I just started reading My Favorite Plant: Writers and Gardeners on the Plants They Love, edited by Jamaica Kincaid. This is the December selection for the Garden Blogger's Book Club, hosted by Carol at May Dreams Garden. Since it's December in Minnesota, and there is very little to blog about in the garden, I will devote more than one post to the book.
Although I've read the first four selections, in this post I want to address design. Someone along the way - either the publisher or Kincaid herself - put a lot of thought into how My Favorite Plant is presented to the reader. It is obvious that conscious design decisions were made at each step.
The book itself is small - about 4.74" by 6.25" - and it feels good in the hand. Normally, I don't pay any attention to the size of a book unless it's very large and cumbersome. In this case, though, each time I pick it up, I think, "This is just the right size for a book." It has the pleasing solidity of a hardcover along with the useful size of a paperback. Nice.
As we turn to graphics and design, we again see how much thought has been put into the physicality of My Favorite Plant. The color of the hard cover (inside the dust jacket) matches the color of the title on the dust jacket, which picks up some of the tones in the photo of the hibiscus flower. Inside the book, each chapter begins on a right-hand page. The left-hand page has a two-color design (which is different for each chapter) - grayscale with one highlight color. The highlight color is the same as the color of the hard cover.
Even the typeface used for the text contributes to the design. The font is called "Mrs. Eaves" and it is a design I've never seen used for text. The version of "Mrs. Eaves" used in My Favorite Plant has a little "fillip" - I don't know how else to describe it - that connects certain letters. This little extra "something" shows that this is not just "some book" but a book that has been put together carefully to please the eye.
Here's a sample:
(However, although I appreciate how the font contributes to the overall design of the book, I personally don't like it. I find it distracting - I trip over the words as I read.)
At this point you're asking, what is she getting at? In some ways, the design of My Favorite Flower is a reflection of garden design. One of the precepts of "good" garden design is to re-use a few plants and/or colors throughout the garden to unify it and allow the eye to find a rhythm. In the same way, My Favorite Flower has also used specific design elements to tie the book together. This is an anthology with 33 different authors with vastly different writing styles, and contains a mix of poetry and prose. This particular "garden" could get messy very quickly. However, through a deft use of design, the disparate elements of My Favorite Flower are brought together and given a rhythm.
Now, if I could only be so disciplined in my own garden!
I noticed that odd font as well, and have found it a bit distracting. But I do understand why they used it as one of several design elements to tie together writings by different authors. Thanks for the post and for being the 1st in the GBBC to contribute this month. I look forward to more of your thoughts.
Posted by: Carol | December 07, 2006 at 08:29 PM
Those are what are called "ligatures." It used to be much more common. They probably started out in handwriting as a shortcut.
Posted by: bill | December 10, 2006 at 09:49 AM
Carol: As I'm sure you've discovered, once you start getting "into" the book, you no longer notice the font. But it takes awhile.
Bill: Thanks for the "real" name. I knew that "fillip" wasn't it!
Posted by: Talbin | December 12, 2006 at 09:24 AM