66 67
special report special report
i wanted tHe systeM to be
obvious. eacH letter Had to
rise as one opens tHe page... no
pulling tabs, no Manipulation
FroM tHe reader.
ABC3D is a fantastic new pop-up book, published this month,
exploring the characters of the alphabet in three dimensions. It’s not
entirely clear whether this book, created by Parisian designer Marion
Bataille, is targeted at children or design lovers—although at less
than £10 it’s one that most designers need not be too precious about
sharing with their younger, more cack-handed family members.
The book’s simple but jazzy colour palette of black, red and white distinguishes
it from most pop-up books, the majority of which are created for the gaudy
tastes of children. Bataille’s almost Japonesque choice of colour partners
well with the Art Deco typographic style she’s chosen to express. She explains:
“Usually pop-up books use a lot of colour to hide the system. I wanted the
system to be obvious. Also, each letter had to rise as one opens the page. That
implied no pulling tabs, no other manipulation from the reader. I just added
colours to add another rhythm.”
It’s true that once you have opened the page, you want to lift
the book and shift it around at all angles to see just how the structure
of each letter was formed. And even though the reader doesn’t
pull any tabs, there are certainly tabs within the book that work like
hidden puppet strings moved by the kinetic energy of the reader
pulling open a page. These tags are attached to the left-hand
pages and only move the pop-up on the right when the page is
turned and the gutter pulled wide to reveal the whole spread. One
tag attached to the left-hand page flips over the letter C on the
right-hand page, reversing it into the bowl of the D as it joins a bold
black line that was hidden beneath the C. Similarly a white tag on
the left reaches beneath the X, pulling away its lower right leg and
turning it into a Y.
Bataille’s aim was to “find a movement that would fit the structure of each
letter, as if each letter had its own natural movement”. When the pages
containing the G and the S are opened, each symbol’s roundness—and what
roundness can mean in three dimensions—is played with. The letter G swirls
into shape on top of a lifting funnel formed by a circle scored into quarters.
The S swivels like a barber’s sign; the curves are filled with spinning circles of red
and white stripes that pivot round on fulcrums of folded paper hidden
beneath the page.
The easiest letter for Bataille to create was the A. “A uses the simplest
system called a V fold, “ she explains. The A is simply folded box-like
tunnels, flat-packed until the page is turned. Each leg of the letter
stretches out, spread-eagled across the spread, the apex perfectly
in the middle. Such a pop-up, which can be created from one piece
of paper, graphically lends itself to the symmetrical letters in the
book—the H is also formed in the same way.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94