Covered love

The old adage warns us not to judge a book by its cover, but with such a range of materials and inks out there, a designer ignores it at their peril, says Clare Dowdy

Genius 3 book

Genius 3 book

Designed: Intro

Cover: Hello Silk from Robert Horne

Genius 3 is the third in a series of books documenting the global denim obsession, this time featuring images shot by Kai Regan. Nylon magazine founder and editor-in-chief Marvin Scott Jarrett, who is behind the series, commissioned Intro to design and art direct the book. Intro design director Matt Cook combined Regan’s shots with hand-drawn graphic section breaks.

Originally, Cook wanted a mirror board for the cover, as he was after something in very bad taste. But the board cracked under pressure during printing, so instead he went for the glossy stock, Hello Silk. Cook made it even glossier by laminating it. ‘I wanted it to be garish, so used fluoro pink and black, to give it a retro punk rock feel. This is in complete contrast to the touchy-feely quality of the inside pages, which are Robert Horne’s Tauro and Kaskad papers. ‘In terms of paper, I was after clash rather than continuity,’ says Cook.

Baseline magazine

Design: Hans Dieter Reichert and Paul Spencer

Jacket: Peregrina Diamond from GF Smith

Quarterly graphics magazine Baseline is planning a series of jackets-as-posters through GF Smith, and this is the first. It has been distributed internationally, except in the US where bookshops don’t stock jacketed magazines.

Baseline designer and editor Hans Dieter Reichert and designer Paul Spencer created the jacket design, entitled War is Archaic.

‘We wanted a crazy, vivid, dramatic image, as that was how we perceived the situation with the Iraq war,’ says Reichert. Peregrina Diamond was chosen for its sparkling effect, and its ability to lift the ink. Lift is also achieved through the use of yellow and magenta dayglo inks. The jacket series is an opportunity to experiment, and the next jacket, says Reichert, will be on uncoated paper.

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