So I was in Border's the other day, looking at various books and
whatnot, when I discovered that this:
For those who don't know, the Commonsense Cookery Book is one of greatest cookbooks of all time, if only for the fact that it tells you how to make really basic stuff. Like toast. If you're a young bachelor looking to improve your skills in the kitchen I can't recommend it enough. But, this is a design blog, so let's look at the design, and not the
recipes. As a reference point, here's
my copy:
Excusing the general grime that's appeared in it's nigh on nine years of existence, the design is plain ugly and outdated even for the 90s. Too many different elements compete for your attention, much like Gordon Ramsay's crazy wrinkles on the
covers of his books, while the food photography seems out of place and too basic to be enticing. Given that the food is so basic, I'm glad the the redesign doesn't show any of it. Even on the insides.
Margaret Fulton and Stephanie Alexander have both gone down the path of not having any photography in their books, a decision that has
given them a reputation in cooking circles for not 'talking down' to their readers. How effective, then, is the lack of photos in the Commonsense Cookery Book, given that some of the readers for this are likely to be people who need to know how to cook an egg, boil water or make tea? I think it may have something to do with this book being comprehensive — it encompasses a larger audience than cooking novices. In addition to the
basics, it tells you how to fillet a fish, cook a pie from scratch and make
lasagna. None of which is especially complex, but the sheer breadth of material dictates a compact approach to the recipes.
This is an effective redesign that updates the style while keeping what made the original so popular. Also, it has some
faux letterpress!
For those who don't know, the Commonsense Cookery Book is one of greatest cookbooks of all time, if only for the fact that it tells you how to make really basic stuff. Like toast. If you're a young bachelor looking to improve your skills in the kitchen I can't recommend it enough. But, this is a design blog, so let's look at the design, and not the recipes. As a reference point, here's my copy:
Excusing the general grime that's appeared in it's nigh on nine years of existence, the design is plain ugly and outdated even for the 90s. Too many different elements compete for your attention, much like Gordon Ramsay's crazy wrinkles on the covers of his books, while the food photography seems out of place and too basic to be enticing. Given that the food is so basic, I'm glad the the redesign doesn't show any of it. Even on the insides.
Margaret Fulton and Stephanie Alexander have both gone down the path of not having any photography in their books, a decision that has given them a reputation in cooking circles for not 'talking down' to their readers. How effective, then, is the lack of photos in the Commonsense Cookery Book, given that some of the readers for this are likely to be people who need to know how to cook an egg, boil water or make tea? I think it may have something to do with this book being comprehensive — it encompasses a larger audience than cooking novices. In addition to the basics, it tells you how to fillet a fish, cook a pie from scratch and make lasagna. None of which is especially complex, but the sheer breadth of material dictates a compact approach to the recipes.
This is an effective redesign that updates the style while keeping what made the original so popular. Also, it has some faux letterpress!
