Paivakirja (diary—or "day-book"—in Finnish) is what I have considered to be a major "pre-thesis" project for my MFA degree. Built around the idea of a journal, it contains text, photo, and map content compiled during a research trip to Finland in May 2002.
I designed the book last semester with an eye toward Finnish traditions. The front and back cover is 1/8-inch thick birch plywood; I have never seen a book with a wood cover, but wood is so revered in Finland that I thought I would give it a try (and in spite of wanting to sound modest about my work, I think it looks fabulous).
The book is built out of individual paper folios stiched to an accordion binding, so the book stretches out when opened. Each folio is a mini-book in itself; a translucent tri-fold shell around white stock paper pages, with a color paper liner for contrast and a sense of privacy. Consequently, it takes some work to open each folio—it's nearly inconvenient. This is to reflect the hidden nature of Finns (stereotypically, at least). Like this book, it sometimes takes some effort to get at the core of a Finn. Each folio has an entry for a day from the trip, and a separate color paper liner (not of my design, but purchased at Paper Depot in Minnepolis).
Paivakirja was submitted to the juried annual design show competition of the American Institute for Graphic Arts, Minnesota chapter (AIGA Minnesota), and won an award in the student category. While I have previously received some recognition for other work, an AIGA design award is an especially exciting achievement because the work is juried by your peers, so I was thrilled to have the project selected for this annual design show.
