I was approached by photographer (and sister) Kate Blamire to collaborate on the creation of a publication to accompany her recent project entitled Floriography.
Floriography as a concept is the cryptological communication through the arrangement of flowers. Dating back to the 1700's, it rose to prominence during the Victorian era where individuals used different bouquets of flowers to privately express messages and emotions. The project itself consists of a series of still life photographs depicted a range of different flowers that were used during the era, each with a different symbolic meaning.
Kate approached me with the idea to create a photo book that would accompany a series of prints of these images. Her ideas for the publication were all very minimalist, with a view to create a series of full bleed spreads. The information for each flower would then be displayed either alongside the images or in a list at the back of the book.
Based on the number of images she had, the publication would be a 16 page book that would be professionally printed. As there were so few pages, I suggested that the most appropriate binding option for this publication would be a saddle stitch, and Kate agreed.
When discussing ideas for the publication with Kate, it became clear that the format of the book should maximise the impact of the images as standalone pages. In order to allow the copy text to have minimal intrusion on the content of the spreads, I suggested that instead of placing the text alongside the spreads, or even at the back of the publication, we design a cover that incorporates a fold out section so that the copy text may be hidden away and then revealed as the user explores the book. Kate gave positive feedback to this idea.