Bound books is a publishing company for Spiritual/ new age/ occult books, lilting towards history and anthropology over anecdotal accounts. The target audience for is the growing number of spiritually inclined young people in the U.S. Some reports claim that the “spiritual but not religious” category has now overtaken some branches of Christianity in practicing members. On the whole, millennials are getting more interested in academic/ semi-academic sources for research. This alongside the need to continually site sources online as “fake news” becomes a growing concern. Bound Books aims to meet the demand for approachable but reliable research in the Millennial, “spiritual but not religious” cross section.
The solution had to tie into both contemporary media and publishing, as well as the more traditional roots of much of the information encapsulated in the books the brand publishes. The jumping off point is the tagline “Tied to Traditions,” offering the grounding force of history to people in a modern time who wish to lead more fulfilling lives. These people may live slightly outside of the status quo, or in the middle like social media influencers. As such its even more important to make this brand current.
The typefaces featured walk this line, with the modern Lato, and more calligraphic Kumlien Pro. Lato has seen some popularity recently as a bold-not-harsh sans serif. Its wide round forms aren’t so bulky as some, and the occasional extra soft curves–as seen on the lowercase K and T–add levity. As such the type keeps the dignity and approachability of a friendly librarian. Kumlien Pro blends the old and the new nicely, with slight ornamental pieces and large amounts of line weight variance. It doesn’t feel scratched and hard like a Blackletter with a quill, it instead embraces the cleanliness of modern typography with reverence to older cousins.
Another example of the liminal old/new design, the website offers a more spacious modern style while featuring rougher illustrations reminiscent of woodcuts that can be found in publications from centuries ago. Even the boxes around various elements and the icons are vectorized from hand illustration to give the feel of a well loved and lightly marked up copy of your favorite classic novel.
