[Book Story] Chen Xicheng integrates Book Art into book design

Chen Xicheng used to be a book designer at Sanlian Bookstore. He started to get in touch with book design when he was studying in the Department of Visual Communication Design of Polytechnic University. During his college years, he was involved in everything, photography, animation, advertising, typography, font design, etc., of course, including book design. When he was about to do a graduation project in his junior year of college, he began to think about what he liked the most. "I found that I didn't have much interest in web design and advertising. I liked typography in both Chinese and English, and the form and texture of book design." So that year, he began to study book design more, and finally made Chinese fonts and books. project.

After graduating, he wanted to do book design, but he didn't get it at first, doing graphic design work. In the same year, he won the YIC Young Design Talent Award and a scholarship established by the Hong Kong Design Centre, and went to the University of the Arts London to study Book Art. "At that time, I really wanted to study about books. There were still many things I didn't understand and needed to study, so I finally chose Book Art." At that time, Chen Xicheng didn't know what it was. After all, it was not popular in Hong Kong, and There is no such thing as so much information and handmade books. "After arriving in the UK, I learned that Book Art is an art medium, just like painting, you want to express your personal feelings, your perception of the world, and then use the medium of books to express it. It is not much different from other art forms. ”

He said that Book Art is very free and has no boundaries. "It can be an installation or a sculpture. As long as it expresses its perception of the world and its own feelings in the form of books, it is Book Art." Then it has another connection with Book Design. What's the difference? Chen Xicheng said that book design is like making wedding clothes for pictures and words, paying more attention to the feelings of readers and authors than their own creations, and often working as a team. "Book Art is a personal creation, text and photography are all made by yourself, you can do it completely according to your own ideas, you can create any theme, form, printing, and usually there are not many, without considering the market factors, sometimes just do one This book." However, Chen Xicheng believes that the boundary between the two is also a bit blurred, and it mainly depends on the purpose of the designer to make the book.

"Many people use the mentality of book design to make Book Art works. Because of their background in design, they also unintentionally look at art from the perspective of design. I think Book Art also has a distinction between beautiful and beautiful. Its fonts and layout can be very messy. , which is unacceptable for book design, but it does express personal thoughts, and they may be well-concepted and intended, it's just that the level of aesthetics created by Book Art is not consistent with the experience of Book Design. Of course slowly, I would accept and appreciate it, but I wouldn’t do it myself.” He says he likes both clean design and the eclectic typography of American graphic designer David Carson.

In the year after graduating from the University of the Arts London, Chen Xicheng was looking for a book design job locally, and at the same time compiled his experience in London into a book called "British Calligraphy Journey". The cover of this book was created by him. Book Art works. Two years later, after returning to Hong Kong to work as a book designer, he also created another work, The Poem of AUO. “At that time, I went to Belgium to participate in a design event and did a gender-themed work.

There is a transgender singer in Japan named Nakamura Naka. He has a gender identity disorder. The 15-year-old band fell in love with one of the male members. After the other party learned about it, he alienated him, so he wrote "The Poem of Youda". "Chen Xicheng personified the feeling of this song into a book. The appearance of the book is a black and thick hardcover hardcover, which is more like a male image. Opening the book is a sculpture of a woman's private part, and then splashing red paint, making the whole book have a strong contrast between the inside and outside.

Chen Xicheng said that any element can be put into Book Art, but he is trying to put these elements into book design, trying to blur the boundaries. "Book design also has experimental design, it is not flat. Books are three-dimensional and have six sides, not necessarily the front cover and back cover to use. I think book designers need to learn how to bind books, so that they can better understand what books are. elements to use and play.”

When he designed "The Death of Lao She", he cleverly used the edge of the book to incorporate two photos. If you bend the book to the left or right, you will see different photos of Lao She. When designing "Six Lectures on Peking Opera", he drew an action of Peking Opera in the lower left corner of each page of the book, and when the book was turned quickly, there was an animation effect. "I think the experimental or interesting elements of Book Art can be put into the book design to increase the value of the book."

·The original text appeared in the 2014 "Outside" magazine