As someone who’s prone to staring out the window, lost in the clouds, I was pretty excited to design the layout of the American edition of The Cloud Collector’s Handbook by Gavin Pretor-Pinney. This charming little book is part science—with facts and information about clouds—and part art—with dramatic and beautiful cloud photography.
The hard cover with a debossed title features an illustration by Paul Catherall. The photographs were compiled from multiple sources by the Cloud Appreciation Society’s photo editor, Ian Loxley. My job was to adapt the layout (the American edition is slightly larger, although still relatively small at 5″ x 7″) and typeset the meteorological information.
I chose to set it in Odile and Whitney. Each spread includes two or three images of the cloud variation, descriptive text, quick facts, and a section to complete yourself if you’ve spotted one.
The Cloud Collector’s Handbook has a surprising amount of cloud variations. Once it was published, and with the book on hand, I tried to name a few clouds I’d spotted and photographed (above).
I’m not sure if I got all my clouds right, but it was a fruitful pastime in a Dr. Seuss sort of way: good for the imagination. Like naming the constellations at night, it’s a visual exercise that can be both graphic and endlessly evocative. It’s also a lot easier to do in a city than, say, bird watching. So, daydreamers, gaze on!
Suzanne LaGasa
Designer
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We have the British edition of this book, and I can confirm that it (and it's sister publication 'The Cloud Spotter's Guide') are just beautiful. Great to see there is going to be an American edition!