Course Description

What is a book, and what might it become? This studio-based course will be a historical, imaginative, and experiential introduction to one of the most enduring and influential human technologies, the book. Students will investigate intersections among media, literature, and computation in order to understand the history of the book and imagine its future. Students will learn about the technical skills that helped produce books historically, such as letterpress printing and binding, while cultivating new technical skills that will enable them to effectively use contemporary technologies such as 3D printing and interactive digital storytelling. The course will be housed in the CU Community FabLab’s new Skeuomorph Press and BookLab. Students will use the skills they develop over the course of the semester to develop multimodal creative or research projects, building their own print-digital books. As a studio course, “Building a (Better) Book” centers around students’ conceiving, developing, and workshopping these independent projects.

Course Metadata

• Course Number: ENGL475, Literature and Other Disciplines
• Spring 2023
• Classroom: CU Community FabLab
• Class Time: Tuesdays and Thursday 9:30-10:50
• Credit hours: 3 undergrad/4 grad
• FabLab Open Hours:
  • Monday-Thursday 5-9pm & Sunday 1-6pm (public)
  • Friday 1-5pm (students in FabLab classes)
• Skeuomorph Press Open Hours: TBA

Instructor Info

• Ryan Cordell
• Office Hours: Tuesday 11am-12pm and Thursdays 5-6pm in Skeuomorph Press, and by appointment
• Phone: 217-333-2622
• Email: rcordell@illinois.edu