Milk
Author: Anne Mendelson
Designer: Barbara deWilde
Photographer: James Day
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
Typefaces: Modified Bodoni Classic Chancery
Specials: Uncoated paper, red foil

I first met Barbara last year in Chicago when we invited her to speak at a conference. We had a great dinner with her Henry, James, Arthur, Issac and Lauren. Barbara is a kind and generous person and an amazing designer. We all enjoyed her presentation at the conference. Thank you Barbara for taking the time to contribute to FaceOut. —Charles

Anne Mendelson’s book Milk is part history, part science, part cookbook. It is the next in a line of single subject writings, like “Salt” and “A History of Tea,” that are coming from the world of food writers and it is just as well researched and interesting to read as those books. The biggest difference is that this volume also includes recipes, which means that it could be shelved with the cookbooks as well as the general interest books. It’s the kind of book that a designer thinks they should have ‘fun’ with.

My first idea of ‘fun’ was to make all the type using milk. Fun. Get out the shiny, black flint paper and the eye droppers and the whole milk. Write with a pencil the outline of the letterforms, fill in the outlines with a pool of milk. Hurry! It’s drying! It doesn’t look too milky when it dries. Now take the picture! What am I crazy?! This is a pathetic idea. It looks like gray water. And they’ve already changed the title from Milky Ways to Milk! Considering that the full subtitle is: The Surprising Story of Milk Through the Ages With 120 Adventurous Recipes that Explore the Riches of Our First Food (I kid you not) I am thinking that I should rethink my design strategy and have a little less fun with this. So I do some photo research.






The first 2 photos that I find are remarkable, high key images from Shimon and Tammar. They are very dynamic and exciting. But, I think too exciting. The beginning text is about dairy farming and production and it just doesn’t fit the mood. The next painting lovely, but just too old-fashioned. The next piece by James Day is really striking. It’s just sentimental enough and modern enough...so I’m going to try working with this.









Typographically, I just used my old type direction that I was going to make with milk. The Bodoni Classic Chancery set at different sizes and with as many swashes as I could create. The only color is the red foil cap in the picture. I loved that...so I made a foil milk cap for the spine. Darren Haggar, the art director from The Penguin Press sent me to a blog about milk cap bottles. Milk Caps. I wish I had seen this before the book had been designed, but I’m adding it for your amusement. For those production, technical nerds out there...when you’re told that you can’t wrap foil around a spine because it cracks...show them this book. It doesn’t crack. It hold up just fine.








4.020.09 // Ian said:

This is a beauty. Obviously such a topic can be said in so many ways, but there is that right balance of font choice and the way it surrounds the stark bottle of milk that all speaks to it perfectly without being cheeky. As always, lovely work from Barbara. I love the implied simplicity of the design process. It shows what a seasoned design process should look like.

Oh, and the touch on the spine is really remarkable. What a way to tie the design in.

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4.022.09 // Paul Nielsen said:

The foil stamp on the spine absolutely puts the finishing touches on a beautiful and clever piece of work. The textured paper doesn't show well in the photograph, but is an additional element that adds so much to the overall package feel. Just say no to house gloss stock!

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4.027.09 // Amanda Brackett said:


I absolutely LOVE this design. I saw it in the bookstore when I was christmas shopping and it caught my eye right away. I probably spent at least ten minutes just gazing at the cover! Such a well thought out and clever design.