Attack on the Bakery—Again by Haruki Murakami
Attack on the Bakery—Again, a short story by Japanese author Haruki Murakami. I translated the piece from Japanese to English as an undergraduate student at Brown University. The center, a separator, contains graphics, abstracted from paintings by Ludovic Philippon, that reference themes from the story.
The design plays off of literary contrasts: density vs. emptiness, fulfillment vs. listlessness. Margins are tight to evoke a feeling of confinement. Abstract graphics provide a counter-point to the body copy—they are expansive, irregular, colorful, and saturated. The English translation is set in Unica; Mplus is used for the Japanese text.
The book can be read from either side with a 180° flip—the center spreads, a bridge between the two languages.
3 Comments on “Attack on the Bakery—Again by Haruki Murakami”
Absolutely gorgeous! The ingenious use of blank space, separations, and margins evokes the texture and mood of this haunting story. Beautifully done.
Great design – I love your choice of font, and even though I can’t read Japanese, I appeciate you including it – I love looking at different languages and considering the different constraints that working with another language presents, and it challenges our anglocentrism. Also great choice of colors – the pink and green evokes the cherry blossoms.
Nice work! Always interesting to see how two languages which use radically different means of printed communication can be joined and mirrored on a purely visual level. That the designer also provided the translation is even better!