Labour of love: Graham Rawle’s quirky book design

When I’m thinking of buying a book, often the design can put me off; a very small typeface, mean leading (line spacing) and stingy margins are all a turn-off, and I avoid these pitfalls when I’m designing books or magazines myself. Recently I heard about an unusual book, and once I’d seen a photo of one of the spreads, I rushed to order it. The book, Woman’s World, by Graham Rawle (of the Guardian’s ‘Lost Consonants’ fame) is not only incredibly innovative by design standards, but the content of the story is also partly dictated by the design. Graham, who is a writer and collage artist, spoke at the Galley Club recently, and explained that to create it, he collected scores of 1950s women’s magazines, cut out words and phrases, and re-assembled them to create a new novel which retains the flavour and moral tone of the original source material.
A labour of love, the book took him several years to complete. It’s tough to read, but a joy to look at. If you’d like to treat yourself or a friend to a quirky present, I highly recommend it. It’s out of print now, but you can still get hold of it from Graham’s website.