Beauty in print

August 3, 2004 1:13 PM

Browsing at my local library, I just came across a display of the winners of this year's Canadian Awards for Excellence in Book Design. I was blown away by the design and content of The Gryphons of Paris, a limited edition collection of black-and-white photos of surpassing beauty. This led me to the web page of the photographer, Ronald Hurwitz, his city vignettes and remarkable portraits. A good reminder that not everything of value can be found on the internet.
posted by louigi (11 comments total)

Louigi, nice first post.

Just want to add that the Gryphons link has one arty nude photo on the inner page. May be NSFW for some people.
posted by dobbs at 1:22 PM on August 3, 2004

I wish the list of winners of a design award actually showed winning designs...
posted by Robot Johnny at 1:24 PM on August 3, 2004

Thanks Louigi! I'd love to own this one.

(And a mile from Fairmount Bagel, eh? You lucky bastard!)
posted by Turtles all the way down at 1:29 PM on August 3, 2004

Dammit, how hard would it be for them to put images of the covers on the winners page??
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 1:33 PM on August 3, 2004

nice : >
posted by amberglow at 1:40 PM on August 3, 2004

Turtles: I particularly liked that one too. And yes, I am very lucky.

Thanks for the positive feedback folks.
posted by louigi at 3:13 PM on August 3, 2004

A design award that doesn't actually show the designs -- pure brilliance.
posted by raaka at 4:12 PM on August 3, 2004

Nice link. And I'm also insanely jealous. Mmm, Fairmount bagels (the best in the city). Must plan a trip to Montreal soon...
posted by livii at 6:35 PM on August 3, 2004

They don't need cover images – covers are often designed by someone other than the book designer and are usually not reflective of the style of the interior design. A scan of the title page and a couple of representative two-page spreads would be ideal.
posted by D.C. at 7:37 PM on August 3, 2004

If you scan through the judges' comments, you'll see as well that though they treat the cover as important, the layout of the interior is probably more important. (In this case, most of the cover layout was done by the same designer as the rest of the book.) I wouldn't be surprised if it was a deliberate decision not to put scans online, though: when you're judging *book* design so much of it has to be about how the book feels, opens, etc. etc. - really tied to the tactile experience.

So in that sense my post wasn't quite the best *of* the web, but rather *off* the web.
posted by louigi at 7:42 PM on August 3, 2004

Hurwitz's photos are stunning. Thanks, l.
posted by Shane at 7:37 AM on August 4, 2004