Two-Dimensional Man

 

Two-Dimensional Man

Two-Dimensional Man is a Graphic Memoir written by Paul Sahre. While most memoirs are simply writing in a book with images, my expectation was to find a clean and contemporary layout, but what I found was so much more expressive and that is why I love the way this book is designed. The font used is one of the most used serif fonts for non-selective reading texts, that being Times New Roman, at quite a large size of 12pts. 

What is interesting in this book is that Sahre does not use multiple typefaces, or different weights of the same typeface to create a contrast in the layout, but instead uses the grid to break the rules of memoir writing and layout design. While content pages or Introduction pages are designed to give the reader a clear understanding of what is to come ahead, the designer breaks this fundamental rule to bring life to his memoir and make it more expressive for the reader. To give character to his content, Sahre plays with the angles at which the words hang or fall, giving insight into his mindset at the time.  

But what is interesting to see is that traditional layout design does dominate the book in volume, but what one remembers are the inflections in his design. He also uses symbols/dingbats of circles, squares and triangles to create a break between each section in each part of the book in a subtle but recognizable manner. While there are many times 'rules of layout design' were broken, they were broken in a consistent fashion and created unity in the entire book. There is a lot to take back from this form of design, but what I would like to incorporate in my work is how the designer is not afraid to do bizarre things with their layout but also understand what kind of balance must be created throughout the book for the 'bizarreness' to be truly appreciated, and to give these instances a relevance.