INSIDE THE PAGES
Thankfully, Chronicle employees are pretty fun. We love games. In fact, right now we’re playing “Where In The World Is David Belisle?”
In the meantime, I asked a few folks around here what it was like to work on R.E.M.: HELLO with the book’s designer, Corianton Hale. Our Senior Designer Jake had this to say:
“As an art director, I was pleasantly overwhelmed with Corianton’s tremendous output. It’s sort of rare for someone to do that much, and it reflects people’s genuine love for the material and the band. It was a unique situation because Corianton is a friend of David’s, so even though everyone always wants to get paid, he was really in it for the love and excitement of the book. It’s David’s first book, and Corianton’s first full-length book as well, and that enthusiasm was reflected in every step of the design process. The result is that the book just feels so personal, like you’re really hanging out with R.E.M.
Corianton’s just really nice and went above and beyond on everything. In fact we could barely contain the energy he brought to the book. As we were in the process of working on the cover, instead of delivering two options, he would give us two dozen! And they were all great. After we landed the final cover design, Corianton sent a just-for-fun graphic of all the alternate covers tiled together. We happened to already be tossing around the idea of a limited edition poster to accompany the first 250 preorders, and we jumped at the chance to incorporate the book’s process. So that’s the poster: an alternate reality carnival of Corianton book covers.
I don’t know what else to say… Book designers don’t usually bring a bunch of drama like fashion designers. That’s why there’s not a reality show about us. Is that enough? Can I go back to work now?”
Yep, thanks Jake. And I’m back to my game. David, your move!
March 28th, 2008 at 1:55 pm
Let me just say that to fully enjoy this blog, you MUST find the music player at the top to inspire your creativity. And great work on the layout of the book, this will certainly be an epic piece. It’s great to be back in an age of R.E.M.
March 31st, 2008 at 10:15 am
Can i just say that i love corianton… and i’m very sorry i tripped on your stairs en route to your home office and splattered my full americano all over the walls and carpet. thanks for the icepack for the goose~egg bump i gave myself doing so….. Cory is the best. xoxo david.
April 3rd, 2008 at 8:01 am
HELLO.
Hey David. Enjoyed the exhibition. Was around on the final day and ran in to Bill. Some great pics there from over the years, and I came away with the ICA’s booklet. Good luck with the book. I shall be looking forward to buying a copy. PS. Didn’t know you were blogging ’round these parts.
April 3rd, 2008 at 8:25 am
PS. I wonder if Chronicle’s UK reseller is in on the poster offer…
May 16th, 2008 at 4:37 am
Any plan about an exhibition in Italy?
June 28th, 2008 at 8:25 am
We got our book, and I think it’s a lovely tribute and great overall snapshot of the band. It makes me wish for the same kind of project for the other bands I love!
I was lucky enough to get in on the poster deal, and it is stunning! The preview pic doesn’t come close to the impact of seeing it full-size–and any of the dozens of designs would have made a great cover. Chronicle Books overall have a nice appreciation for design, so it’s cool to have a version for hanging as well. (Plus, it saves the time and expense of cutting out the pics in the book and hanging them up.)
Well done project, guys!
troy/bob
June 28th, 2008 at 11:11 pm
Big compliments to all of the people who created this beautiful book! Each page is such a lovely experience for the “true fan” - especially together with all these wonderful handwritten comments every now and then makes it an even more exciting adventure to wander through the pages (could have easily been 5x as much *g*).
Gotto look now if there was something like “…to be continued” mentioned