{ "version": "https:\/\/jsonfeed.org\/version\/1.1", "title": "Robert’s blog: posts tagged books", "_rss_description": "Home page · Travel · На русском", "_rss_language": "en", "_itunes_email": "", "_itunes_categories_xml": "", "_itunes_image": "", "_itunes_explicit": "", "home_page_url": "https:\/\/robert.uber.space\/blog\/tags\/books\/", "feed_url": "https:\/\/robert.uber.space\/blog\/tags\/books\/json\/", "icon": "https:\/\/robert.uber.space\/blog\/pictures\/userpic\/userpic@2x.jpg?1739870896", "authors": [ { "name": "Robert", "url": "https:\/\/robert.uber.space\/blog\/", "avatar": "https:\/\/robert.uber.space\/blog\/pictures\/userpic\/userpic@2x.jpg?1739870896" } ], "items": [ { "id": "1492", "url": "https:\/\/robert.uber.space\/blog\/all\/journey-into-color\/", "title": "The Journey into Color", "content_html": "

The Giracolore<\/i> is a spin-art machine pertaining to the new popular tradition of Italian toys:<\/p>\n

\n\"\"\n<\/div>\n

Raffaele Cesano, the Giracolore’s creator, asked me to make a book with its history and practical uses.<\/p>\n

“The Journey into Color” (Il viaggio nel colore<\/i>) is now the first book I have fully designed, and perhaps even my biggest design work yet. Its copies now come with every device put on sale.<\/p>\n

\n\"\"\n<\/div>\n

The client<\/h2>\n

Raffaele is a schoolteacher-turned-toymaker. He’s especially good at crafting traditional toys and games, like spinning tops, smol carousels, and wooden acrobats. He is fascinated with color in motion.<\/p>\n

Process<\/h2>\n

Raffaele first gave me a bunch of material: pictures, informational texts, and stories. Some things would be repeated across four different texts, but each one would have something useful of its own. I read them all and then wove them into a fluent narrative. Every now and then, I would meet Raffaele to refine the text together. I also took some disc pics myself.<\/p>\n

I learned a lot about book design while working on this. For example:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • The placement of punctuation and line breaks affects legibility. A line break at the wrong syllable can make a word appear to be a different one.<\/li>\n
  • Consistency in punctuation colors and weights is a science of its own!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Outcome<\/h2>\n

    I chose a 13×18 cm format for the book so it would fit perfectly into the Giracolore’s 13.5×19 cm box. Nothing is arbitrary here: the disc on the cover is the size of a real one. I made sure each spread had at least some color.<\/p>\n

    The imprint page and its adjacent table of contents are stunning: the gradient title, the rare NB ligature, the Italian cockade (which looks like a Giracolore disc!), the frame…<\/p>\n

    \n\"\"\n<\/div>\n

    The book begins with a short introduction to the Giracolore and proceeds with spin-art’s history. Notice the alignment of the words “bellezza” on the left page:<\/p>\n

    \n\"\"\n<\/div>\n

    The book then delves into color psychology:<\/p>\n

    \n\"\"\n<\/div>\n

    And culminates with stories metaphorically illustrated with the Giracolore. Here’s one of them, The Little Blonde Girl<\/i>, with the parallelism principle at work:<\/p>\n

    \n\"\"\n<\/div>\n

    Some pages encourage to make one’s own disc and glue it in:<\/p>\n

    \n\"\"\n<\/div>\n

    The book ends with an invitation to take a look at Raffaele’s other projects and to contact him:<\/p>\n

    \n\"\"\n<\/div>\n

    The book is set in three styles of Apfel Grotesk<\/i>: Regular, Fett, and Brukt (for the “stick your disc here” label).<\/p>\n

    Conclusion<\/h2>\n

    The book is the best introduction to the Giracolore, vividly showing the device’s value for children, teachers, artists, storytellers, and therapists.<\/p>\n

