Alastair Little’s Italian Kitchen
Alastair Little
Published by Ebury Press, 1996 (Hardback)
Design by the Senate
Photography James Merrell
Food styling Louise Pickford
Styling Roisin Nield
This is a book that I seldom consult and have only made a couple of recipes from. It is difficult to analyse why I don’t use the book more often because, on the surface, it appears to be a reasonably well-designed book, with a selection of authentic Italian recipes that have been adapted for the home cook that are nicely presented and photographed and with some parts that are pleasing to look at However, there are several elements of the design of the book that I actively dislike: the designer has used a lot of Helvetica extended which immediately provokes a negative reaction in me; I am not a great fan of extended typefaces - Helvetica extended, to my mind, always appears a bit ‘cheesy’. Aside from issues of my own personal taste, analysing the design further yields other problems: the major one is that there are too many styles and weights of Helvetica. I think that the design would communicate more clearly and would be more cohesive with less styles and weights - the effect would be calmer and the eye would be able to settle on the page, aiding the reading experience. In addition, if fewer styles, weights and sizes were used and with more discretion, i.e. to add emphasis, this would help the reader navigate the different kinds of information on the page, as it is, the hierarchy of the different types of information is confusing. There are some basic issues of legibility: Helvetica extended light has been used for the lists of ingredients and for the running heads; this is not an easy typeface to read, with tight tracking it becomes even more difficult.
Taste is a difficult issue; the things that appear ‘wrong’ in this book are largely due to what I perceive as good or bad design. Legibility is an issue and there are parts of this book which are difficult - but not impossible - to read. I have tried hard to analyse this book in a neutral way, without any preconceived ideas, but it’s hard to dismiss your own personal taste in the same way as it is difficult to look at a title in isolation - your reading is always informed by what you already know and what you have already seen.
Front cover
The cover is divided exactly in two: the top half contains a photograph; the lower half features the title and author of the book. The photograph shows courgettes, complete with flowers, in a woven basket. The basket is placed on a rough wooden surface which could be a table, bench or floor. The lighting suggests that the photograph has been taken outdoors, under some kind of shade, with bright sunlight dappling on to the courgettes and wooden boards. The courgettes, the rustic basket and the strong sunlight signify the Mediterranean and, with the title of the book, lead the viewer to believe that the photograph has been shot in Italy. The title of the book is reversed out, in white, of a warm, sunny yellow box with the author’s name set above in a pale terracotta and the subtitle of the book set below. All are set in a condensed sans-serif, possibly Impact.
The hierarchy of the cover is shared equally between text and image. Within the panel of text the author’s name and the title of the book have equal billing; despite the title of the book being set almost three times larger than the author’s name, it recedes and appears less dominant because of the minimal contrast of white against yellow. It is difficult to look at the typography on the cover of this book without thinking of the design of the highly successful The River Café Cook Book - published (by the same publisher) two years before, in 1994 - which uses a similar arrangement of type. Books are not designed in isolation and commercial publishers will often rework a successful design formula knowing that customers browsing in bookshops are more likely to purchase a book that creates a sense of recognition and familiarity.
Inside Pages
The book is 19 cm by 25 cm, printed full colour on off-white matt coated paper. The layout is based on a two-column grid; the left-hand column is narrow and the right-hand wider with equal inside and outside margins and asymmetrical facing pages. The book has been designed with a confusing typographic hierarchy that uses different weights, sizes and styles of Helvetica to order the various kinds of information in the book: titles are bold and extended; the author’s commentary is set in medium, ranged left and extends across the width of the grid; the ingredients are set in light extended across the width of the narrow column; the method is set in regular, ranged left across the width of the wider column; in addition, there are ‘Little Tips’, snippets of useful information for the cook,which are set in medium extended. Above each tip, the words ‘Little’ and ‘Tips’ are set in light and bold at 50% black, respectively, the two words are also underlined. The effect is confusing and somewhat disorientating: the most dominant element on the page are the ‘Little Tips’ which draw the reader’s eye away from the main body of information.
The book is divided into sections, each dealing with a kind of food; Antipasti, Zuppe e Minestroni, Pasta, Gnocchi e Crespelle etc. Each section opens with a double-page spread: on the verso is a large numeral, representing the chapter number, set in Helvetica light extended and placed in the centre of the page; on the recto, the title of the chapter, set in Helvetica light extended, positioned centrally, is reversed out of a coloured page, one colour for each chapter. These spreads function as breathing spaces in the book, acting as a kind of punctuation, a full stop that causes the viewer to pause for a moment. From a typographic perspective, these pages are one of the more pleasing parts of the book; it is nice to see the numerals at a large sizes but, I wonder what these double-page spreads, with minimal information, signify to the general reader - they could, perhaps, be perceived as an indulgence on the part of the designer.
Photography is used throughout the book to illustrate the finished dishes and, occasionally, in a more diagrammatic manner to demonstrate techniques. Photographs are usually shown full bleed and generally appear on the recto; there are occasional double-page spreads. The food is shown close-up with the camera at a very low angle; a variety of serving dishes, cooking pots and crockery is used throughout, these are photographed on a variety of surfaces - gingham cloths, rough linen and wooden chopping boards, signifying relaxed and casual dining. Unlike the cover photograph which establishes the idea of al fresco Mediterranean living, the photographs inside the book appear to be interior shots that suggest domesticity. Surprisingly, there are no Italian signifiers, the photography with its vivid reds and greens, lets the food, which takes centre stage, do the talking.