Notes on Book Design is an updated and revised edition of a book containing fifty readings on book design by Siri Lee Lindskrog and Amanda-Li Kollberg of Formal Settings who say 'Our aim is to understand the role and potential of books through a design lens, mapping what they communicate through their physical form'.
The readings are drawn from a curated selection of titles in the private collection of Hopscotch Reading Room, a conceptual bookshop and event space in Berlin. Each text focuses on a single book, examining its visual and tactile qualities, from materials and layout to binding and typography.
The authors guide readers through the intricacies of book design, showing how form can become message – how a book can serve as a vessel, a statement and an object of beauty in its own right. They explore and examine each book as a design object, situating it within the cultural movements, political climates, and economic conditions in which it was produced. This publication reveals how book design can foster shared languages and cultures, create space for the exchange and exploration of ideas, and underscore the social and cultural dimensions of design itself.
With an afterword by designer, author and educator Prem Krishnamurthy, providing further framing and insight into the project.
Niggli, 360pp, 11cm x 18cm, illustrated paperback, 2025