    Good design is never boring.<\/p>\n

    The client’s review<\/h2>\n
    \n

    Robert has visually arranged The Journey into Color<\/i> with great success and has helped me introduce it to the public.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

    \n

    Robert has various qualities: his youthful energy gave me confidence to express what I felt. I had fun letting him do his thing, letting him express and interpret my ideas. Everyone has the right to play the game they enjoy the most.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

    \n

    The result is what I wanted.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

    \n

    I initially hesitated to pay in advance, but during the course of the work, I saw Robert’s reliability firsthand.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

    Enjoy the colors!<\/p>\n", "summary": "I designed a book about the spin-art machine Giracolore", "date_published": "2025-04-06T22:36:17+02:00", "date_modified": "2025-04-29T09:45:46+02:00", "tags": [ "art", "books", "design", "games", "hues", "illustrations", "national symbols", "packaging", "things", "typography", "undertakings" ], "image": "https:\/\/robert.uber.space\/blog\/pictures\/giracolore-device.png", "_date_published_rfc2822": "Sun, 06 Apr 2025 22:36:17 +0200", "_rss_guid_is_permalink": "false", "_rss_guid": "1492", "_e2_data": { "is_favourite": true, "links_required": [], "og_images": [ "https:\/\/robert.uber.space\/blog\/pictures\/giracolore-device.png", "https:\/\/robert.uber.space\/blog\/pictures\/giracolore-book.jpeg", "https:\/\/robert.uber.space\/blog\/pictures\/giracolore-1.png.jpg", "https:\/\/robert.uber.space\/blog\/pictures\/giracolore-origini.png.jpg", "https:\/\/robert.uber.space\/blog\/pictures\/giracolore-luscher.png", "https:\/\/robert.uber.space\/blog\/pictures\/giracolore-bambina.png.jpg", "https:\/\/robert.uber.space\/blog\/pictures\/giracolore-tua-storia.png", "https:\/\/robert.uber.space\/blog\/pictures\/giracolore-40.png.jpg" ] } }, { "id": "1095", "url": "https:\/\/robert.uber.space\/blog\/all\/books-and-flags\/", "title": "Books and flags", "content_html": "

    Don’t burn books and flags.<\/p>\n

    But don’t sanctify most of them, either.<\/p>\n", "summary": "Don’t burn books and flags", "date_published": "2023-07-03T08:58:34+02:00", "date_modified": "2024-09-26T20:06:05+02:00", "tags": [ "attitude", "books", "national symbols" ], "_date_published_rfc2822": "Mon, 03 Jul 2023 08:58:34 +0200", "_rss_guid_is_permalink": "false", "_rss_guid": "1095", "_e2_data": { "is_favourite": true, "links_required": [], "og_images": [] } }, { "id": "1092", "url": "https:\/\/robert.uber.space\/blog\/all\/fiction\/", "title": "Reading fiction (not)", "content_html": "

    I find it hard to read works of fiction as of late. My mind keeps telling me to toss the patently untrue.<\/p>\n", "summary": "I find it hard to read works of fiction as of late", "date_published": "2023-07-01T20:30:51+02:00", "date_modified": "2025-02-10T17:10:19+02:00", "tags": [ "books", "DOPE", "me" ], "_date_published_rfc2822": "Sat, 01 Jul 2023 20:30:51 +0200", "_rss_guid_is_permalink": "false", "_rss_guid": "1092", "_e2_data": { "is_favourite": true, "links_required": [], "og_images": [] } }, { "id": "120", "url": "https:\/\/robert.uber.space\/blog\/all\/commonsense\/", "title": "An excerpt from Thomas Paine’s “Common sense”", "content_html": "

