School Attended: California Polytechnic State University, 2007Class: Book DesignAssignment: Final Project Presentation to Book DesignOrganization This interpretation of Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist wascreated to advertise the breadth of skills taught and developed in Cal Poly’sbook design class. Targeted to a specific book design organization, thishand-made book was delivered with a comprehensive project description,explaining every last detail of the book’s design. Every part of this book was developed to follow the tone of Paulo Coelho’s masterpieceand to emphasize the thought and planning that went into this project and, inturn, into the book design class.
The following is a more detailed explanation of this project.
CoverTheMaster Work of an alchemist is the discovery of how to transform materials into gold. The reason gold is the desired outcome of an alchemist’swork is because “everything in the universe evolved, and, for wise men, gold isthe metal that evolved the furthest” (Coelho 137). Alchemist wish to understandgold to improve their understanding of the world and “evolve as gold had,”because they know that “when something evolves, everything around that thingevolves as well” (80). Ibegan my project with this philosophy. I started the design of my specialedition book with the alchemist’s Master Work, gold, and allowed the rest ofthe design to evolve from it. Thefirst part of the book that I planned out, the crinkled, gold cover, is alsothe first part of the book that is encountered by the reader. It sets the stagefor the story of The Alchemist. The ability to transform things into gold onlycomes to those who understand the connection of all things, which is the mainmessage of Coelho’s book. Embedded within the face of the gold cover are twostones. These two stones are Urim and Thummim. Within The Alchemist, theprotagonist, Santiago, was given Urim and Thummim by the king of Salem, who,before handing them over to Santiago, had them embedded in the center of hisgolden breastplate (Coelho 30). Urim and Thummim are the “only form ofdivination permitted by God”(69). In The Alchemist the black stone means ‘yes’and the white stone means ‘no’, although, according to biblical scholars, theactual nature of Urim and Thummim is unknown. Santiago placed the two stones ina small pouch and carried them with him throughout his journey. The placementof Urim and Thummim on the cover not only illustrate the breastplate of theking of Salem, they also initiate one of the themes used throughout theinterior of the book. InteriorEndpapersTheendpapers were designed to help the reader visualize the breadth of Santiago’sjourney. Santiago traveled over 2,300 miles by foot, boat, and camel in searchof his treasure; a journey that lasted over a year. The front endpaper is anold-style map of Spain, where Santiago’s adventure began, and the back endpaperis a map of the same style, but of Egypt, where Santiago’s dreams led him. Bothmaps include every location visited by Santiago or mentioned by importantcharacters in The Alchemist. The locations on the maps are referred to by thesame names used for them in the English translation of The Alchemist. PagesTheAlchemist’s philosophy of evolution from gold was carried through to the pagesize and layout. The yellow tone of the Wausau, ivory paper used for the book’spages, gave the book an antique look and went well with the gold cover. To addto the antique style of the book, each page was hand torn on its outermostedge. The reason for the aged look of the pages is to remind the reader of thetime period in which The Alchemist takes place. Although the book does not givea concrete era for the story, it must have taken place at a time when Egyptianalchemy was considered a science, which was thousands of years ago. Usingthe golden section, I settled on a page size of 4.7” by 7.605”. It is bigenough to be easily handled and read, but small enough to draw the reader inand enhance the intimacy of the text. The small page size also makes the bookportable enough to be comfortably carried along with the reader whiletraveling. Urimand Thummim appear on the pages within the book, following the theme started onthe cover. The white stone is found on the opening page for part one and isused as the scene change icon for that section because it means ‘no.’ This isthe part of the book in which Santiago ignores the calling of his PersonalLegend. The part of the story inwhich he begins to follow the omens leading to his treasure, part two, ismarked by the black stone, which means ‘yes.’ TypeTheentire book was set using the Adobe Jenson Pro font family. Adobe Jenson Pro isa beautiful face that has a little more character than many of the other romanfonts suited for long texts. It’s diagonal strokes and variations in widthallude to script-like writing styles, such as Arabic. This look was desiredbecause Santiago becomes immersed in Arabic culture after crossing the Straitof Gibraltar and being stranded in Tangier for nearly a year. Theplacement of the text began with the golden proportions of book design and wasthen adjusted slightly to account for the perfect binding of the book. Thegolden proportions led to generous outside and bottom margins, which areperfect for taking notes and leaving thoughts and comments on any page. As astory overflowing with wisdom, The Alchemist will give its reader manyopportunities to put these margins to good use.
