PRODUCTION IS RECEPTION (1): WHAT YOU WILL (1)

Figure 11.09.01
The first page of notes/brainstorming for What You Will.

What You Will is a book of poems by Kyle Schlesinger. It is scheduled for release in February 2010.

One of the first things that I do when planning a book is make a bunch of notes and sketches, just to get some ideas down. You can see in the image above that there are sketches for a general page layout, for the main title spread, and some vague ideas about some new ligatures for the title type.

These poems pose an interesting visual problem in that they are very long and narrow. Does one make the pages long and narrow to accommodate the poems, or make them short and squarish to provide contrast? The sketches here show an idea for wider pages.

The final book always changes from these initial ideas. The point is to let them grow and develop, and to learn something new along the way. But you have to jump in somewhere.