Created for See-Saw Films to mark the release of The North Water, Andrew Haigh’s adaptation of Ian McGuire’s novel, set aboard a nineteenth-century whaling expedition into the Arctic. Extensive image research brought together material sourced from archives and research libraries, including historical photography, maps, illustrations and documents, which sits alongside stills and imagery from the production.

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The design draws these different sources together through a layered approach to image-making. Archival material and production photography are cropped, enlarged, overprinted and combined, moving between dense compositions and expansive full-bleed imagery. Translucent paper pages and tip-ins extend this layering through the book, allowing images to overlap, disappear and reappear as the pages turn. Borrowing from the language of cinematic transition, historical and production imagery slip between one another, making the boundary between source material and its recreation deliberately unstable.

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The binding takes a more historical cue. Designed to resemble a nineteenth-century ship’s log, the book is quarter-bound in cloth with an inset title label and bespoke marbled paper commissioned from Ludlow Bookbinders to closely match period examples. The contrast between the apparent simplicity of the exterior and the layered construction within reflects the book’s movement between historical source material and its cinematic reimagining.

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Client: See-Saw Films

Bespoke marbling: Ludlow Book Binders

Book Art Direction & Design: Billie Temple