Tracey Emin: I Lay Here For You Book

Tracey Emin: I Lay Here For You

Edited by Eleanor Edmondson

Texts by Katy Hessel, Nicky Wilson and Claire Feeley

Photography by Keith Hunter and Allan Pollok-Morris 

Published by Jupiter Artland, Edinburgh, 2022

Designed by James Brook 

ISBN 978 1 5272 2203 8

Hardback | 165 x 220 mm | 96 pages | Printed and bound by Gomer Press Ltd, Llandysul, Wales, on Munken Lynx Smooth Natural White 170 gsm with endpapers of Colorplan Candy Pink 135 gsm; matt laminate printed cover with black head and tail bands

Produced as part of Jupiter Artland’s Artist Commission series, I Lay Here For You documents Tracey Emin’s exhibition – including her monumental bronze permanent sculpture – at Jupiter Artland in Summer 2022. Alongside photography by Keith Hunter and Allan Pollok-Morris, the book includes texts by Nicky Wilson and Claire Feeley as well as an essay by Katy Hessel, author of The Story of Art without Men. 

The size, format, layout and typography of the book adapts the design that I created for Phyllida Barlow: quarry, published by Jupiter Artland in 2018. Like quarry, the book is typeset throughout in Meta Serif Pro but, in this case, the body text is set in the light version of the typeface giving it a less heavy feel than the regular weight used in quarry; all other typefaces are one step lighter than their counterparts in quarry. 

The paper is Munken Lynx Smooth Natural White, a very slightly creamy off-white that gives a slight warmth chosen to complement the images of Emin’s drawings, paintings and prints. The cover drops the cloth quarter binding of quarry for a wraparound printed cover that has a scuff-free matt laminate. For the front cover image, I had to extend the image in Photoshop so that there was enough of the image to wrap around the cover boards – the original image was only as wide as the front cover – I am pleased and relieved that this has worked out! Candy Pink Colorplan endpapers make an unexpected contrast to the lush greens on the cover and echo some of the colours found in Emin’s work.

www.jupiterartland.org

The Piper and the Penguin

The Piper and the Penguin

Published by Golden Hare, Edinburgh, 2022

Written by Stella Powell-Jones

Illustrated by Katy Riddell

Designed by James Brook

ISBN 978 1 8384 0652 3

270 x 170 mm | 32 pages | Printed by Gomer, Wales, on 170gsm Edixion Offset with machine-sealed cover printed on 350gsm Edixion Offset

It was delight to work on this children’s book, which tells the story of young Gilbert Kerr’s voyage to the Antarctic to discover the noise that penguins make. The book is written by theatre director Stella Powell-Jones and illustrated by the very talented illustrator, Katy Riddell. 

My contribution is largely invisible but it involved making the illustrations ready for print, cleaning up and cutting out the backgrounds of the scanned original paintings so that they presented a unified appearance and, of course, typesetting the text. I typeset Stella’s charming story in Freight Text Pro, a typeface that balances the feel of a traditional children’s book typeface with a contemporary edge. I worked very closely with Katy to make sure that her handwritten text overlays felt integrated with her original drawings: I tested many ways of overlaying the text, working with different samples of lettering from Katy and exploring different techniques in Photoshop and Illustrator until I was satisfied with the results.

For the cover, I advised Katy on the best position of the elements in her illustration – which wraps around from front to back – dropping her rough sketches in to a template so that we could all see how the cover would look. Katy supplied various versions of handwritten text for the cover which I turned in to vectors in Illustrator then worked out the best arrangement of text with her illustration. The colours of the cover text are based on the colours found on the title page – this typographic treatment of the cover text is based on my initial ideas for the cover, using the typeface Clarendon as a contrast to the body text, Freight, and echoing the Victorian feel to Katy’s illustrations.  

The publisher, Mark Jones, of Golden Hare, wanted the book to have a slightly old fashioned feel and showed me examples of vintage books that were printed on uncoated paper with covers that were not laminated – we both agreed that this book should not have a glossy cover. To give the book some body and to give it a feeling of quality, the book was printed on Edixion Offset, at a slightly heavier weight than I would normally use. I gave each page a tint of yellow which added a creaminess to the uncoated paper, making if feel warmer and more fitting to the illustrations (it also made the paper feel more expensive, a trick passed on to me by the very canny Pit Dafis at Gomer Print!). The cover was machine sealed, which offers some protection, but maintains the texture of the uncoated paper and makes the book feel slightly out of time.