Farah Behbehani: The Conference of the Birds

The Conference of the Birds was published in 2009 by Thames & Hudson. It is a mystical poem from twelfth century north-eastern Iran. Farah Behbehani's (a freelance graphic designer) lends the most wonderful and intricate design to this book. For here she thoroughly explores the physical aspects.

First, she presents the book in a decorative slipcase (see above). I know that if I was to be presented with something like this, my immediate response would be to run a hand along the case's cover to feel the texture, for texture can be another technique to initially draw in the viewer. 

The case is adorned with Behbehani's trademark Arabic calligraphy. She explains on her website, “illustrated in Jali Diwani calligraphy, this project revisits classic Sufi literature and creates a decoding system designed to make Arabic calligraphy more accessible for non-Arabic readers.” 

The case is then removed to reveal the turquoise front, which plays off the design of the first cover.

But she does not stop there. The end pages are decorated with intricate patterns, designed from calligraphy of three letters, which would mean the letters of the "conference of the birds". 

Next, she explains that she, "Begins the book with a traditional pattern from Islamic architecture."

She then "gives it a more contemporary twist" with the introduction of delicate paper-cuts that reveal numbers relating to the contents page underneath.

With these initial pages, Behbehani has used masterful techniques, techniques which would be impossible to recreate in a digital format, because a book is functional. Her designs make reading a book a more exciting and novel (no pun intended) experience. 

 

Craig Mod, explains on Hack the Cover, “Once you're finally in the book — the Kindle equivalent of ‘page 1’ — you've gone from opening a cardboard box to a place of understanding. This is achieved through design nuance and production decisions — all of which are a response to the constraints defined by the physicality of books.”

Behbehani really does go above and beyond with the design of this book. And, as a result, who would not want to buy it? All of these physical aspects cause the viewer to pick up the book, remove the covers as though starting a game of pass the parcel, admire the intricate artwork and then, most importantly, read. 

What I have learned: 
- Experiment away from the obvious. Which designer would immediately think of adding paper-cuts into a book's content page?
- A book can be art in itself.
- Though don't go too overboard on the design. Try to find a balance and remember that a book is, ultimately, to read. Don't detract from this with your design. You can be intricate, as shown above, but remember that you are trying to get the viewer to read what is inside.
- I love that Behbehani keeps a consistent style and colour theme throughout. If you have multiple pieces to your book, such as jackets or cases, the viewer should be aware that these separate pieces are all part of a set. If the book jacket has nothing in common with what is underneath, this can become confusing. 
- Every artistic consideration that Behbehani had related back to the poem she was designing for, as can be seen in the youtube clip above. This reinforces what I have learned from researching work from Chip Kidd and Jim Tierney: always bring your idea back to the book.

References: 
http://www.khtt.net/person/1533

http://craigmod.com/journal/hack_the_cover/

http://ansam518.wordpress.com/2011/03/26/the-conference-of-the-bird/