out of Sight:
the los angeles art scene of the sixties

Out of Sight:
The Los Angeles Art Scene of the Sixties
by William Hackman
6 x 9 in., 320 pp., 18 color & 25 b&w illus.
Other Press, 2015

The author of this thorough and astute history of the 1960s art scene in Los Angeles clearly indicated that the book design should not attempt to mimic featured artwork from this period. Rather, a better model would be mid-twentieth-century book design, presenting the text as a solid work of scholarship and not as a bold or experimental departure.  

Working from that project brief, the text is comfortably set in two classic typefaces. Display type is bright and open. Running heads, rotated to run vertically, activate ample outer margins. Illustrations are generously sized on separate pages to underscore the artworks’ scale and spatial presence.

The jacket design subtly evokes the material experimentation and bold color palettes of this period. A black-and-white vintage photograph is printed over a silver metallic base coat, with bright yellow, orange, and pink cover typography. A trade book, the back cover carries four blurbs, but in lighthearted pink type over a vertiginous view of an artist in his studio.