From Manuscript to Finished Art Book in Four Weeks: The Making of MASTERS OF BAMBOO

Museum book publishing has harder deadlines that are usual in trade book publishing, at least when (as is usually the case) the book catalogues or accompanies an exhibition. Museum exhibitions commonly run for about eight to twelve weeks, with the peak attendance occuring around the opening. If finished books are not available on time the biggest sales opportunity is lost.

But it's hard to put on an exhibition, and sometimes events conspire to shorten the amount of time available for book design and production. Then you end up with something like what occurred with Masters of Bamboo, which had a remarkable short production schedule. When something like that happens, who are you going to call? Tom Christensen, that's who!

I was also managing the editorial aspect in parallel to the design, graphic production, and typesetting described here. Complicating the task, the project was originally presented as a sort of chapbook of about 60 pages. Instead, it ended up a 144-page catalogue, with a lot of complicated elements.

So let's take a look at the design. Start here for the full tour, or click on the thumbnail of your choice for commentary and larger views of selected spreads.