I’m an incurable accumulator of photo books and have amassed a collection of, probably, about 300 titles, covering the whole gamut of photographic genres, including by many renowned photographers.
I enjoy looking at the great work in these books, but there are some design features that seem deliberate and consistent which spoil the job for me.
The first is spreading an image over two pages, which makes it difficult to appreciate when it disappears into the valley where the pages meet. Often, the image only occupies half the width of the second page.
Why book designers do this is beyond me – it’s so annoying and can ruin a great image. Just size the image to fit on one page, even if it reduces its size.
The second no-no is not having any descriptive text on the page with the image, but having it all together on one or more pages at the back of the book. The text is usually fairly minimal and wouldn’t occupy an intrusive amount of space on the images’ pages. Instead, you’re expected to hop back and forth to the back of the book to find out about the image. It’s infuriating.
The last photo book I bought, by one of my favourite photographers, commits both of these “sins”. It was so disappointing.
I’m not a professional book designer, but as a regular consumer, I know what works for me and what doesn’t. I’ll be making a book of my own soon and I can guarantee that neither of these no-nos will happen.