Niko Kralj: The Unknown Famous Designer
Museum of Architecture and Design Ljubljana, Slovenia
Niko Kralj (The Unknown Famous Designer) was industrial designer from Slovenia who worked in the fields of the theory, education and practice.
The book is not one about Niko Kralj, but of him, a reader of selected texts he wrote, organised in five chapters, five aspects of Niko Kralj. His drawings and plans were used as a source to develop an ilustration for each chapter, separate, color coded sections, which follows his philosophy "of evolution and mutations." We applied his approach to the book's finish, creating a product in modular pica scale, typography and open backs. Cover is only glued to the back and wraps around the book block as is laminate around the plywood in his products.
This effect is further emphasised with use of color tones for the chapters' pages, so in commbination with their respected illustrations, they reveal themselves just by looking at the closed book.
The cover motif of the book is a stylised tree in colors of the book's chapters, symbolising both Kraljev's approach to design (evolution by Darwin) and his favourite material (wood).
We applied his approach to the book's finish, creating a product in modular pica scale, with a bare spine, exposing the book's manufacturing process, and a back-glued cover, to wrap arround the book's block as is laminate arround the plywood in products of Niko Kralj. This effect is further emphasised with use of color tones for the chapters' pages, so in commbination with their respected illustrations, they reveal themselves just by looking at the closed book.
Book combines his texts organised in five chapters, five aspects of Niko Kralj. His drawings and plans were used as a source to develop an ilustration for each chapter, separate, color coded sections, which follows his philosophy "of evolution and mutations."
Design Biennial Ljubljana, Awards 2013
Judges’ comments on the winners
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Best Book Design Award - Niko Kralj, The Unknown Famous Designer
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"A tour de force book design. One judge pointed out that the designer took a lot of different kinds of images and wove them into a coherent entity. The accessible layout gives what could have been a straightforward scholarly book, some real popular appeal. The production, including colourful stitching in the binding, was carefully considered. The result is a book that feels good, and looks great."
Judges’ comments on the winners
-
Best Book Design Award - Niko Kralj, The Unknown Famous Designer
-
"A tour de force book design. One judge pointed out that the designer took a lot of different kinds of images and wove them into a coherent entity. The accessible layout gives what could have been a straightforward scholarly book, some real popular appeal. The production, including colourful stitching in the binding, was carefully considered. The result is a book that feels good, and looks great."
