Book designs made of the write stuff
Take a look at the country’s best looking books — or at least those that were last night named the winners at the Publishers Association of New Zealand Book Design Awards.
From 110 entries, a four-strong judging panel whittled the finalists’ list down to 33 books — and graphic design lecturer David Coventon, designers Janson Chau and Anna Brown, and book-seller Kiran Dass didn’t just judge the books by their covers only.
Coventon, the judges’ convenor, says they lifted, sniffed, flipped and pondered multi-faceted design decisions which included considering aspects like the stock, the binding and even the smell of the books.
edited by James Beattie and Richard Bullen (Canterbury University Press), designed by Aaron Beehre was the big winner.
It took home the Penguin Random House New Zealand Award for Best Illustrated Book and the HarperCollins Publishers Award for Best Cover, before collecting the Gerard Reid Award for Best Book sponsored by Nielsen Book.
“As a complete package, it’s exquisite,” says Coventon, who described it as a fine example of New China Eyewitness: Roger Duff, Rewi Alley and the art of museum diplomacy For a full list of winners, go to nzherald.co.nz
thoughtful production values.
“The paper stock is beautiful. The finely-tuned, nuanced attention to detail makes for a striking and highquality end product. It accomplishes a great deal of refinement in the face of a complex and demanding set of design requirements.”