Production Narrative

by J. Drucker

The book was produced in Quark and made extensive use of the "follow curve" type tool. We scanned the images to have FPOs in the Quark files, but the final photography was, I think, from the original collages. The typographic design was mine, with Susan advising and consulting. We opted to use system fonts rather than invest in bought faces, partly because of the funky, generic quality of the fonts and their synthetic character. Production went quite smoothly, with only file size as an issue. Also, I didn't have a color printer and so couldn't proof these in color, at least not extensively.

Critical Analysis

by J. Drucker

Design Features

typographic: The type is freeform and does all kinds of tricks on the page, as well as being in color.

imagery: Collages are from pulp and popular sources, mass market magazines, and glossy ads.

graphical: The design definitely references girls' magazines, very colorful and playful seeming in its layout.

openings: Many are savagely funny in the juxtaposition of images.

turnings: The visual impact of each page provides the main impact.

development: There is movement in this book from childhood and innocence to adult devilment, temptation, and a final upward fall.

Critical Discussion

The act of deforming a popular culture artifact through oblique references marks this book as a serious, ironic, critical piece. The overt playfulness of the text and images, the layout and design, are meant to create a distinct counter-point to the narrative of murder and mayhem. The book is about the impossibility of innocence in current consumer culture, and the sheer difficulty that faces girls trying to have their own experience, let alone live lives, in the face of so much pressure and stimulation from images and media. But it is also a "complicit" work -- one that acknowledges by imitation the extent to which these images (the pink magazines) provide a source of pleasure and fascination. Caught in the space between the critical awareness of the colonizing effects of media and a seductive engagement with its consumable images, the book exemplifies its own argument in graphic, visual, textual forms.

General Comments

Girls in their teens love this book. [J. Drucker]

A Girl's Life

Agents

Johanna Drucker

type: initiating

role:
designer
author

nationality:
born: United States
active: United States
citizenship: United States

dates:
birth: 1952-05-30

Susan Bee

type: initiating

role:
artist
designer

nationality:
active: United States

Granary Books

type: other

role:
publisher

location: New York, NY

Publication Information

edition type: editioned

publisher: Granary Books

place: New York, NY

dates:
publication: 2002-00-00

edition size: 1500 copies

Measurements

horizontal: 7 inches closed

vertical: 10 inches closed

depth: .25 inches closed

Production Information

production means:
offset (local)

binding: mashine sewn (local)

substrate:
bookBlock: paper acid-free
endsheets: paper acid-free

media:
ink (local)

other materials: none

Appearance

format: codex (AAT)

cover: The front cover, 7" x 10" on the front, is a soft cover that folds in to create front and back flaps. It is brightly colored with a green background, and blue an pink swaths and bubbles of color that contain author and title information on the front, and commentary about the work on the back. On the front cover, two highly made up tweens peer out through a frams of nailpolish streaks.

color: yes

Content

pagination: unpaginated 48 pages

numbered?: unnumbered

signed?: unsigned

Colophon

A Girl's Life is a collaboration of writing by Johanna Drucker, artwork by Susan Bee, designed by both artists, published by Steve Clay, Granary Books, NYC, in an edition of 1500 copies, in 2002.