The Bio-Design Book
Experimental Design • Photography
Videography • 2022
Finalist in the CCA Bio-Design Competition
One of the main privileges and responsibilities of a young designer is to consider the future of design, and how it must evolve to match the needs of our future society and planet. This project is a series of experiments and speculative design pieces that imagine the future of book design. As someone who believes in the power of printed materials/books, I was interested in exploring methodologies that would preserve the spirit of a physical (rather than digital) piece of the design, but would also be much kinder to the planet and its resources. How could I meld the worlds of book design and bio-design?
I experimented with growing bacteria on different types of paper with
different controls (e.g. masking tape vs gluestick vs mod podge,) creating plant/fruit-based inks, creating a recycled and algae paper hybrid, and a mycelium/mold cover.
All of the experiments culminated into a little bio-design book. This book chronologically documents my experimentation, and could be used as a manual to showcase how certain paper treatments and aesthetics were achieved. It is my hope that it can not only demonstrate what aspects of bio-design are easily accessible and implementable in print media, but that
bio-materials, like bacteria, fruit, and algae, can be just as graphically beautiful as industrially made patterns and tools.
This project was a finalist in the CCA BioDesign competition.
Imagining
the Future
How might the world look with the majority of printed materials fusing the practices of book design and bio-design? These images are a few samples of the possibilities... bio-design exhibitions and seminars, old printing plants converted into mycelium grow-rooms or algae paper producers, bio-design editions of all the classic novels, and bio-design book sections in local bookstores around the world.
The art of the book has existed for a long time, and I believe with bio-design, it could exist that much longer.
