1200 – Pop-Up and Movable Books

While gatefold mechanisms were already used in the 1100s, one of the first movable paper mechanisms was a volvelle created by Benedictine Monk Matthew Paris to calculate the dates of Christian holidays in his book Chronica Majorca (1236-1253, see left image above). Volvelles are paper discs or rings placed on top of each other that rotate around a string or rivet. Many other types of paper mechanisms have been invented since then, such as flaps, which were used in anatomy books starting from […]

While gatefold mechanisms were already used in the 1100s, one of the first movable paper mechanisms was a volvelle created by Benedictine Monk Matthew Paris to calculate the dates of Christian holidays in his book Chronica Majorca (1236-1253, see left image above). Volvelles are paper discs or rings placed on top of each other that rotate around a string or rivet. Many other types of paper mechanisms have been invented since then, such as flaps, which were used in anatomy books starting from the 16th century (see second image above, 17th century, and third image, undated). Only in the 19th century did movable books started to be used for entertainment purposes and for children. Ellen G.K. Rubin (aka the pop-up lady) has a rich website and a must-watch talk about the history of pop-up and movable books. For a modern example of a pop-up book used to convey data, see our entry 2013 - Pop-Up Infographics. Sources: Ellen G.K. Rubin, Pop-up Lady Website. Mugdha Kale, Pop-Up Design. E.D.W. Lynch (2011) Animated Anatomies, An Exhibition of Antique Medical Pop-Up Books. (with link to a video) Left and middle image from popuplady.com, right image from laughingsquid.com.

Added by: Pierre Dragicevic, sent by: Benjamin Bach. Category: Enabling technology Tags: anatomy, book, mechanical interaction, paper, pop-up

2013 – Pop-Up Infographics

In 2013, Italian graphic designer Elena Turtas crafted four books that convey data about sustainability using pop-up and movable paper mechanisms. Source: Elena Turtas (2014) The Four Books of Visualising Sustainability.

Added by: Pierre Dragicevic. Category: Passive physical visualization Tags: book, environment, mechanical interaction, paper, pop-up, sustainability

2020 – I am a Book. I am a Portal to the Universe.

All-ages book by Stefanie Posavec and Miriam Quick. Each of the book's dimensions – from its height, weight and volume to the loudness of the sound made when it is slammed shut – embodies a fact or measurement about the universe on a 1:1 scale. Hello. I am a book. But I’m also a portal to the universe. I have 112 pages, measuring 20cm high and wide. I weigh 450g. And I have the power to show you the wonders of the world. I'm different to any other book around today. I am not a book of […]

All-ages book by Stefanie Posavec and Miriam Quick. Each of the book's dimensions – from its height, weight and volume to the loudness of the sound made when it is slammed shut – embodies a fact or measurement about the universe on a 1:1 scale. Hello. I am a book. But I’m also a portal to the universe. I have 112 pages, measuring 20cm high and wide. I weigh 450g. And I have the power to show you the wonders of the world. I'm different to any other book around today. I am not a book of infographics. I'm an informative, interactive experience, in which the data can be touched, felt and understood, with every measurement represented on a 1:1 scale. How long is an anteater’s tongue? How tiny is the DNA in your cells? How fast is gold mined? How loud is the sun? And how many stars have been born and exploded in the time you’ve taken to read this sentence? Using all the elements that make a book, well, a book in a completely original way, I blend playful design and data storytelling to introduce scientific concepts to a broad, all-ages readership. Source: Stefanie Posavec and Miriam Quick, https://www.iamabook.online/

Added by: Miriam Quick. Category: Uncertain Tags: book, typography, paper

2022 – Making with Data: Book Cover

Making with Data is a physical data-driven papercraft sculpture that serves as the cover of the book, “Making with Data: Physical Design and Craft in a Data Driven World.” The paper waves of the piece reflect the undulating word counts of each of the book’s 24 chapters. Each of these chapters tells the story behind the creation of a physical object, space, or experience that represents data — with the artists and designers who crafted the piece explaining the unique and creative process through […]

Making with Data is a physical data-driven papercraft sculpture that serves as the cover of the book, “Making with Data: Physical Design and Craft in a Data Driven World.” The paper waves of the piece reflect the undulating word counts of each of the book’s 24 chapters. Each of these chapters tells the story behind the creation of a physical object, space, or experience that represents data — with the artists and designers who crafted the piece explaining the unique and creative process through which they gave that data physical form. The Making with Data sculpture captures the lengths of each chapter’s Motivation, Practices & Processes, Materials & Tools, and Reflection subsections and reveals them via a physical ridgeline plot. To create the piece, the book’s editors (Samuel Huron, Till Nagel, Lora Oehlberg, and Wesley Willett) compiled the data and created vector graphics files for each paper layer. We then commissioned a paper artist, Betty Soliman, to select paper colors, cut each layer, and assemble them together. Graphic designer Elodie Maigné then composited photographs of the piece to create the final cover. The resulting visualization embodies the vision of the book — representing its contents as an evocative data object and bringing the idea of making with data full circle. Source: Samuel Huron, Till Nagel, Lora Oehlberg, and Wesley Willett (2022) Making the Cover with Data. Related: Also see our other entries of physical visualizations made with paper.

Added by: Samuel Huron. Category: Passive physical visualization Tags: book, paper, horizon plot