TAKAMATSU TOSHITSUGU
Ninja Master of the 20th Century
BACKGROUND
This book project was an intense yet rewarding journey of personal importance. Having practiced these Classical Japanese Martial Arts for over 25 years, which are based on the teachings of the previous grand master and his writings which the book centres around, made this an especially important project. Not only to help match the depth of the knowledge of the translations and foot notes, but also create an homage to the legacy of the genius of Takamatsu sensei.
LOOK AND STYLE
The interior design was chosen to be fully based on this duotone blue/sepia color to match the blue and gold foil print and design of the books cover. So all the photos that I took as well as the restored historical photos where modified to have this look with a matte low contrast tone to match the minimalism of both Japanese culture as well as the movement strategies in the Classical Japanese Martial Arts, where you should optimise your movements for energy and efficiency.
Photography was done of ancient Japanese weapons, historical scrolls against the beautiful tatami mats, to create artistic images for the book and work with both full single page layouts and full double page spreads.
Special care was taken to make sure texts and layouts on top of the images didn’t distract from the visual impact nor be hidden in the fold of the book.
Perceptual image restoration
Above you can see one before/after example of how I worked with preparing low resolution heavily compressed images to work for print in a book.
In this case I’ve worked in several iterations, working with adding noise, filtering and adjusting contrasts to create a perceptual increase in detail and allow for a film noise look with slightly softer contrast but more detail. Without these image processing steps the picture would just not work for a high resolution print.
LAYOUT
The layout and typeface choices needed to work both with western characters as well as all the Japanese writing styles (Kanji, Hiragana, Katana) and match the look between both
GRAPHICAL SPREADS
I wanted the text to be accompanied by visually striking graphical photos both as full page spreads with corresponding Japanese quotes and translations
ON USABILITY IN RESPECT TO THE FOOT NOTES
One very important aspect in the design of the layout was to make sure that the foot notes would be easily accessible within each chapter. The reason for this unusual approach is because the reading of this book gives a much deeper understanding if you can follow along with all the foot notes as you go over each chapter. The foot notes are an essential part for comprehending the depth of the translations, history, culture, tradition of passing knowledge between master and student.
WILLIAM USTAV – Video Producer at Houdini
“No matter which context you put him in, you can be sure of that he will excel. As I’ve worked as both a copywriter and video producer for 15 years, more than anything I’ve learned to discern good qualities from bad – in any kind of professional. I’ve had the honor to work with Roberto on several occasions, and he has always delivered at a very high standard, whether filming a video with state-of-the-art technology or snapping incredible photos.
For projects where I have worked as a book editor, I’ve also had the pleasure to team up with Roberto for more than one occasion. His layout and design skills are, in my opinion, very high and are equalled only by his creative vision and his world class photography.”