    \n

    A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong<\/i> gives it a superficial appearance of being right<\/i> and raises at first a formidable outcry in defence of custom. But the tumult soon subsides. Time makes more converts than reason.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n", "summary": "A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it a superficial appearance of being right and raises at first a formidable outcry in defence of custom", "date_published": "2019-12-15T18:34:59+02:00", "date_modified": "2024-12-19T15:03:05+02:00", "tags": [ "books", "life" ], "_date_published_rfc2822": "Sun, 15 Dec 2019 18:34:59 +0200", "_rss_guid_is_permalink": "false", "_rss_guid": "120", "_e2_data": { "is_favourite": true, "links_required": [], "og_images": [] } }, { "id": "35", "url": "https:\/\/robert.uber.space\/blog\/all\/how-we-decide\/", "title": "Summary of Jonah Lehrer’s “How we decide”", "content_html": "

    People often make incorrect choices when there are more than four variables.<\/p>\n

    Simple problems require reason, while the complex not so much. When there’s a large variety of items to choose from, get the one that maximises enjoyment.<\/p>\n

    People memorise patterns without even knowing.<\/p>\n

    The emotional brain, powered by dopamine, is paramount for making good decisions.<\/p>\n

    People get addicted out of excitement, not necessity.<\/p>\n

    People get upset if what we expected didn’t come to fruition.<\/p>\n

    Being certain about something is a deceptive feeling.<\/p>\n

    Prize-linked savings accounts work because we like uncertainty.<\/p>\n

    Psychopaths don’t feel morality, and therefore, their wrongdoing.<\/p>\n

    People have a larger sense of loss than for win, even when dealing with the same value.<\/p>\n

    Never say that you wouldn’t do something in the way that that person handles it, because that person is who you would be at that moment in that situation.<\/p>\n

    When there’s an abundance of information, we may infer the irrelevant. Cut down on the noise, focus on what’s important.<\/p>\n

    Don’t think too much.<\/p>\n", "summary": "People often make incorrect choices when there are more than four variables", "date_published": "2018-11-19T14:54:58+02:00", "date_modified": "2024-09-26T20:06:11+02:00", "tags": [ "books", "feelings" ], "_date_published_rfc2822": "Mon, 19 Nov 2018 14:54:58 +0200", "_rss_guid_is_permalink": "false", "_rss_guid": "35", "_e2_data": { "is_favourite": false, "links_required": [], "og_images": [] } }, { "id": "34", "url": "https:\/\/robert.uber.space\/blog\/all\/exceptional-service\/", "title": "Summary of “Exceptional service, exceptional profit”", "content_html": "

    A customer is worth his lifetime.<\/p>\n

    Lead people to the place they’re looking for, don‘t just give directions.<\/p>\n

    Reset customer expectations you can’t meet, even if they seem obvious.<\/p>\n

    Adjust your service to fit the customer best, but without intrusion into privacy.<\/p>\n

    Note at least five things unique about the customer, whether preferences or complaints.<\/p>\n

    When there’s a problem, apologise, review the complaint with the customer, fix and follow up, document the problem in detail to make sure it never happens again.<\/p>\n

    Make processes as efficient as possible.<\/p>\n

    Keep the hiring bar high: a bad employee may cause others to quit.<\/p>\n

    The speed of a group is the slowest one’s.<\/p>\n

    Make everything feel seamless: if there’s a problem you know you can solve, it should seem like it never happened.<\/p>\n

    Make the customer feel special.<\/p>\n

    Use the Italian mama method: even if your customer does something wrong, cheer them up and make them feel no less welcome.<\/p>\n", "summary": "A customer is worth his lifetime", "date_published": "2018-08-21T13:49:00+02:00", "date_modified": "2024-10-21T09:21:02+02:00", "tags": [ "books", "care" ], "_date_published_rfc2822": "Tue, 21 Aug 2018 13:49:00 +0200", "_rss_guid_is_permalink": "false", "_rss_guid": "34", "_e2_data": { "is_favourite": false, "links_required": [], "og_images": [] } } ], "_e2_version": 4199, "_e2_ua_string": "Aegea 11.5 (v4199)" }