The archive · Design & Visual · Product decision · 2024–2025
What Lies Within He binds an ink collection into one book read two ways
An ink-painting monograph splits horizontal and vertical works into two parts bound as one book, giving each half its own way of being read.
Combining
What it had to solve
Jiangsu Phoenix Fine Arts Publishing House was publishing an artist's ink-painting collection whose works mix horizontal and vertical compositions. A conventional single-orientation book would force one format to be shrunk or turned awkwardly.
How it works
'What Lies Within He' is an artist's ink-painting collection that mixes horizontal and vertical compositions. Jiangsu Phoenix Fine Arts Publishing House and design studio Combining faced the problem of housing both formats in one printed book.
Their answer was to make the format the structure: the collection is divided into two parts by composition — horizontal works in one, vertical works in the other — and bound into a single book. The binding creates two different browsing methods, so each half is read the way its paintings ask to be seen.
Instead of cropping or miniaturizing one format to fit a standard page, the book itself changes direction with the art. The work is preserved in the D&AD awards archive as an example of the idea.
Why it lands
- Dividing by orientation lets every painting keep its natural scale and direction instead of being cropped to fit one format.
- A single book that reads two ways turns a binding problem into a discovery, so the physical object behaves like the art it holds.
- The design decision is visible the moment a reader handles the volume, needing no caption or explanation.
- Keeping both orientations inside one book preserves the collection as a single work while still honoring each image.
What it did
The paintings' orientation becomes the organizing idea of the object instead of a layout problem: one book that asks to be opened and browsed two ways. The work is preserved in the D&AD awards archive as an example of the idea.
What you can take
When one object must hold works of two shapes, make the format difference the concept: let the book change how it is browsed so no work is shrunk or forced sideways.
Since then
The D&AD archive entry records the book's design but no print-run or sales figures. What remains is the design device: an artist's two image orientations turned into the structure of the object itself, so format and content finally agree.
Sources
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