Dave Eggers Short Story Collection
This collaborative editorial design project was undertaken as part of the Porto Design Summer School in July 2022. The brief was to present at least 16 of a set of 20 stories by Dave Eggers, while introducing additional text and imagery to enhance the reading experience.
The final output was a book with four themed chapters, each cut to a varying size. A different paper stock was used for the Eggers stories and the additional materials providing another layer to the structure. Each group member was responsible for producing a chapter with a degree of editorial and design freedom, with a common layout grid, type size parameters, and other conventions agreed to provide continuity.
Photographs of the final publication are provided below to give a flavour of the reading experience. The spreads of the entire third chapter are also reproduced below.
Group Members: (Chapter 1) Laura Jaunzems, (Chapter 2) Ona Brickute, (Chapter 3) David Williams, and (Chapter 4) Monnyreak Ket
1
Initial printed type tests for an A5 publication, prior to the publication format being agreed by the group.
2
Supplementary material to compliment the short stories was sourced by the group, and tended to pick up on small details within the stories. This was engineered into an infographic like format, including lists, and simple charts and graphs. It was felt that a simple spiral bind was most appropriate for this type of content.
3A
(Chapter 1) Laura Jaunzems
3B
(Chapter 1) Laura Jaunzems
This list of names, making reference to the story ‘The Immortal Fly is Tired’, shows the contrast between the more transparent paper stock used for the supplementary materials and the opaque stock used for the Eggers stories.
3C
(Chapter 1) Laura Jaunzems
4A
(Chapter 2) Ona Brickute
4B
(Chapter 2) Ona Brickute
Portrait photos each filling a single grid module, reoccurred in several of the stories.
4C
(Chapter 2) Ona Brickute
5A
(Chapter 3) David Williams
5B
(Chapter 3) David Williams
5C
(Chapter 3) David Williams
A list of Dolly Parton’s career awards up to 2003 (the year in which the story is set), also visualised as a chart, to supplement a story about a mechanic, who is infatuated by the artist.
5D
(Chapter 3) David Williams.
6A
(Chapter 4) Monnyreak Ket
6B
(Chapter 4) Monnyreak Ket
6C
(Chapter 4) Monnyreak Ket
A line illustration of the author Dave Eggers by Manny for the final page of the book.
7
This slideshow is a complete set of spreads from Chapter 3, with layouts by David Williams.
