When we set out to design the annual sketchbook, we sift through potential materials and scan the pin-up alcoves for inspiration. Sometimes something jumps out at us like the graphic quality of a shadow study that inspired the 2013 sketchbook.
Last fall we explored a number of potential materials, like recycled coffee bean bags, blackboard material and finally, bamboo. With the idea of a white bamboo cover kicking around, we explored a few different graphics, all inspired by project work, but nothing got us excited. And then we contributed to the book design for the Fifth XiangYa Hospital design competition. As the competition drew to a close and we prepared our submission, my mind kept wandering back to the distinctive forms of the patient towers. Later referred to as the “twin serpents” by the client, I wondered if there was potential in those forms to, somehow, “work” for the sketchbook.
Ultimately, I isolated the forms of the patient towers and set them on the cover. In the InDesign file it isn’t much to look at, but I just had this feeling that if we debossed the forms and the date into the crisp white bamboo, we’d have a simple, yet elegant cover.
Original siteplan for the Fifth XiangYa Hospital
We had sourced several sketchbook samples in our hunt for cover materials and one example used a color wash on the edge of the pages. The more we looked at that sample sitting innocently on our desks, the more we wanted to do something with a color wash. Inspiration struck again.
There are several pops of color sprinkled through our office, like the accent walls and filing cabinets. We carry this suite of colors through many of the pieces we produce as part of our corporate brand. What if we could find a color wash to match one of those colors and wash the 3 non-bound edges of the sketchbook? By matching the pantone color value to the swatches available in the color wash treatment, we found a match and that pop of color brings the subtle elegance of the debossed white bamboo to life.
Color wash paper sample sitting on a filing cabinet; pretty close match, right?
Inspiration board we used to express our design intent to our colleagues
“You have to do a really good job to do what society needs. That’s something that is worth it.”
Payette’s Jim Collins reflects on the importance of architecture in creating spaces for future generations to enjoy.
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