DI: What is the main principle, idea and inspiration behind your design?
CU : This book is a visual coffee table book with a focus on the City of Vienna’s history. The body text was minimal to allow the visuals and accompanying captions to have greater impact.
DI: What has been your main focus in designing this work? Especially what did you want to achieve?
CU : This unique book provides a visual history of the two primary families who settled in and ultimately founded the City of Vienna in West Virginia in the late 1700s. The book is filled with historical documents, maps, and other artifacts that provide context to the actions of both families in light of events in the American colonies and Europe at this time. The ancestry of both families is also documented, tracing their roots back to the English monarchy and Viking warriors.
DI: What are your future plans for this award winning design?
CU : The book is part of a larger campaign called Trek Vienna, which includes large format exhibition panels with information about the history and heritage of the City of Vienna. Given the amount of research that I uncovered for this book, I may write and design a second volume.
DI: How long did it take you to design this particular concept?
CU : The book took a year to research, write, design, and publish.
DI: Why did you design this particular concept? Was this design commissioned or did you decide to pursuit an inspiration?
CU : While researching information to include on the Trek Vienna exhibition panels, it became apparent that there was enough content to develop a book to tell the story of the city's first families. The publication was commissioned by the Friends of Vienna, a nonprofit organization affiliated with the City of Vienna in West Virginia.
DI: Is your design being produced or used by another company, or do you plan to sell or lease the production rights or do you intent to produce your work yourself?
CU : The publication was commissioned by the Friends of Vienna, a nonprofit organization affiliated with the City of Vienna in West Virginia.
DI: What made you design this particular type of work?
CU : I have been a publication designer for over 30 years so designing a book is part of my professional expertise. I also love history so that just made the project even more interesting to me.
DI: Where there any other designs and/or designers that helped the influence the design of your work?
CU : The design of the book was inspired by vintage typography in the late 1800s combined with decorative lines and border frames implemented in historical and photography books and vintage maps from the early 1700s.
DI: Who is the target customer for his design?
CU : The book was intended to communicate the city's history and heritage to the community as well as the geographic region in an effort to create awareness about the city's origins.
DI: What sets this design apart from other similar or resembling concepts?
CU : Unlike other history books, this book takes a visual narrative approach, linking text with historical images, documents, and artifacts.
DI: How did you come up with the name for this design? What does it mean?
CU : Discovering Vienna is the title because it summarizes the nature of the story of the book.
DI: Which design tools did you use when you were working on this project?
CU : I used Adobe Creative Suite applications including InDesign, Photoshop, and Illustrator.
DI: What is the most unique aspect of your design?
CU : The most unique aspect of the design is the custom typography that is incorporated on the cover and the chapter divider pages.
DI: Who did you collaborate with for this design? Did you work with people with technical / specialized skills?
CU : Jonathan Ullman served as the copy editor for the book.
DI: What are some of the challenges you faced during the design/realization of your concept?
CU : The research was very difficult for this book since many of its resources were discovered in various libraries and archives around the world.
DI: How did you decide to submit your design to an international design competition?
CU : I am very proud of the book since I researched, wrote and designed it. It became a very personal project for me. I believe it is one of the best publications I have created in my career so far and it deserves to be recognized.
DI: What did you learn or how did you improve yourself during the designing of this work?
CU : I learned to become a resourceful researcher and how to verify information from multiple sources efficiently.
