Into The Cosmos
Heat Sensitive Book
Graphic Design, Editorial Design, Screenprint, Bookbinding
Work:
Long live print, a university brief that asked to bring a piece of editorial writing to life using the medium of print. I developed “Into The Cosmos” an essay by Chloe Aridjis that explores the culture of the Soviet Union’s space race.
Featuring a screen printed heat sensitive cover and reactive interior pages using thermochromic ink, the essay content is written in English and Cyrillic with an interactive fold out poster on the centre spread, size A2. Hand bound with saddle stitch, 14 pages.
Graphic design, editorial design, bookbinding and screenprinting.
Role:
This project was in response to a University brief set in the final year of my degree.
Concept:
To bring “Into The Cosmos” to life, I created a piece of visual design that explores the long-lasting mental health impacts journeying into space had upon the Russian Cosmonauts.
As we progress through the essay, the design embodies this journey, text begins ordered and tightly composed, reflecting the strict training period completed at home. As we journey into space, structure is stripped back and turns to chaos, copy is mistranslated and communication is breaking down, reflecting the increasingly turbulent mentality of each passenger on the voyage.
Many of the mental health problems experienced by the Russians were due to a lack of human contact onboard. I used thermochromic ink to screen print the Cosmonaut’s anxieties about the journey so that when a reader interacts with the physical book, the heat of their hands causes each thought and anxiety to disappear from the pages.
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If you’d like to work together to create something similar for your brand, get in touch at christieriderdesign@gmail.com