How I Stopped Loving Design
Things I Have Not Thrown Out
Things I Have Not Thrown Out
Two memories-inspired books by Polish designer-turned-writer, Marcin Wicha. The second one, Things I Have Not Thrown Out, won the most important book prize in Poland, Nike, in 2018. I am lucky to have such a writer in my publishing house, and I am more than happy to design his books. It was a bit of stress, given that Wicha is a designer himself, so no tricks for the lay-people this time. Luckily, stars aligned both times favorably, and I come up with a satisfying idea. How I Stopped Loving Design (an account of growing up in late-Communist-era Poland and the early capitalism years of the 1990s) has the only book cover I designed in Microsoft Word (but to be honest, I refined it later in InDesign). It features the name of the author, the book’s title, and publishing house name all written in Times New Roman, centered on a white page. Comic Sans would be too much in-your-face, while Times looks even a bit dignified here, though there are still people there who believe that this cover is a mistake somehow.
Year: 2015 (How I Stopped...), 2017 (Things...)
Page size: 125×205 mm (4.9×8.1 in.)
Pages: 264 (HISL), 200 (TINTO)
Paper: Munken Print White 15 90 g
Binding: paperback with flaps and dust jacket (HISL), hardcover (TINTO)
Cover material: Geltex 115 g uncoated stock (TINTO)
Typefaces: Times New Roman, Paperback 12 (HISL), Harriet, Baskerville Ten (TINTO)
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/e646b2ab-bb61-47f9-9652-a9368a949f77/03cf6759-e430-4e54-95be-0ad7ebb03971_rw_1920.jpg?h=16ea199ed54da8dc837d0c52a4d62503)
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/e646b2ab-bb61-47f9-9652-a9368a949f77/9bc41c4e-d275-42d5-9358-842076a20a39_rw_1920.png?h=465f7ac43fa1e3c364e30c5f64c6a254)
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/e646b2ab-bb61-47f9-9652-a9368a949f77/54464a7c-a7d0-463e-a67b-196c9ecdef21_rw_1920.png?h=3671837483a15320ba5e352319959ff7)
There are even more people convinced about my mistake when it comes to the second book, Things I Have Not Thrown Out – the missing part of the final 'm' of the title is especially unnerving. But as it is a book on loss (of the author’s mother, see, ’m’ again), I think it is quite appropriate, though designed almost by accident. When I chose a default font and size and written the title in InDesign, the layout was quite similar – the 'm' cut in half caught my attention immediately.
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/e646b2ab-bb61-47f9-9652-a9368a949f77/70ffacf2-a982-4828-a968-138a782a93bc_rw_1920.png?h=dd16f5bc414977cad5d3acbf39a330f9)
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/e646b2ab-bb61-47f9-9652-a9368a949f77/b7d5ff3e-a7e4-40b8-805a-467a6abe71ff_rw_1920.png?h=f0915a05d45ff5e2e707da7ec95ef88b)
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/e646b2ab-bb61-47f9-9652-a9368a949f77/0c13447b-4707-4d8c-b973-25c0d04b14b4_rw_1920.png?h=091eb58567ae9cfea17a490bcc5df272)
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/e646b2ab-bb61-47f9-9652-a9368a949f77/2d35b43e-54fd-44e9-96b3-4b78463ad62b_rw_1920.png?h=ee89afcf36a24653cacc6e5170044fdf)