A Brief Talk on the Morphology of Modern Books and Lu Shi's Style (II)

The beauty of order. In the design of book forms, the so-called beauty of order refers not only to the fact that each expressive element co-occupies a morphological structure, but also refers to the expressiveness of this structure. Disorganized and disorganized texts, images, etc. can produce a sense of beauty that transcends knowledge and information in a harmonious symbiosis. This is the beauty of order. Unlike the sensual beauty of painting, this beauty is the beauty created by a well-designed and harmonious order. Lu Jingren regards this realm of beauty as the highest level of book form design. "Chinese Modern Ceramic Art" can be seen as a representative work pursued by Lu Jingren. The box letter spines the inscriptions of the celadon utensils of potter Gao Zhenyu and forms the identification mark of each volume of the book. This mark also infiltrated the text, title page, text page, every other page, copyright page. The design of the book is dense, simple and appropriate, showing a strong sense of harmony.

Metaphorical. By symbolic schemata, symbols, colors, etc., metaphorical representations of the original humanistic information and the formation of the unspeakable meaning and atmosphere of the book form constitute an important feature of Lu Jingren's design. This was extremely well done in the design of books such as "Red Devil Dan Zhu" and "Home". The cover of "Chikandanzhu" did not use specific images. Instead, it used a slightly sloppy old song title to cleverly arrange it into a window. The gap between the characters was set in silver and gray to make a round of the red day. Far away and bright, with a full of red, powerfully metaphor for the human atmosphere of the red era. "Love! Abhorrence! Sadness! Hope!" is the mood and conceptual tone used by Lu Jingren when he designed "The Family." The stormy and eroded gates, the protagonists standing in front of the gate and long backs, lonely lanterns, and crimson and gold-clad cinnabars and gold, uttered their hearts to the “home”.

Locality. Lu Jingren's book form design emphasizes nationality and traditional features. However, he does not simply manipulate traditional elements, but creatively reproduces them, effectively transforming them into modern human performance symbols. Lu Jingren's book form design has therefore a strong native color of non-European, American and Japanese. "Zhu Xi list book thousand words" is his recent complacent. In conceiving the shape of this book, Lu Jingren believed that Zhu Xi's large characters were brilliant and free, and that the original copy must be both original and creative. In the context of the design, he used the text and the military line as a framework to strengthen the traditional format, injecting different size and thickness of the text symbols, as well as the thickness of different lines, the upper and lower thick line to stabilize the mad ink, left and right thin lines and unrestrained The contrast of the calligraphy characters makes a balance and harmony between expansion and introversion, movement and silence. The design of the cover is based on the basic strokes of Chinese calligraphy, gongs and gongs as the basic symbolic features of the upper, middle, and lower volumes, both in a unified format and with individuality. The letter sealed a thousand words against the paul wood and imprinted a woodcarved version printed in the Song Dynasty. The whole letter is belted in series, and Ruyi wooden buckles constitute a unique shape of the book.

Interesting. Interestingness refers to the artistic temperament and character expressed in the beauty of the overall structure and order of books. Lu Jingren has a good artistic accomplishment and painting ability, so he can freely express the fun of design. He believes that interesting works can attract readers more and cause reading desires. In the design of the book “The Marx Manuscript Reality”, Lu Jingren deduces a brand new book form through paper, wood, leather, metal, and printing and engraving. In particular, on the cover of different textures of wood and belts to produce fine text and images, but also the heart cut out, fun. The cover of the “Map of the Archeological Map of the Western Regions” was sculpted and inlaid with incomplete artifacts and crushed by Stein’s exploration of the terrain map of the Western Regions. The letter kit is attached to the Dunhuang Mandala Luoyang Carved Woodcarving. The wooden manuscript is in the form of a western stationery locker, and the curtain is used to sculpt the mandala image. The entire form is full of strong artistic interest, which effectively stimulates people's fascination with the Western civilization.

Experimental. Based on the results of traditional and contemporary designs, we have boldly created new visual styles, adopted various types of materials, and applied various techniques to show unprecedented experimentation. This is also a significant pursuit of Lu Jingren's design. It can be said that almost all of the book form design, Lu Jing people will perform some kind of experiment more or less, which makes his book shape design has always maintained innovative characteristics.

The beauty of craftsmanship. Lu Jingren’s strict requirements on process flow and technology are also well known. He emphasized that designers must "understand and master the process of making books, and that modern high technology and high technology are important guarantees for creating new forms of books." Therefore, in Lujing people, the process flow not only constitutes an important part of its engineering practice, but also constitutes one aspect of the beauty of book form. Obviously, high technology and high technology have been sublimated to the aesthetic level here, and have become a special expression language in book form creation. It can effectively extend and expand the designer's artistic conception, form creation, and aesthetic taste.

Lu Jingren created a new approach for the design of Chinese modern book forms with his unique design concepts and practices. What is the significance of this practice is worth our thinking. Looking at the world of bookbinding can clearly see such a phenomenon: Japan's localization, the East's design concept, modeling system and high-tech craftsmanship, and the European and American Zhuqiang to form a three-footed momentum. After studying in Japan for several years, and being taught by Japanese book designer Sugiura Susumu, Lu Jingren knows the instructive value of this phenomenon: only rooted in the local cultural soil, using local cultural resources, and drawing on Western consciousness and methods of modern design, Only in this way can we construct the concept and practice system of modern book form design in China, which is the only way for Chinese book design, and also its hope. Lu Jingren is realizing this ideal with his unique "Lu style" and we will be pleased to see his success.

(Author/Zhang Xiaoling)
Chinese Academy of Arts Researcher Doctor of Arts
---China Art Network