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CONSIDER
THE LOBSTER
cover design. book design.
illustration.
This laser-printed saddle-stitch book uses the text from David Foster Wallace’s essay Consider The Lobster. Known for its unconventionally long footnotes, the text opened an exploration into how these unique footnotes could inform the design of a book.
What struck me most about the essay wasn’t the length of the footnotes. Rather, it was the way the footnotes read, presenting as a story of its own. This unconventional approach to writing informed the design of the book through two separate interior parts — one for the main text and one for the footnotes. This gives the reader the option to explore the text in different ways — footnotes only, text only, both simultaneously, or some other way I am unable to fathom with my mind.
The use of ASCII art repeats the words ‘Consider The Lobster, inspired by the subversion of footnotes in this essay. Whilst footnotes are often disregarded or seen as afterthoughts in most writing cases, the footnotes in Wallace’s essay come together to tell a story. In the same way, these small letters come together to create the imagery in this book.