Liminal Figures

2023

This extensive publication design endeavor acts as an exciting and compelling piece of printed matter, commemorating how the graduating graphic design cohort has collectively embraced transitional phases of life through their capstone research subjects.

Liminal Figures invites future graphic design exhibitions to consider taking a different shape than the standard gallery show.

Edition of 200, featured in:
Book Launch/Exhibition - Southend Brewing Co., Boone, NC
Art & Design Expo - The Smith Gallery, Boone, NC
GD Department Archival Book Collection - Appalachian State University

Part of Liminal Figures’ appeal comes from its layout of irregular page sizes. Back when the book’s physical form was only an idea, we looked to exhibition catalogs and art journals that used typography and color systems to streamline the reader’s experience through a wide range of featured content. We were interested in having different page sizes, each with a specific content restriction, to help each designer find space for their abstract, process work, and final designs inside the allotted one-spread view.

With one full bleed image on the left page, two half-pages in the middle (of vertical then horizontal orientation), and a full page on the right side, we agreed on a solution that worked around each designer having to shove a year’s worth of research onto just two pages. Amidst our cohort’s newfound excitement, we unknowingly created the biggest publication design/production nightmare our department has faced before…

A full-page layout consists of a five-column, eight-row grid with a 0.5-inch margin. Knowing that each half-page needed to sit on the same grid, the vertical page includes two of the five columns while the horizontal page only has four of the eight rows.

I enjoy working with Adobe Indesign and volunteered to design the template file for all of us: however, when I realized the half-pages also needed margins and could not simply click into place on the grid, my head almost popped.

After taking a step back and grounding in my peers for help, we finalized the alternate grids that introduced shortened columns/rows depending on the orientation of the page.

We printed Liminal Figures through an outsourced service. Pressured by the days until our book launch event and strong determination to have the infamous half pages, sending our finalized publication off to print involved more personal labor than we advertised.

Since no company within our reach could cut the white halves out of all 200 of our books, we outsourced the imposed file, trimming the half-pages and constructing the books in-house. 600 staples later, we collated each folded and trimmed signature into their designated stacks, taking turns building each book one page at a time.