KU News Release

Traveling exhibit offers up-close look at award-winning book designs

LAWRENCE — Graphic designers and book admirers will soon have an opportunity to view award-winning books and jackets from some of the nation’s scholarly presses.

A traveling exhibit featuring winners of the 2006 Association of American University Presses Book, Jacket and Journal Show will be on display from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays at the University Press of Kansas, 2502 Westbrooke Circle. The exhibit begins Monday, March 5, and runs through Friday, March 16. It is free and open to the public.

The exhibit features 50 books and 34 jackets and covers. For judging purposes, the books were divided into categories of typographic, illustrated, poetry and literature, and reference. Winners were selected from submission of 323 books, 339 jackets and covers, and two journals published in 2005 that were submitted by university presses. Judges chose books for superior layout of typography or illustration; jackets and journals were judged for outstanding overall design.

This is a hands-on exhibit that allows viewers to open and study the books to examine the quality of their design and book crafting. In addition, visitors will receive a free copy of the show catalogue containing design specifications and jurors’ comments. “Beautiful marriage of illustration, type and color” that “fit together harmoniously” and are “interactive in the hands of the reader” are just a few of the phrases used by judges to describe the group of successful designs.

The book jurors were Peter A. Andersen, vice president of design for the Knopf Publishing Group, and Paul F. Gehl, a historian of education and printing. Jacket and cover jurors were David Uttley, principal of the DesignWorks Group, a graphic design studio specializing in book covers and interiors, and Claire Williams, designer for VSA Partners.

The juried show was established in 1964 to recognize meritorious achievement and as a means for members of the Association of American University Presses to share ideas for “intelligent, creative and resourceful bookmaking.”

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