Bierce Library Trip #2: Continuation

You thought that one trip to the library was enough? Nope! The journey continues!

What did I find today?

My second trip to the University of Akron Bierce Library was arguably even better than the first - the hunt for continuation within the limitless supply of books yielded some amazing results, as seen above. Let's give each of these book covers a closer look, shall we?

Top-Left: This is a really interesting use of continuation - possible the best example out of the four covers pictured. The various words on the page follow a very distinct path - so distinct, in fact, that the path has been drawn out as a line on the cover as well! This makes it feel as if the elements are continuing into space off of the book cover, while also adding a bit of typography design along with it.

Top-Right: This is one of the more simple examples of continuation, but it's still effective none the less. What's interesting here is that the continuation is made by lining up various glass bottles, and the way that the picture was taken also implies depth. This, in turn, creates both a sense of continuation of elements off of the page, and it adds the feeling of the continuation popping forward in space before leaving the book cover.

Bottom-Left: Perhaps the simplest of the four examples shown, the continuation shown here is obvious, as each graphical line seems to bleed off of the cover of the book and into blank space. However, the cover is still interesting because it creates continuation that is made by something we have past experience with – math. What would normally be seen as curved lines are instead viewed as mathematical parabolas, adding both visual interest and an effective establishment of continuation.

Bottom-Right: Similar to the second example shown here, this book cover establishes senses of continuation and depth at the same time. The main difference here is that this book cover is able to establish the depth with strictly 2-D elements varying in size and shade. This makes it feel as if the star shapes are not only continuing off of the cover, but also receding in space at the same time.

Once again, this trip seemed to yield even better results than my previous hunt for figure ground, and I have high hopes for what I can find for the Gestalt principle of closure! Stay tuned for Bierce Library Trip #3!