Image Selection: Designing For Size

Dimension comparison. Seeing Deeply, Dawoud Bey, 11 x 1.7 x 12 inches. The Model Family, Tealia Ellis Ritter, 172pp, 200 x 250 mm, 140 photos. Obscura Photos, Party People, 100 pages, 5.5 x 8.5 inches. 77 photos.

When I design a book I begin with its physicality in space: page count, dimensions and thickness. Is the concept better expressed as a compendium (many inches thick) or an ode more akin to a magazine, field guide or literary journal?

The constraints of physicality are helpful and reduce the overwhelm of excessive freedom. Another example: for my latest Artifact Uprising partnership campaign, I created a hardcover Lay Flat book from the remote shoots we did in MEMORY CULT last year. Because the images are digital and large file size, I decided to print the largest book they offer: 11x14.

These books are especially physical in how they look and feel — each page is as thick as a cover. As their name suggests, they lay flat. Because of that they are typically narrowed to 20 or 50 pages only. I selected the following nine images for the book, as I am currently on a kick of having one image per spread.

Note the four elements available to us in photo book creation to express the conceptual: Title, Images, Framing Text (poem, lyric, essay, etc) and Artist Statement. We will elaborate on each of these as the weeks of The Conceptual Softcover go on. Selecting the physical parameters first made the creation of this book fast.