"The Middle Kingdom"

Soft cover diecut leads the reader into the book.


Chapter heading for part 1.


Chapter heading for part 2.


Typical spread with image corner treatment.


Story specific spread.


This type of spreads are through out the book.


These two images along with 4 other ones, form the transition from part 1-2.



General Description:

“The Middle Kingdom” is a book written to describe the current cultural, social, and economical changes that are taking place in China. The readers are lead through a series of fictional interviews (6 in total) that give a broad yet specific sense of what the Chinese people are experiencing. The characters are: An Olympic athlete, a wealthy entrepreneur, a young fashion designer, a retired rice farmer, a victim of forced eviction, and a Beijing opera performer.

The book is composed of 2 major sections, with 3 chapters in each. Each chapter represents a different interview. The first section represents the positive aspects of the changing China, and the second represents the negative.

Visually, the book is brought together by a consistent Chinese lattice design that is applied through out the book. Applications include the cover, chapter headings, beginning / end spreads, and folio numbers. The sections are visually divided using the colours red and black; to represent the mood and emotions of the sections. Their combined colour: Burgundy, forms the book cover. Traditional oriental corner treatments are also applied to the photography to provide additional visual interest. This treatment is continued onto the cover.

Project Evolution:

This project probably evolved more than any other projects that I’ve done. The original concept of my book was about Da Vinci and his dream of flight. But then I didn’t feel very comfortable with the topic; I didn’t feel connected with it. The concept then evolved into a virtual museum of the Louvre. That didn’t work either. Then my idea began to shift into China. I decided to do the Cultural Revolution, but unfortunately there were very limited visual sources available. Eventually, after a few revisions, I set on this current concept.

One of the revisions that I had to do was changing away from a visual diary approach to the book. I was set on the idea of photographs being placed on a table and photographing it from atop. Then write it in a diary format. But that have been done before, and the consensus from the critiques were to make the book powerful and bold. The diary idea was too conservative and quiet; doesn’t communicate the strong themes of the books.

Making the 2 Choices:

From 2 books to 1:
One important choice that I’ve made was deciding to go with one book instead of two separate books. This was due to the idea that these interviews and stories are all about one country. Granted, they are almost like Ying and Yang, but the sections are intricately interconnected. So putting them together was a better decision.

Design first, write second:
Personally, I feel that this was a great decision for the book, though possibly uncommon. During the research process, I discovered that there was a huge gap and discrepancy between the articles I found and the images. With the articles, there were barely any supporting high res. images. (especially forced eviction) And the images often did not relate to the issues. As a result, I decided to plan my characters and a general sense of their experiences well before the writing stage. I then started gathering images that I feel are connected to the stories. Take the Olympic athlete for example. My plan was to have him talk about his love of swimming. Then go on to China being chosen to host the 2008 games. And concludes with him training for the games. After the story was laid out, I gathered images of the Olympic countdown, Olympic celebrations, water, and swimming. I designed the chapter according to the story outline; with images where they are suppose to be. Then I wrote it. This way, the design and the writing go hand in hand, creating an overall harmony.

Compromises:

I feel that I did not spend enough time on writing the book. I feel that the characters are not deep enough. And the stories lacked a strong foundation. My writing today still lacks proper tenses. Though it have improved over the years. I did get it edited, but I feel that I could have written it better with stronger structure.

It would also have been nice to have more time on image research. I spent a great deal of time gathering high res. photography; online, books, and classmates, but I feel that the images could be stronger in a few cases.

I feel that it probably would be better later on to have the book in a hard cover. Currently the cover promotes mystery with the diecut and the door, but the hard cover I feel gives the book an added sense of mystery.

Pleasures and Frustrations:

I still can’t believe sometimes that I’ve created a book. Not just design but the contents as well. I feel that the final product is a great portfolio piece in any case. I learned so much this term also; grain of papers, binding techniques, book styles, rhythm of a book especially.

It was also great to see everyone else’s books. Each one was so different and unique. I would love to read all of the books that everyone did this term.

This course also gave me an opportunity to explore my heritage. Thank you Reg for your continuous support on my topic changes, as well as your helpful critiques. I feel that the final concept was the strongest out of all of the previous ones, but retains the essence of the previous ones.

Because this is such a unique project, as well as new to me, I was often quite frustrated with not knowing what to do. Fortunately the critiques helped tremendously. I wish that there were a bit more time allocated for book design. 12 weeks goes by way too quickly.

Going to Wyman was a great experience. I got the chance to see her binding machines. Quite fascinating. She also does hard covers. So I plan to go to see her again before the grad show.