“The Medium is the Massage”, the first chapter from the critically acclaimed book, Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man by Marshall McLuhan, discusses how the medium in which communicates are delivered through are more important than and should be the primary focus of study rather than the meaning or content of a message. 

Problem: Design a book collaboratively around a supplied text using a visible design system structured from consistent typography, layout, imagery, and sequencing to create an engaging reading experience of the text. Consider how form, contrast, juxtaposition between found or original materials, and personal interpretations of the text can illuminate and expand on the text’s ideas in the book.

Solution: My team produced a 36-page book containing excerpts from “The Medium is the Massage" by Marshall McLuhan where we drew upon McLuhan’s proposition of the importance of studying mediums of communication — and the book’s original surrealist imagery — to make the book based around foreboding, mysterious imagery that works in tandem with the text to create an enthralling reading experience where text and image blur together and become one, similar to McLuhan’s message.