Digital books is at a rapid growth and currently make up 20 percent of all books sold to the general public in the US alone. As the digital market is expanding, the need for analogue books is becoming more redundant. The redesign of the prodigious novel Star Maker, by William Olaf Stapledon, first published in 1937, serves as an experiment on highlighting the qualities of a book's physical existence, some of which cannot be accommodated by an e-book.

In many studies people understand and remember what they read on paper better than what they read on screens. The thickness of read and unread pages helps to form a coherent mental map of the text providing a much firmer sense of place than a progress bar. Paper and ink reflect ambient light. Computers and tablets emit light, which may tire eyes and tax concentration. Surveys also suggest that the sensory aspects of reading on paper matter to people more than one might assume: the feel of paper and ink; the option to smooth or fold a page with one's fingers; the distinctive sound a page makes when turned. So far digital texts have not satisfyingly replicated such sensations.

 

This project is a comprehensive study of paper material, text layout and physical size. The book features various paper goods and weights along with a bookcase containing 16 A5-sized artworks representing a visual interpretation of each chapter, and a square-sized constellation map of the books content.

 

Typography: Calendas Plus.