LO 6 – Randomness

Titled A Year From Monday, Empty Words, and Roaring Silence, these books comprise of collections of lectures and writings by John Cage. In an attempt to resonate with John Cage’s musical compositions while portraying a “sense of progression which culminates in the diagonally cut slip case”, Zhuoshi Xie designed three different, yet visually correlated book covers.

Initially presented by deep, cool colors on the books’ spines that is revealed to incorporate a flood of bright, saturated red on the books’ covers, Xie expresses how randomization does not always have to be a surprise or even “a smack in the face”.

Randomization can be a gradual progression, and sometimes, it can be the more subtle, unexpected touches that are most effective. In this case, Xie’s goal of reflecting a kind of unexpected randomness that alludes to John Cage’s work is successfully achieved through the red color composed from small, random individual red letters that creates an almost eerie effect.