ISTD book 2017: Typography
Shortlisted for ISTD 2017 : Makers
Of the several topics that were given for 2017's ISTD entries, I chose to look at a craftsperson. It was proposed in the brief that traditional crafts are dying out, so the task was to highlight a local craftsperson and give them voice. I honed in on horology (the art of repairing and making watches and clocks).
I have always been fascinated by the intricate mechanics of clocks, and so it was really interesting to have an opportunity to further examine this topic, which was once the leading field in science, astrology and crafts.
The book was bound by the wonderfully patient Tom from Duffy's Bookbinders.
It is bound with orange cloth with a clock embossed on the front. The minute hand is pointing to the bottom right corner, an invitation for the reader to open book.
I struggled initially to try and express something that I find so visually interesting and engaging through typography alone. It was hard to not put images of rusted cogs and wheels and to find another way to bring these elements in. For this reason, I kept the colour palette very simple, white pages with black and gold text and the odd insertion of copper blue quotation marks. The clock face is the only image within the book.
One of the core concepts was the pendulum swinging. It sways from left to right and back again, always keeping the same time and rhythm. I brought this idea of rhythm in to the project, sometimes over a double page spread the pendulum will swing from top left, down through the middle of the page up to the top right. Other times, the pendulum swings over a four page spread (like the images above and below), carrying the observers eye through a spread and picking it up on the following page.
It is, I feel, impossible to study horology without also examining time. Time is continuous, predictable, ever changing. Some say its linear, some say it cyclical. Time is a concept that has locked physicists, mathematicians, astrologers, philosophers and more in debate for many years, and will do so for many years to come.
