Strange Diary or How to Make a Collage
Book Cover Design | Interior Design & Layout | Art Direction
client: Amy Tingle
THE PROJECT: In 2015, Amy Tingle created a series of collages for The 100-Day Project, Strange Diary features the artwork and accompanying stories from 52 of those 100 pieces of art. Through her story and her artwork we see how an artist can grow by developing a practice.
Each day I looked for her newest piece of art to pop up on Instagram or Facebook. Her work made me feel energized—it made me laugh, it made me cry, it made me think. I felt the rhythm and sureness building in her art and her words, and I could see how gathering it together within the pages of a book could tell a story about dedication and belief, faith and discipline and the purity of searching for answers to questions within our own work. And I kept saying: make a book, this is a book, do a book!
And then one day Tingle said: OK Liz, let’s make a book. I worked through the initial design layout of the book slowly—savoring each collage, reading and re-reading each accompanying story—until I was actually living inside many of these pieces. I then created a relationship between image and story that is unique to each page spread, unique to each piece of art—just like her series.
From the introduction to Strange Diary:
This work is a strange diary of sorts, an incubator for my thoughts and my exponentially increasing hope that I will be heard and that my voice will make a difference to someone who finds my art. My work is a form of therapy and self-investigation, a window into my ever-evolving identity. To me, the act of tearing apart images and reassembling them in a new and personal way echoes the way we are capable of taking risks and reassembling our lives at any given point, and listening to whatever it is inside of us that is longing for change and for deep internal and external acceptance.
“Working with Liz on my first book, Strange Diary: How to Make a Collage, was a dream come true. Publishing an art book is a complex process, especially for a first-time author. I was unwilling to compromise on quality and didn’t have the resources to risk spending time on learning curve issues. Liz is a pro, who knows how to handle every aspect of the design process from color, to composition. It was a completely anxiety-free process and putting my “baby” in Liz’s capable hands was the best decision I could have made—she exceeded every expectation I had.
–Amy Tingle | Artist. Activist.
