"Hybrid novels can be seen as image-text hybrids where written text and a number of graphic devices work together in order to hold the readers’ interest, enhancing the book´s interactivity and giving the printed page a multidimensional visual surface. This kind of books require the readers’ actions, they demand to be handled and experienced."
That was Alberto Hernández explaining his aim when developing his research on Hybrid Novels. Initiated as his mayor project at London College of Communication, the result is an astonishing new edition of R. L. Stevenson´s Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. An exploration of the boundaries of editorial design applied to the same purpose thats been behind all great literary achievement´s from modernism onward: building narrative devices that will pull readers away from the comfortable lazy stance that gets hold of us when things get predictable, forcing us instead to engage with the story, actively participate in the construction of meaning.
In this edition of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, all the storys constituents have been dissected by Alberto in search of those vertebral elements that, when expressed graphically within the book, could generate this extended reading experience. His final proposal consists on a slipcase holding 7 booklets that echo the story´s internal structure, main themes and narrative technique as well as the historical and cultural context in which it was written. Take Dr Jekyll´s split identity, for instance. It is expressed even in the slipcase, with its striped pattern interior evoking (à la Saul Bass´ title credits in Psycho) the doctor´s fractured psyche. The booklets all replicate this duality -as well as a number of secondary themes- in their savvy use of graphic design resources such us paper colour, texture and size variation (images signatures are bigger than text signatures and they are both contained within one another such as Jekyll and Hyde are), layout ad hoc changes, page segmentation and type choice. Two typefaces have been used in the book New Caledonia and Grotesque, and both hold a sense of Victorian flavour. Unfortunately book copies are not available, but the complete report can be read online via Issuu.
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