The book

In this project, junior-level students question and challenge the norms surrounding conventional book design. Classic literature is utilized for content. Students are given a list of well-known story titles from which they get to choose one of them. Four phases then ensue. However, the descriptions of phases are held from students until the time they begin each phase. This process, of unknowing information until needed, has proven to lessen pre-conceived design machinations and to facilitate type experimentation and less expected compositions. Textual language is deconstructed and then reconstructed through semiotics and visual language.

Fahrenheit 451 | UIC student: Salvador Quiroz

Frankenstein | UIC student: Barbara Kennedy

Animal Farm | UIC student: Andrea Guerrero

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory | UIC student: Ryan Hernandez

The Metamorphosis | UIC student: Robert Kay

Sense and Sensibility | UIC student: Kenneth Randall

The Black Cat | UIC student: Jennifer Manning

The Time Machine | UIC student: Felisha Linklater

Frankenstein | UIC student: William Dutton

The War of the Worlds | UIC student: Casey Rooney

In the following examples from Guy’s students at Columbia College Chicago and DePaul University, some students elected to work with a favorite book rather than a classic. Additionally, Guy had his students incorporate a second text into their work — Reading Isotype by Ellen Lupton.

The Stranger | DePaul University student: Tyler Gobberdiel

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz | Columbia College Chicago student: Janessa Torres

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea | Columbia College Chicago student: Daria Percy

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory | Columbia College Chicago student: Hannah Davila

Frankenstein | Columbia College Chicago student: Sloane Michel

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao | Columbia College Chicago student: Oscar Salgado

American Gods | Columbia College Chicago student: Rita Fisher

A Single Man | Columbia College Chicago student: Jared Sawdey

Alan Wake | Columbia College Chicago student: Ben Sliwa

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? | Columbia College Chicago student: Ronny Baker

Seymour | Columbia College Chicago student: Landry Miller