blog_Clémence Villaines_Instinct & book design

To discuss the role of instinct in book design, we must assume that instinct is not part of the book design systematic process.

Josh Hochuli is a Swiss graphic designer, typographer and publisher born in 1933. He is known for his book design. In 2020, a book entitled Systematic book design? was published by B42. The text was written for a lecture that the graphic designer gave in Munich in 2007 and in Paris in 2011. In it, Jost Hochuli questions the process of book design by examining the importance of intuition in any logical thought. He draws on his own experience to explain his point and uses examples taken from various books he created.

“Systematic book design?”. To explain the word “systematic”, Josh Hochuli uses the definition found in the Schweizer Lexikon of 1933: “a planned overall presentation or design”. In the book design process, systematic book design is when the conception and visualization of the book preconceived the realization by following a plan. What is it in fact? When we think of a book before its actual creation, we imagine its weight, its format, its layout, its binding, its touch… These first ideas are not systematic but come before the systematic work.

Once the systematic work is started and established (choice of a grid to design with such and such elements, their size, ...) comes a part of instinct. This part of instinct can influence various aspects like the choice of the layout, the typeface, the color, the paper, the binding, ... “Instinct” means a way of behaving, thinking, or feeling that is not learned, as a natural desire or tendency that makes you want to act in a particular way. In the process of book design, instinct results in decisions that cannot be explained rationally, because they result from a feeling, an impulse. These choices are in fact very personal. They come from each person’s experience, emotions, likes, influences, personal feelings and more.

The importance of instinct and systematic work varies according to the different criteria previously mentioned, but is always present. We can thus consider that instinct has its place in the process of conception of a book, which is also logical and thoughtful. The choices resulting from instincts can be part of the normal design process.