How to design a cricket book that's not about cricket
A dream brief for a cricket lover and sports designer.
In this post;
Creating a unique book about cricket and life
The challenges of making an art book and a cricket at the same time
The project outcome and photos
This project was a real joy for the studio to undertake. A fantastic challenge from a wonderful client and a brilliant bit of writing. Hope you enjoy.
The set up
I was contacted by the English writer, Jon Hotten to help with visual presentation of a book he’d written called ‘Vinciness’.
Jon Hotten is a journalist and author whose career spans music, football and cricket journalism. His work has appeared in national newspapers, cricket outlets and magazines, and he has also worked as an editor and podcaster.
Jon was looking for a short publication run (102 copies) and wanted the book to look and feel like a beautiful artefact.
He’d found me through my own views on cricket book covers published in Cricket Et Al. I’d panned cricket book covers in general and published my own top ten covers of all time.
Cricket writing is such a florid and beautiful form of sports writing. It’s so often accompanied by images and styling that undercut its drama, tension and intrigue.
Jon was now paying me to make a cricket book and its cover; time to put my money where my mouth went.
The plan
Through our initial discoveries, Jon and I agreed that this book should be a unique experience for the reader. At 90 pages, it was a small novella of vignettes about cricket, art and life. The project presented opportunities for some bespoke creativity.
Jon’s writing was a collection of stories that captured the beauty of crickets action and tragedy of its many near misses, captured in its title - Vinciness or the Unbearable Sadness of Batting
Its central figure rides high and low across their career and their form and story is compared to many varied sports and cultural figures. James Vince, a beautiful cricketer, and his journeyman career were the through line.
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The short run, the unique characters, the varied scenes of the book lent itself to the use of collage, paint texture and ink splotches. Chapter artworks were created to announce Jons writing and punctuate the adventure. We used a club colour of one of Vince’s teams to unify the books cover, endpapers and chapter artwork.
Through consultation, it was decided typesetting should work to give both a literary and artistic feel. The challenge was to create an art book as well as a short novel in the same hardcover book.
The shot
We engaged Mike and his team at Ex Why Zed printing house who assisted us with some stock selection and design decisions. Once we had the shape of the book it was down to typesetting, image composition and production.
Typesetting a book may be the most deeply satisfying yet maddening thing a creative can do. You can feel it’s all there and right to go until you notice one mistake and everything needs changing.
It’s truly akin to the highs and lows of cricket.
Setting a book as its illustrator offers a unique perspective. By the time I got around to composing the images, the story and Jons evocative writing has seeped into my own perspective. From a creative aspect I’d been working with the words of the text for some time and the images almost created themselves.
The result
The outcome was 99 printed pages with cover artwork, end papers, typesetting and chapter artwork created by Fisher Classics Studio.
102 numbered copies for sale through Jons fantastic substack, Arrangements of White on Green.
You can buy Vinciness or The Unbearable Sadness of Batting here.
Stick it in the Louvre!