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HUMAN: THE MAKING
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Ever
wondered what goes into creating a book the size and scale of
Human? Human has taken three years to produce, consists of 512
beautifully illustrated pages, and has an initial print run
of 100,000.
Jonathan Metcalf, Publishing Director
of Dorling Kindersley Family Reference, spoke to us about investments,
storyboards, photographs and more… |
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Human:
the concept and investment
 “We
call our massive, illustrated reference guides ‘category killers’
they represent the best of DK’s design and content and are
very hard to imitate because they require such a big investment.
Our other books in this genre include Animal and Earth as
with Human, the beauty of such subjects is that they have a
global appeal, and can thus sell anywhere. These books require
a £1 million investment just in the origination. We usually
try to amortise that cost over two or three years with Animal,
we sold a million copies and earned that back in six months.” |
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Human: the content
“The book defines a typical human in terms of species type
and explores evolution up to the present day. There’s also
a very expensive anatomy section where we have a lot of fantastic
new artwork using photographic backgrounds with artwork imposed
over the top so you can see what is going on in the body.
We have 40 pages about the mind, which was complex to illustrate
– we’ve tried to come up with illustrations that give
the reader an intuitive introduction to the concept on each
page. We then broaden out the scope, describing the life cycle
but looking across the world to see how different people and
cultures do things differently.
The end of the book has 120 pages in which we chronicle the
peoples of the world. We’ve had a consultant anthropologist
for each continent, and, where we have a publisher in a geographical
territory, we have tested the material out to check for local
sensitivities.” |
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Human: the creating
“We storyboard the whole book with our consultants and
contributors, and think about how we are going to get the material
across in a very visual, very family friendly way. We found
people with the expertise to help on political structures, language,
religion, as well as all the other areas.
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INTRODUCTION |
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ORIGINS |
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BODY |
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We had three picture researchers
over the course of this project. The editors involved on the
book have to have a very good visual sensibility, and the designers
have to have an appreciation of editorial. We also have to consider
foreign language additions; when we co-print, the colour stays
the same and only the text changes, so with our coloured heading
we have to make sure we have allowed enough room for the word
as it will appear in different languages.
Editorial consultant Professor Robert Winston has been closely
involved in the planning of Human, and has reviewed all the
material too. He has a particular interest in the final chapter,
which looks at the future for the human race.” |
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Also by Robert Winston: What Makes Me Me
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