical, naturalistic elements highlight the meaning of the essay. The paper is thick and allows for a feeling of a luxurious reading experiance and the larger cover suggests something hidden or secret. The booklet is meant to stand out as a secret hidden and uncovered by the reader, it calls attention to something lost or isolated, bringing further depth to the meaning of the booklet.
Grid System & Type Family
Garamond Premier Pro
I selected a typeface that reads as academic with a human touch. The type has a personality that makes it highly readable and appears both academic and inviting to read. It aids my concept as humanity takes naturalistic qualities to extremes, as the text can be both highly readable and inviting to becoming broken and remaining beautiful and readable. The lines and smaller numerical and heading text emphasize the observational and advancement stance humanity has taken in nature as it slowly becomes broken, it empahizes humanities naturalistic roots. Garamond was the perfect typeface for this as its qualities lend it to be read as at times organic and others as structural. The text elements break from a paragraph form to poetic lyrical forms that follow the same small point size and medium weight.
Grid System
I chose to form my grid system to match that of academic and field journal texts, referencing the academic nature of Dreyer and the narrator’s conversation and studies. This text treatment led to five-column paragraphs running from margin to margin. The margins reference a field journal layout and ensure the text is readable. As the essay continue the text transforms to a poetically inspired reading, referencing the naturalism of Dreyer’s experience, and by extension, the experience of humanity. The text still employs the grid for readability, though it is less defined by a grided structure to reference Dreyer’s exploration of humanity and nature.
Final Flat Plan
The pacing of the text distorts as the reader follows the essay. The text begins very dense and academic and slowly transforms into a free-flowing poetic experience. The final page leads the reader to consider that, though the experience shifts Dreyer’s view of the world, he still sees himself as overcoming nature and therefore as an observer and therefore, isolated. Lines throughout the booklet come apart and break or shift, displaying a naturalistic experience.
Book Cover
The pacing of the text distorts as the reader follows the essay. The text begins very dense and academic and slowly transforms into a free-flowing poetic experience. The final page leads the reader to consider that, though the experience shifts Dreyer’s view of the world, he still sees himself as overcoming nature and therefore as an observer and therefore, isolated. Lines throughout the booklet come apart and break or shift, displaying a naturalistic experience.
Feature Spreads
