Koenig Layouts

Koenig! We have begun working on our Pierre Koenig Book. For my grid I have taken inspiration from his work and have employed an increasing/decreasing pattern in my increments.

A Dialogue Between Gertrude Stein's Tender Buttons

After reading Tender Buttons I was immediately drawn to the verbal collage and the rhythmic flow found within.  My anthology of TenderButtons is based on the movement and dialogue found in these rhythms and how they relate to each other not only in one poem, but how each poem relates to another. I have paired up her poems into pairs, such asA Table/A Time To Eat and Cucumber/Salad. Each of these pairs speak to one another phonetically and it was my mission to make sure they spoke visually. I wanted to reference the fluidity of dance through my binding method, as well pay homage to Gertrude Stein’s use of fragmentation and connection to cubism. I played up the idea of pairings with my typeface choices. I chose Bauer Bodoni, a modern typeface, and Stemple Garamond, a humanistic typeface. I also chose to incorporate two types of paper, a soft white card stock and vellum to play off one another in order to create a feeling of simultaneity. The reader is to make their way through the layered compositions, experience a bit of confusion and finally appreciate the artifact for what it is without trying to force fragments into a perfect picture, something I must admit I initially did with Tender Buttons. 

Upon reflection this book could use a few improvements. The first would be to address the cover by adding some contrast and some use of imagery. I suppose I steered away from imagery because I didn't want to give any connotations to this book other than the form within the pages. Now I see that by adding some kind of imagery, however subtle, might give the viewer further insight into the book. The second thing would be the fragility of this book. Because the pages are rather thin they lack a bit of stability during the experience. I am rather proud of this book, not only because I am pleased with the outcome but because this final artifact was not what I had in mind. I allowed the content to lead me where I wound up. 

Tender Buttons: Layouts

These are the 5 layouts I presented in critique. From this critique we talked about having a much more versatile orientation, so that the viewer can look at each page in any way. This leads me into unfamiliar territory. How do I bind something that is meant not to have a particular orientation? Eh, I guess that's the solution to chase after for the night. 

TB: Type Compositions

female

male

With these compositions I wanted to portray movement that would be found on the dance floor. I have tested on printing the more feminine type on vellum and have it layered on top of the more masculine type. After meeting with Kidwell yesterday, he suggested not having an orientation for these compositions. I really love this idea. Mostly because dancing has its proper steps, but dance floor have no entrance and exit doorways. This new factor has opened the possibility that could effect the shape of my book. At this point I am only still brainstorming. 

Tender Buttons: Update

This past Monday I met with Kidwell and ran my concept by him. He approved, or at least thats what I got from our one on one.

The concept.
When reading through the poems I was drawn to the rhythmic movement of the words moving swiftly. Within the objects and patterns, I saw a pattern between the soft and the hard, the light and the heavy, the masculine and the feminine. I felt this was very much a dance, a tango if you will, between each pair. a dance is often thought of a conversation of the body. For every mood a different sound. A ballad for romance , a top 40 hit for adventure, a tango for sharp aggression. My compositions will reflect the movements, the motions, the tension, the passion. I have decided to focus on this movement between the pairs and employ it in each composition.

An example of the feminine/light/soft typography:

I have decided a 6x7 format would be best for my interpretation of Tender Buttons. I plan on creating a set of layers between the two realms by using different weights of paper, specifically a thin, translucent paper on top of a heavier paper. I would like the  both layers to be independently beautiful as well as create stronger compositions in unison harmoniously. 

Typographic Excercises

For our first assignment with Kidwell, he gave us a few exercises to stretch our legs before we dive into Tender Buttons (but really he just wanted to see how we would each  place our name above our work). I quite appreciated that he brought the importance of our name to our attention. It seems that we write our name so often and we forget that our name has significance and a presence.