Year: 2023
Author & self-publisher: Tineke Aertsen
Scope: book design, print management & map illustration
Cover illustration: Luciana Van den Bosch
Printer: Buroform
Binder: Sepeli
Format: 217×145mm
Pages: 136
︎︎︎ When a book becomes an object
Author & self-publisher: Tineke Aertsen
Scope: book design, print management & map illustration
Cover illustration: Luciana Van den Bosch
Printer: Buroform
Binder: Sepeli
Format: 217×145mm
Pages: 136
︎︎︎ When a book becomes an object
DE KOOI: EEN METAMORFOSE
The self-published novella De Kooi was written by Tineke Aertsen.
In 1998, at the age of 20, Anne leaves her parents’ house. Suffering from a mental disorder and taking medication, she plans a trip to a mountain range in Spain: the Picos de Europa. 25 years after the facts, her older sister Claudia tries to reconstruct this period for herself, her parents and her brother. It is a story based on true events.
In certain chapters, fragments from the diary that Anne kept during her trip are shown next to the prose. As the reader, it’s confusing and you must choose whether you want to read them simultaneously or in separate readings. It’s the author’s way of expressing the confusion she experienced when she received the diary herself.
The self-published novella De Kooi was written by Tineke Aertsen.
In 1998, at the age of 20, Anne leaves her parents’ house. Suffering from a mental disorder and taking medication, she plans a trip to a mountain range in Spain: the Picos de Europa. 25 years after the facts, her older sister Claudia tries to reconstruct this period for herself, her parents and her brother. It is a story based on true events.
In certain chapters, fragments from the diary that Anne kept during her trip are shown next to the prose. As the reader, it’s confusing and you must choose whether you want to read them simultaneously or in separate readings. It’s the author’s way of expressing the confusion she experienced when she received the diary herself.
Anne’s diary was an Aurora Bur-O-Class notebook, so we used the same dimensions and natural grey linen cover with foil printing. We changed some details to make it more fitting for a work of fiction: bulky paper, printed endpapers, thicker board for the cover. Since the inside pages are only printed in black, we decided to highlight the diary fragments by setting them in a different font and printing them on a grey background.
The hotfoil printing on the cover is anthracite, not black. This brings some softness to the overall look.
Read more about this book in our case study ‘When a book becomes an object’.
