Routes to Reading
The brief
Lift were approached by Reading Local History Trust (RLHT), to design a book aimed at supporting the community-based local history initiative, The Immigrant’s Project. The project is an oral history project that tells the stories of people from all over the world who came to settle in Reading.
Routes to Reading is a collection of selected transcripts told by individuals who had made varied journeys from all over the world and settled in Reading. In addition, the book would be accompanied by a website www.theimmigrantsproject.org (also designed and produced by Lift).
The RLHT wanted a design that would be able to accomodate all transcripts, and at the same time reflect the individuality of each story told.
The book was to be designed within a very short time-frame, a tight budget, and what was at the beginning, an uncertain page count due to amount of transcripts to be published.
The approach
Through meetings with RLHT, we discussed how we would deal with the design of the book. An eye-catching, individual and flexible design was required. Each interview varied in terms of length, number of photos (if any), and other general information. Because each transcript was so different, we recommended leaving the text unedited, and to allow the reader to get more of a sense of how real and personal each story was. The text would therefore be left in its original ‘question and answer’ format.
In addition the transcripts had 13 common running themes which have been incorporated as a design feature throughout the book. The random placement of where the themes appear throughout the book would again reflect how each story varies from another.
Because each interview talked in some detail about their journey to Reading, we made graphic elements out of these which highlighted the route each immigrant has made. We added these features at the beginning of each chapter to add visual interest and highlight factual information.
We created a design that would be contemporary, flexible and at the same time reflect and enhance each individual story. We were supplied with a translation of each interview and we styled each page accordingly.
The outcome
The book needed to be a manageable size to pick up and read or browse as well as compliment the content. We designed the book to be 170mm x 240mm, slightly larger than A5, but not as big as A4.
The book features a wrap around cover and uses a grainy photograph on the outside (from an interviewees collection), the inside is printed with a rich yellow. The cover is printed on an uncoated board to add to the unedited content and character of the book.
The book was produced in 2 colours – black and yellow. The text and images are all in black and white and we chose yellow as the complimentary colour. Yellow aids legibility when used with black text and remains unobtrusive when used for rules to mark the different themes.
We chose Sabon as the typeface for the book to add a sensitivity to the subject matter without being too ornate or fussy.
Each interview begins as a new chapter, opening up with the individual’s photograph, name, date of birth, place of birth, as well as a map accompanied by co-ordinates. This breaks up the text and adds a more personalised feel, introducing each immigrant and highlighting key facts.
We used images in a variety of ways, some cutouts, some full-bleed, which add to the book’s character and individual theme. It reflects the nature of the interviews, unedited, personal... all real life experiences.
What our client thinks
‘Our book designers, have done a wonderful job in understanding the content and translating it into a style which reflects and enhances the stories told.’
Ann Westgarth, The Immigrants Project
Co-ordinator & Routes to Reading Editor
Return to forms & detailed documents
Detail showing map with co-ordinates of journey to Reading
Detail showing highlighted question with answer
Cover of Routes to Reading
Inside spread from the book