My fifth collaboration with Bromide books.

(Pictures below)

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The first collaboration of Bromide books with established and renown photographers, the german duo Billy & Hells was brought to my hands for designing a one-of-a-kind printed matter.

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This work was more challenging than ever, as the photographers agreed with the publisher to not produce a conventional book. Neither a catalog nor a "best-off" collection.

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Speaking with the photographers, they developed their point of view for this book through a dark and mysterious selection, with the will to add no text nor explanations to it, and expressing their taste for a large format, like the historical German magazine of the 80-90's "The Manipulator", printed like an oversized newspaper dedicated to Photography and Art.

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See more about "The Manipulator" HERE.

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As the texture and details of Billy and Hells' pictures is amazing but the immersion difficult, I solve this issue by suggesting a singular design where several newspaper prints delivers a larger picture every time you unfold a page, until you end with a large poster in B1 size picture.

Then B5 > B4 > B3 > B2 > B1 as you unfold the prints.

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The B series is defined in the standard as follows: "A subsidiary series of sizes is obtained by placing the geometrical means between adjacent sizes of the A series in sequence." The use of the geometric mean makes each step in size: B0, A0, B1, A1, B2 … smaller than the previous one by the same factor. As with the A series, the lengths of the B series have the ratio √2, and folding one in half (and rounding down to the nearest millimetre) gives the next in the series. The shorter side of B0 is exactly 1 metre. (Wikipedia)

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More than a simple hommage to The Manipulator, this design give back the photographs to their place in the hands of the owners; you can manipulate the pictures freely, pin them on a wall or even frame them for display.

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The design keep the photo selection of Billy & Hells still mysterious, but the unfolding of every pages is like opening a door to a room with another door inside, and doing it again and again , like a David Lynch dolly shot in a movie, transmitting this strange feeling that every time you think you're getting closer you're a little more lost.  

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For the wrapping band, I get inspired by mixing the basics of a 60's form (divider lines and typewriter filling) with the typeface chosen as an hommage to Saul Bass' work on Alfred Hitchcock's VERTIGO opening title, whose movie remind me of Billy & Hells' pictures mood and colors.

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Watch the full book : https://youtu.be/QZMv9ujuxLs

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Clic on pictures to enlarge.

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