Patterns in Nature – Peter S. Stevens

Patterns in Nature – Peter S. Stevens by Yiannis Papadopoulos is a book-after-a-book, rather than a redesign of an existing book. It is the result of negotiating the hierarchies of content of the Peter S. Stevens’ homonymous book, published in the 70’s, trying to find relevancies to appear as a printed matter again in the 2020’s. One could say that actually the reader deals with two books, both old and new, printed on top of each other and the printed space/object, that carries them.

It is a book-bound experiment, which challenges the idea of book design, content handling and printing methods. The book space contains three layers; the first one contains the pages of the old book with the original design. The next layer consists of the new book, which gives space for the original images to expand and reveal their details, accompanied by the text flowing released from tight restrictions between text/images. Between the two forementioned layers runs the third layer, an in-between space. Therefore, it was necessary to determine a concrete system of conceptual decisions with design consequences. Step by step the network of rules was completed, permitting the three layers weave autonomously an aesthetic outcome.

In order to achieve the difference between the layers with offset printing, the book was printed on ivory grainy paper. The old book was printed first, then a white background comes and gives space for the next book, which is printed on top. The new book-work keeps the proportions of the old book, but it is bigger. The area between the old book and the new book, is a semantic blacked out space. The attention for the new book is given to the obsolete beauty of the grainy black and white images of the original book. They conquer printed space, being limited only from the physical borders of the page, rather than the decisions of the designer. The text is reprinted and it has a supportive character, keeping a “functional” presence.

A worth mentioning element is the navigation in the book. Due to the fact that page numbers of the old book appear together with those from the new, an asymmetrical placement of the new creates a discrete difference amongst them. The figure numbers appear slightly featured in the text, without having a strict correspondence with the images. The image numbers take a fixed spot-on top of the page.

The cover is a woodcut made by the artist while the back cover contains the thumbnails of the provided images of the original book, as they appear on the screen.

The book was firstly published by Omblos Editions in 2021 in three copies printed with Indigo Press in the context of the Expert Class Book Design, Plantin Institute of Typography, Antwerp Belgium.

Design: Yiannis Papadopoulos

Size: 210×280 mm
Pages: 408 pages, UV printing with white ink
Format: Soft cover
Language: English
Edition: 120 copies

Co-published with Big black mountain the darkness never ever comes

2025

ISBN: 978-618-5204-16-7