In collaboration with: Jeroen Kummer, Kummer & Herrman
As a photographer and/or artist, there’s perhaps nothing more rewarding than compiling your work into a beautiful, tangible book. Of course, this isn’t just any book. You want your work to truly shine. You want the book to tell the story behind your work. You want the entire narrative to flow seamlessly from start to finish—from the cover to the very last page. At NPN|Graphius, we do everything we can to achieve that result together with you. We listen to you, we think along with you, we offer constructive criticism when necessary, and we show you possibilities you may not have considered yourself. All with that one goal in mind: to create a book you’ll be incredibly proud of.
Are you thinking about compiling your work into a book? In this blog we tell you what to look out for when printing an art or photography book. We look at the whole picture: from the moment the idea originates with you to the moment your book is "born" in our print shop.
The idea
If you have the idea of having a book made, then the first thing you need to do is to start shaping that idea. You can do that yourself, of course, but it can also be nice to hook up with a design agency right away. Kummer & Herrman, for example. They have extensive knowledge, are just a little further removed from your matter and can look at the idea from all perspectives, including the perspective of the recipient. Not entirely unimportant! At Kummer & Herrman they think with you about how and where you can best sell your book.
In addition, the story behind your work takes shape by thinking about it carefully with a designer from the beginning.
Design choices
Once your idea is clear and you know exactly what story you want to tell, comes the tricky part: making choices. Difficult, because the possibilities are almost endless and you can come up with new ideas every time. Initially, those choices are mainly about editing, the organization of the content:
- How do you edit the image?
- How do you distribute the material among the pages?
- Do you want to convey a lot of energy through the book, or instead radiate peace and calm?
- What colors match your work/story?
- Do you want a lot or little text in the book?
- What fits best in terms of typography?
These are all aspects to think about carefully. The better you think about these choices, the better the end result will be!
Shape and material
This phase often runs concurrently with phase 2. The material and form also have a huge impact on the feeling the recipient is going to get from your book. In addition, it can also mean a lot for the final cost. When it comes to the material and form, you can think of the following aspects:
- The format
Large or small, thick or thin. It all does something to how the book ultimately feels. A big, thin book feels different than a small, slightly thicker book. Bigger pages feel different than small ones. The size depends on the design choices and vice versa. So don't take it lightly.
- The paper choice
When it comes to paper, the possibilities are enormous. Matt and soft, or sharp, hard and brilliant? Your choice of paper affects how the book feels, but also how the colors come out. Do you want the colors of your work to really stand out? Then choose a different type of paper than if you want to keep things quieter.
Colors and lithography
You determined the colors during the design process, but at this stage they are still digital. It is of course the intention that the colors are converted so that they appear on paper exactly as you have conceived them. In other words, from RGB to CMYK colors. We call this process lithography. Our lithographer will help you with this.
Press tests
We always provide a press proof. It is of course super important to you as a photographer or artist that all colors come out perfectly. Sometimes it is necessary to make adjustments because the result is not immediately to your liking. That is not a problem, that is precisely why we made the proof. We can adjust the lithography, or even the choice of paper.
Is the press proof completely satisfactory? Then it goes into production. You are welcome to come and watch the press. This way you will be there when your book is born: a beautiful and special moment!
