Gueorgui Pinkhassov, Sightwalk, Phaidon Press

Why do photography books have to feature a photograph on the front cover? “Sightwalk”, a collection of Tokyo images by Russian-born Magnum photographer Gueorgui Pinkhassov, was an opportunity for the designer to break this mould.

Sightwalk is bound, appropriately, in “Beluga”, a bubble textured material. Inside, the images are printed on a metallic paper and the pages are french folded. A grid device introduced on the fly sheet as a debossed pattern, appears again as the contents page, featuring all the photographs in the book. It is then developed as a series of windows with “haiku” style titles to mark the chapters. Together, the elements set a pace that encourages you to linger over the images. In all, the design helps to turn a small collection of only 25 photographs into a sumptuous album.