CoverTheMaster Work of an alchemist is the discovery of how to transform materials into gold. The reason gold is the desired outcome of an alchemist’swork is because “everything in the universe evolved, and, for wise men, gold isthe metal that evolved the furthest” (Coelho 137). Alchemist wish to understandgold to improve their understanding of the world and “evolve as gold had,”because they know that “when something evolves, everything around that thingevolves as well” (80). Ibegan my project with this philosophy. I started the design of my specialedition book with the alchemist’s Master Work, gold, and allowed the rest ofthe design to evolve from it. Thefirst part of the book that I planned out, the crinkled, gold cover, is alsothe first part of the book that is encountered by the reader. It sets the stagefor the story of The Alchemist. The ability to transform things into gold onlycomes to those who understand the connection of all things, which is the mainmessage of Coelho’s book. Embedded within the face of the gold cover are twostones. These two stones are Urim and Thummim. Within The Alchemist, theprotagonist, Santiago, was given Urim and Thummim by the king of Salem, who,before handing them over to Santiago, had them embedded in the center of hisgolden breastplate (Coelho 30). Urim and Thummim are the “only form ofdivination permitted by God”(69). In The Alchemist the black stone means ‘yes’and the white stone means ‘no’, although, according to biblical scholars, theactual nature of Urim and Thummim is unknown. Santiago placed the two stones ina small pouch and carried them with him throughout his journey. The placementof Urim and Thummim on the cover not only illustrate the breastplate of theking of Salem, they also initiate one of the themes used throughout theinterior of the book. InteriorEndpapersTheendpapers were designed to help the reader visualize the breadth of Santiago’sjourney. Santiago traveled over 2,300 miles by foot, boat, and camel in searchof his treasure; a journey that lasted over a year. The front endpaper is anold-style map of Spain, where Santiago’s adventure began, and the back endpaperis a map of the same style, but of Egypt, where Santiago’s dreams led him. Bothmaps include every location visited by Santiago or mentioned by importantcharacters in The Alchemist. The locations on the maps are referred to by thesame names used for them in the English translation of The Alchemist. PagesTheAlchemist’s philosophy of evolution from gold was carried through to the pagesize and layout. The yellow tone of the Wausau, ivory paper used for the book’spages, gave the book an antique look and went well with the gold cover. To addto the antique style of the book, each page was hand torn on its outermostedge. The reason for the aged look of the pages is to remind the reader of thetime period in which The Alchemist takes place. Although the book does not givea concrete era for the story, it must have taken place at a time when Egyptianalchemy was considered a science, which was thousands of years ago. Usingthe golden section, I settled on a page size of 4.7” by 7.605”. It is bigenough to be easily handled and read, but small enough to draw the reader inand enhance the intimacy of the text. The small page size also makes the bookportable enough to be comfortably carried along with the reader whiletraveling. Urimand Thummim appear on the pages within the book, following the theme started onthe cover. The white stone is found on the opening page for part one and isused as the scene change icon for that section because it means ‘no.’ This isthe part of the book in which Santiago ignores the calling of his PersonalLegend. The part of the story inwhich he begins to follow the omens leading to his treasure, part two, ismarked by the black stone, which means ‘yes.’ TypeTheentire book was set using the Adobe Jenson Pro font family. Adobe Jenson Pro isa beautiful face that has a little more character than many of the other romanfonts suited for long texts. It’s diagonal strokes and variations in widthallude to script-like writing styles, such as Arabic. This look was desiredbecause Santiago becomes immersed in Arabic culture after crossing the Straitof Gibraltar and being stranded in Tangier for nearly a year. Theplacement of the text began with the golden proportions of book design and wasthen adjusted slightly to account for the perfect binding of the book. Thegolden proportions led to generous outside and bottom margins, which areperfect for taking notes and leaving thoughts and comments on any page. As astory overflowing with wisdom, The Alchemist will give its reader manyopportunities to put these margins to good use.
