The passage adapted for this spread design comes from author Alan Lightman’s Einstein’s Dreams, a novel based on the life of a fictionalized young Albert Einstein. Each chapter is composed of individual dreams Einstein experienced during that time, all centered around or influenced by the concept of time.
The presented double-page spread is intended to reflect a changing and organic notion of time. The chapter follows one man's visit to Bern to see a woman, but is portrayed in three different scenarios with differing outcomes. According to Einstein, the narrator in the story, each scenario reinforces the idea that time exists in multiple dimensions and infinite worlds.
As such, the spread is presented using a more organic structure through the communication of the text, as well as the background elements. Ink splotches and lines of text are intended to represent the organic nature of Einstein's accounts, with a vibrant teal serving as the prominent colour of the spread. The main body text is displayed in a way that illustrates the shift and change of time. The presence of colour and line within the text serves to connect common words, phrases, characters, and locations that appear across all three scenarios.
Initial concept generation was centered around defining potential layouts of text and other visual elements, making sure to consider factors such as the inclusion of call-out elements and quotes.
Layout generation continued to be explored, this time featuring the inclusion of colour and appropriate typefaces. More experimentation was done with visual elements and words, in addition to the text.
Colour and typography elements were finalized, leading to more general layout tweaks. Visual element generation continued to be explored, with the inclusion of spirals and organic line.
Steps were taken to tweak the overall layout to break away from a standard typographical grid, with lines of text leaving the more rigid, column format.
