the lab cookbook
typography, print
The Sugar Lab, The Food Lab and The Drink Lab are a part of
a kitchen cookbook series which features a modern-minimal
and abstract-geometric design.
The custom-designed typeface ‘Vantage’ has been used for the title on the top left corner occupying almost 40% of the front page of the cover to catch the reader’s eye at the first glance, followed by the author’s name on the middle right-hand side. The front page is also supported by a tailormade artwork which has been designed specifically to compliment the typeface. The artwork also consists of one realistic 3D object for each title in contrast to the flat 2D illustration that uses different colour palette for each title. Moving onto the spine, it only houses the main title and the author’s name with the publisher’s logo at the bottom for enhanced legibility whereas, the back promotes the book series by including a review from a renowned culinary artist and another one from The New York Times Book Review with a 5-star rating. Keeping the industry standards in mind, the backside of the book cover also consists of vital information such as the volume number, ISBN,barcode, price, and the publisher’s logo.
Upon opening the book, on page 1.
you are greeted by the contents page which includes a typographic unit to indicate the contents page supported by an artwork. On page 2, the right side of the contents page mentions the various
chapters and their description with an enlarged page number masked within a supporting image in a rectangular frame with rounded edges. The left page of the internal page spread includes a letter from the author in a 2-column text format assisted by the author’s image on the top which bleeds onto the right-side gutter as a part of the design and another supporting image and caption on the bottom left side, the concept of typographic grids has been used as an explicit theoretical tool to assist with the layout design
A typographic unit has been created using the typefaces Ezra and Warming for the title on the right side of the internal spread to grab the reader’s attention, followed by 2.
written pieces set on the baseline grid to organise the information clearly and consistently with ample breathing space left on the page. Hanging punctuations have been used to maintain the visual alignment of the quoted text that has been carved around the image of a modern kitchen. Contrast in text colour, size and hierarchy allow the internal spread to include a substantial amount of information in an organised manner. The bottom left and right side embodies the page numbers and the book title and volume. The artwork custom built for the book cover was further animated to be used
in the animated web banner to advertise the book series. Animating the web banner allowed more information to be conveyed using multiple frames with important information such as the in-store launch date and a constant call to action button to efficiently redirect the audience to learn more about the book series.
A typographic unit has been created using the typefaces Ezra and Warming for the title on the right side of the internal spread to grab the reader’s attention, followed by 2.
written pieces set on the baseline grid to organise the information clearly and consistently with ample breathing space left on the page. Hanging punctuations have been used to maintain the visual alignment of the quoted text that has been carved around the image of a modern kitchen. Contrast in text colour, size and hierarchy allow the internal spread to include a substantial amount of information in an organised manner. The bottom left and right side embodies the page numbers and the book title and volume. The artwork custom built for the book cover was further animated to be used
in the animated web banner to advertise the book series. Animating the web banner allowed more information to be conveyed using multiple frames with important information such as the in-store launch date and a constant call to action button to efficiently redirect the audience to learn more about the book series.
As a whole, the exercise offered a testing ground for investigating the enormous world of type, layout design, and composition while critically examining its underlying principles and limitations.