Hedgehog Productions
Book
Packaging Projects
Project management from concept to printed books (and booklets).
While I enjoy book publishing projects generally, I particularly liked these books because they allowed me to pursue my love of archival research. The opportunity to create beautiful books about interesting people and their times was icing on the cake.
The Project: A House Worthy of God,
80 pages, 2006 The Client: St. Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church,
Napanee, ON (Kingston Archdiocese)
Designer: Janice Maclean
Assignment: Research, write and publish a book
to celebrate the 150th Anniversary of the church
Approach: The
early history of the church told a fascinating story about a community
of Irish Catholic immigrants whose success in the new world of 1850s
Upper Canada allowed them to construct the first stone church in the
diocese. Although interior renovations had stripped much of the
church’s architectural heritage, a series of beautiful stained glass
windows had been preserved. The book was designed to deliver an
official history of the church combined with a series of stunning
photographs of the preserved windows, accompanied by the stories of the
founding families who donated them.
The Project: Cultivating
the Wilderness, 80 pages, 2005
The Client: County of Lennox &
Addington, Napanee, ON
Designer: Janice Maclean
Assignment: Commemorate an early pioneer family
of United Empire Loyalists whose descendants were the major financial
donor to a county senior citizens complex. The Parrott family had moved
out of the county early in the 20th Century and a book was commissioned
to establish their historic links to the county which was about to
receive its financial gift.
Approach: Archival
research revealed the colourful story of John Parrott who started out
as an American farmer before he joined British invasion
forces in 1776 and served as a British spy before moving to Upper
Canada in 1784. Through the 19th Century his descendants parlayed
Parrott’s initial land grants into a massive holding that gave them a
role in local politics, enterprise and agriculture, as well as the
militia units that defended the area during the War of 1812.
View a spread from the book.
The Project: Housing
Ontario’s Memory, 16 pages, 2009
The Client: Archives of Ontario, Toronto, ON
Designer: Frank B. Edwards
Assignment: Produce a short history of all the
buildings that have been used to house the Archives’ massive document
collection since 1903.
Approach: Affordability
and quick turnaround were key considerations. Four days of intense
archival research provided the necessary information and historical
images. Additional pictures were taken of building exteriors. Once
written, a simple but attractive design was created and delivered as a
pdf that would allow Archives staff the option of printing the booklet
internally on office laser printers. The first press run, however, was
printed for the client on high quality paper by a print shop. The job
was delivered in time for the opening of the Archives’ new,
state-of-the-art facility at York University.
Links: View sample pages from the booklet.
Links: View sample panels.
Links: View sample pages from the booklet.
The Project: Archivist
of Ontario Display Panels, 2009
The Client: Archives of Ontario, Toronto, ON
Designer: Janice Maclean
Assignment: Produce four display panels telling
the stories of Ontario's first provincial archivists.
Approach:
After
initial research into the careers of the four archivists, their
contributions and the state of the Archives during their terms, we
created four individual designs that were based on
graphic styles
of the relevant eras (e.g. the Bauhaus movement of the 1920s). The
posters were to hang in the Archives' new boardroom so our challenge
was to make them aesthetically interesting and different enough from
one another that each would stand out from the others. At the same
time, they needed to share some common elements to make them
complementary. In keeping with the role of the Archives, the final
posters appear to have been collected from different periods of the
20th Century. The project proved to be extra interesting as photographs
of three of the archivists did not exist in the Archives' main
collection so other sources -- including university archives and family
photos -- were investigated. In the end, the project was a success
through the efforts of client, designer and myself.Links: View sample panels.
The Project: Queen’s:
The First 150 Years, 180 pages, 1990
The Client: Queen’s University, Kingston, ON
Designer: Linda Menyes
Assignment: Produce a memorable illustrated
sesquicentennial history book that would be accurate, academically
sound and visually appealing.
Approach: We
chose a coffee-table book format that would appeal to alumni and filled
it with a mix of lush new photography, striking archival pictures and a
well-written text that would give meaning and context to the visual
elements. The text was presented in short, interesting blocks that kept
the book lively and interesting. With an ample budget and a full year
to prepare, a talented team of freelance photographers, researchers, a
writer, designer and production editors was assembled. The book is
stunning. Fifteen thousand copies were printed and sold to alumni for
$75 each.
Links: View two spreads from the book (4 mg).
Links: View two spreads from the book (4 mg).
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Hedgehog Productions is a division of 307681 Ontario Limited
Hedgehog Productions is a division of 307681 Ontario Limited