Chronicle Books Blog

A couple of times each year, the designers at Chronicle Books go on a retreat of some sort. We are thankfully spared such team building exercises as firewalks and leading one another around with blindfolds on. More typically we get to engage in some sort of amusing activity that also includes a glass (or two) of wine or beer. Last week we had one such retreat, a calligraphy workshop, that was by far the most aesthetically pleasing one that we have had yet, while also being fun and surprisingly relaxing. Yes, that’s right, calligraphy can be relaxing, especially when you have the genuinely sweet and encouraging teacher, Maybelle.

Maybelle is well known in the calligraphy world for her unique and pretty style. She has worked with us illustrating a few projects including Bridal Shower Games. Maybelle teaches calligraphy workshops in the Bay Area at Makeshift Society.

For our workshop Maybelle created the loveliest set of tools for each of us, carefully laid out around 3 tables. Each set included a personalized ink well, pen, nib, ink, a letterpress printed alphabet guide, a practice book, vellum and black paper.

We were all pretty taken with the inkwells that Maybelle’s woodworker husband makes for her classes.

Maybelle had us practicing our letters in no time.

Fellow, Dinah Fried, minded her E’s and F’s.

Tired Turtles Like to Letter by Senior Designer, Neil Egan.

Senior Designer, Alice Chau, tried her hand at some recipe titles from a recent cookbook.

I never would have guessed how fun calligraphy can be until I had spent a couple of hours doing it. I think most of us were also pleasantly surprised by how relaxing an activity it can be. And now that we are all set up with our very own inkwells, we can fill up our practice books on our own. If you are in the Bay Area and so inclined, I highly recommend Maybelle’s classes. They are a welcome opportunity to slow down and focus on one thing (that’s not a screen) for a little while. Refreshing!

Brooke Johnson
Senior Designer

I think it’s safe to say that for people who make things, it’s pretty exciting to see the things we make resonating out in the world with “real” people. I recently had this experience when working the Chronicle Books table at a career fair at California College of the Arts. We were at the fair to reach out to potential design internship and fellowship candidates, as well as meet aspiring illustrators, writers and editors who might be interested in working with us. When Jacqui Dahme, a senior in Graphic Design, approached our table to show us her work, I noticed her holding her well-used copy of Designer’s Notebook. She was gracious enough to let me photograph and share it here on our blog.

I worked on this project a few years ago with two former fellows, Andrew Shapiro and Brad Mead. My role was merely advisory; Andrew and Brad conceived, wrote and designed the whole project from start to finish. The concept for the notebook was born in Design Lab, a fellows-only think tank run by our creative director, Michael Carabetta.

It’s fun to see Jacqui using the stickers in the way that Brad and Andrew had envisioned.

Looking at the spreads of an unused Designer’s Notebook, I am reminded of how much care and thought Brad and Andrew put into its design and content. From the simplicity of the grid, to which topics to cover in the brief reference section, the choices they made were smart and spot on for the intended user.

The sketching pages have a clean, tinted back dotted grid—unobtrusive yet helpful.

The pages from the reference section are useful reminders about things such as international paper sizes, human body measurements, type terms, InDesign keyboard shortcuts, screen resolutions and more.

The ruler in the back perforates out—handy!

There is also a capacity envelope in the back with stickers that can be used to tab pages, as well as several sheets of vellum for tracing anything and everything.

Andrew Schapiro is currently Graphic Design Lead at Airbnb in San Francisco.
Brad Mead is currently working as a freelance designer in New York City. He plans to launch his own studio later this year.

Brooke Johnson
Senior Designer

Cover artwork by Jen Renninger.

As we enter Valentine’s season, I wanted to give a shout out to my favorite gift book about love this year, You Are So Loved. I’m not usually a big fan of typical Valentine’s sentiments, but the art collected in this book is uplifting and sweet in a quirky and down-to-earth way. It’s definitely a fantastic gift for art-loving friends and family. The book was designed by our former fellow, Alex Styc, and she did an amazing job sequencing the fun and inspiring art. I love looking through it and enjoying the pairings that she made, as well as what she let stand alone on a spread. Here are some sample spreads.

Artwork by Marc Johns.

Artwork by Elspeth Stowell, left, and Lisa Congdon, right.

Artwork by Michelle Cavigliano, My Zoetrope, left and Dominique Falla, right.

Artwork by Monsieur Cabinet left, and Kennedy Prints!, right.

Artwork by Will Bryant, left and Gemma Correll, right.

Artwork by Will Bryant, left and Nicole Lavelle, right.

Artwork by Keetra Dean Dixon.

Happy Valentine’s Day, and please remember:

Artwork by Jeff Hamada.

Brooke Johnson
Senior Designer

Like most designers and non-designers, we at Chronicle are fans of wood type. We love to use facsimiles of it in our work, collect posters made with it, as well as collect actual pieces of it.

So when we recently heard that Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum is getting displaced from their space, we wanted to help get the word out about their fundraising efforts.

If you’ve never heard of Hamilton, according to their website they are “the only museum dedicated to the preservation, study, production and printing of wood type.” They are located in Wisconsin, and have been operating as a working museum for 13 years. They offer workshops in letterpress printing, exhibitions and tours. For all you students out there, you might want to check out their internships. For all you artists and printers, you might want to check out their residencies. I, for one, love the idea of getting off the computer and hanging out with some giant wooden ampersands for a couple months!

A wonderful documentary, Typeface, was made in 2009 about the Hamilton Museum. Click here to see the trailer.

But I digress from the main mission of this post, and that is to encourage you to support Hamilton and the preservation of this venerable institution.

Thank you, fellow lovers of type.

Brooke Johnson
Senior Designer

Tauba Auerbach’s RGB Colorspace Atlas

Since I’ve been working on our publishing program with Pantone over the last couple of years, I’ve developed a heightened awareness of design and art projects focused on color. There have been several recent ones that are awe-inspiring and delightful. Here’s a roundup for your enjoyment. If you’ve seen any other share-worthy, color-related projects lately, please post a link!

Books




Via My Modern Met

Exhibition Design

Fabio Novembre: Grafica italiana at Triennale Design Museum

Via It’s Nice That

Polaroids/Scarves

Hiroshi Sugimoto’s polaroid images printed as scarves for Hermès, installed as part of “Couleurs de l’Ombre” exhibition at Basel, Switzerland. Photos by Tadzio

Via designboom

Pigeons

Julian Charrière’s “some pigeons are more equal than others”

Via thisispaper

Photographs

Effects produced in camera by Jessica Eaton

Via booooooom

Brooke Johnson
Senior Designer