Darwin Bible
Class: Publication Design
Problem: Redesign a book that has been banned. The design should give a new meaning to the book.
Process: I started by going over the list of banned books and looking up why they were banned. I came across On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin, I know from high school Charles Darwin came up with the theory of evolution. Growing up in a religious family I was brought up to believe the Bible and that God created everything. I know there is vigorous debate around the topic, so I thought I could do something provocative. Darwin’s book introduced the theory that populations evolve over the course of generations through a process of natural selection. It presented a body of evidence that the diversity of life arose by common descent through a branching pattern of evolution. Darwin included evidence that he had gathered on the Beagle expedition in the 1830s and his subsequent findings from research, correspondence, and Experimentation. Darwin’s book was banned because at the time of it being published the western world was deeply christian and the book On the Origin of Species in a way challenged the church and the Bible. I wanted to do something that both sides could love or both sides could hate. So I decided to make Charles Darwin's book read and look like a Bible. I found a font (Cardo) that was similar to the fonts in the Bibles I had at home. I looked at different Bibles throughout history and saw that the Bibles from the middle ages were very decorative and the words were difficult to read. I wanted to make a Darwin Bible that looked like a modern bible that has nodes to the Bibles of the past. In my Darwin Bible each verse is marked with a red number like some from the past, also at the top of the pages are the chapter name and verses similar to a modern Bible.
Challenges
While I was doing this project I would talk to my family and friends about the process of making a book with my own hand, sewing it all together and binding it. My friends and family thought the part of learning how to make a book really cool and interesting. When people learned about what I was doing to Darwin's book I received laughter from some and scorn from others. I know doing this project was going to offend some people but that's kind of what I wanted to do. The challenges ,besides making the book by hand, were dealing with mad family members and friends who thought I was doing something bad.
Learnings
I learned how to make a book by hand and how time consuming the whole process is. If you make a mistake toward the end of the process you will have to start over. The book making process was a rewarding challenge and I am proud of the work I did on this project. I know people can and will be offended by this book but that's why the original was banned in the first place. I personally don't think any book should be banned.