Sorry, Typography Makes Me Nerdy

When it came to selecting the book that I would analyze for this course, I originally expected that I'd find some random, antiquated book that I'd never want to read, but would be filled with plenty of fascinating history and that wonderful, endearingly musty smell that old books contain.  But once the The Book Beautiful course was further explained, I learned that we'd also be studying the design of books, which immediately made me think of the book I'm reading, Champion, by Marie Lu.  Like apparently everything I read is, Champion is part of a dystopian society trilogy.  However, as much as the content appeals to me, that's not what drew me to select it as the object of my study.  

As I said in my first post, I'm a graphic designer.  While I'm excessively obsessed with music, that doesn't mean I don't still have plenty of affection for the graphic art I'm studying.  So, when I see something that is visually interesting, I'm immediately drawn to it.  In the Legend trilogy, the points of view of the two main characters: a boy, Day, and a girl named June, are used in alternating chapters.  That's certainly not uncommon in novels.  However, what is different about these books is that, while June's story is told in a fairly standard serif font, set in black, not unlike the Times New Roman you see here. In Day's passages, though, the type turns another color in each book and is in a sans-serif face.  In Champion, it is a bold scarlet, the color of the Republic which June represents. 

 When I was reading the first book, Legend, I actually didn't even take note of the color change for awhile because it was just bronze, which apparently I was too blind to pick up on.  Sometimes we're a little slow. These things happen. But I definitely noticed the electric blue in Prodigy right off the bat.  I can't help but wonder what made Lu make this decision in her debut series.  From a design standpoint, I'm certainly fascinated by it.  Though part of me is somewhat disappointed that I won't have any fun discoveries to explore in the book left by previous owners... The most interesting thing  aside from the typographic novelties may be the stain on the cover from the hot chocolate that I spilled...

Over the next few weeks, I'll do some research about the design choices Lu made in this book.  Either I'll be able to find out her reasoning in these color choices from interviews, or perhaps I'll be able to make some contact with Lu herself to procure the answers I'm seeking.  Maybe we can become Twitter buddies or something.