Onchi Kōshirō Book Design
恩地孝四郎の装幀 / 1910s–1950s / Style / Publishing and Editing
Book design that treats the cover as a print in its own right rather than as a frame for a picture. Representational illustration gives way to abstract shapes and flat colour, and the title lettering sits inside that surface as one of its parts.
At a glance
Visual cues
- Covers built only from abstract shapes and flat colour, with no representational illustration
- Title lettering drawn by hand rather than set in type, sitting on the same surface as the image
- Few colours, with form made by overlapping planes instead of outlines
- The bare colour of the paper left showing, with the image laid straight onto it
Best used for
- Covers for poetry and collected works made as a print rather than as a holder for a picture
- Few color printing where even the title lettering belongs to the image surface
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Dictionary entry
- Type
- Title lettering drawn by hand instead of set in type, on the same surface and at the same weight as the image
- Composition
- The cover composed as one surface rather than as a picture with lettering added to it
- Material
- Few colors and no outlines, form made by overlapping planes, the bare paper left showing and counted as one of the colors
- Caution
- Setting a representational picture into a frame turns the cover back into a place to put a picture, and the surface stops being a print.
- Further study
- Onchi Kōshirō's Shosō / Takehisa Yumeji's bindings / contemporary designers like Kikuchi Nobuyoshi
Related entries
- Private Press (プライベート・プレス)Same Publishing and Editing lineage.Compare Onchi Kōshirō Book Design and Private Press
- Shin-Hanga (新版画)Shared effects: Calm / Luxury.Compare Onchi Kōshirō Book Design and Shin-Hanga
More from Publishing and Editing
Continue through styles in the same Publishing and Editing family, prioritised by shared effects.
- Paperback Chic (ペーパーバック・シック)Shared effects: Intimacy / Luxury / Calm.
- The Face (ザ・フェイス)Shared effects: Luxury / Calm.
- Illuminated Manuscript (彩飾写本)Shared effects: Luxury / Calm.
Browse all Publishing and Editing entries
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- https://indexstyle.org/styles/onchi-book-design
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