Experimental book Single Stream is based off a story of an author, who wrote it in complete secrecy, without insights of anyone but himself and it was never meant to be read by anyone else. It is in fact a book that is not meant to be read at all. The final product saddles the reader with a heavy responsibility: they have to consciously rip the book apart in order to read the content. After doing that, the reader is free to embrace the book and interpret its mysterious nature individually – in both design, content and technical sense.
The abstract illustrated motifs depicts the environment where the fantasy story off which the book is based is happening. They represent the snowy and icy landscapes as well as the mood of the story, which focuses on main character’s feelings of being disconnected from the world and society while fighting for his survival and finding meaning behind his life.
Since this project is a result of BA thesis titled Designing an Unconventional Experimental Book, the basis for its creation was thorough research of the convention behind book design and book binding. Only after truly understanding the history behind the development of book design and understanding how design literate people nowadays perceive experimental design, we were able to design a coherent final product which stands out and embodies a deeper meaning behind its physical form.
We used relatively simple materials for Single Stream in order to make the final product as raw and pristine as possible. The main purpose of the story presented in the book was never to be polished to perfection, thus even the writing itself was never proofread by anyone besides the author. Putting emphasis on imperfection made the process of creating the book completely free of all prejudices and expectations. Thanks to that, Single Stream truly is a great example of experimental design.
