From the beautiful gilding design on the cover to the ingenuity of the inside page design, the 2025 Play with Time handbook is designed by Xu Jialun, Design Director of Doctor Design, and we have prepared 10 questions and 10 answers behind the scenes of the handbook design to unfold more design concept stories for you.
Text: Doctor Design Director Xu Jialun
Q1. There are many people who say that the cover of this year's journal is very beautiful, why did you design the gilding across the front and back covers, and what is the relationship with the theme of this year's "沓沓仔 ta̍uh-ta̍uh-á"?
沓沓仔 ta̍uh-ta̍uh-á means "slowly", and the handbook is related to time, filling, handiwork, accumulation and other imagery, at first it was associated with the "long river of time", plus some local elements, I drew the basin map of Taiwan's longest river, Turbid Water Creek, looking down, since it is a long river, it should be more interesting and more magnificent across the front and back cover, so I tried this approach; The use of gold in the processing is a visual effect of the pottery restoration technique "金継ぎ".
This kind of restoration technique is to prove the existence of time and history, not to cover it up, and I think that the traces left by the use of the journal are also close to the meaning of "proof of time".
Therefore, the above-mentioned raw materials are combined to form the cover of this handbook.
Image: 2025 play with time account
Q2. In addition to the classic soft leather every year, the hard-shell cover chooses "wrinkled juan cloth" (long sea sky blue, light forest green) and mercerized cotton cloth (slowly earth brown), is there any reason to choose these two cloths?
When choosing fabrics, I hope to find fabrics that can echo the slender, flowing and organic image of the long river pattern, just the wrinkled silk cloth fits this image, and the printing is deliberately printed vertically with gold lines and wrinkles, so that the gold truncates the wrinkle lines and enhances a little layering.
Image: 2025 play with time account
Q3. As soon as I opened the handbook, I was also amazed by the rich blue-green inner pages, is there any special intention in the color design?
The two colors of the inner page are mainly selected with the theme of stream and meadow, so that the inner page and the cover topic can be closely linked. In some of the inner pages, you can also see the interlacing of streams and grass, highlighting weekdays and weekends/holidays, to remind you to take a good rest.
Image: 2025 play with time account
Q4. I have found that the format of the classic inner pages such as weekly notes and monthly notes has also changed, for example, the square eye at the bottom of the monthly note has changed from four columns to three columns, why is there such an adjustment?
This time, the inner page of the journal has incorporated a grid system to place content, and the logic of reading and filling in the flow has been slightly improved, and the size of the character level has also been slightly enlarged. All changes are made to improve the functionality of the vision, and to improve the comfort of viewing and use.
Image: 2025 play with time account
Q5. This year's new Take Your Time theme page design is also very interesting, is this "climbing the ladder"? What concept do you want to convey?
The rendering of climbing the ladder is actually also based on the theme of "river", the river from upstream to downstream, will pass through many branches, many surprises, and finally go out to sea from different locations, and the way of climbing the ladder is also very similar to this feeling, so I made such an attempt.
Q6. It is said that in addition to the above, there are other hidden design ingenuity!
In addition to the image of the river throughout the book, there is also a design in which the water level continues to rise and fill the text with water in the digital title of each month, whether it is the accumulation of time or habit, it will be higher and fuller.
In addition to the image of the Muddy Water Stream, there are also other pages that use rivers, including the Rhine, the Nile, etc., so that more organic images are stored in this notebook.
Image: 2025 play with time account
Q7. Of course, we also want to talk about the handbook periphery this time, including the handbook 70 sentences to love, to say, to play the golden sentence card card, the outer box also has a very special wood grain, please share what is the point of choosing this paper?
The wood grain paper actually echoes the texture of the "wrinkled silk cloth", hoping that the series of card cards and handbooks is significant, and it also makes the outer box match the texture of bronzing and paper under the white tone, which is interesting to look at from a distance and up close. By the way, the three colors of the cards represent streams, vegetation, and the earth.
Image: 2025 play with time account
Q8. There are also stickers that are easy to decorate in the handbook, what are the patterns of this year's totem stickers, and why these designs?
In order to make the use of stickers and handbooks reflect each other, stickers I also want to use some local elements in it, the handbook itself has streams, there are grass, I want to include more plant elements in it, so I used the famous oil tung flower, and the leaf shape of the common street tree Taiwan Luan tree to draw the shape of the sticker, add some soft symbols, so that the handbook in the function and story slightly balanced.
Image: 2025 play with time account
Q9. From the designer's own observation, what is the biggest difference between the overall design of this year's handbook and previous years?
I think the major features should be the local connection, the enhancement of functions, and the experimentation of materials. Through the imagery of the muddy water stream, the story of the whole handbook is thicker, and the texture is maintained at the same time; In terms of functionality, in addition to the adjustment of visual lines, grid system typesetting, and font size, a new lightweight paper is also used on the paper, so that the writing experience can be improved again; Finally, the material is an attempt, in terms of texture, design drawings, and processing limits, relying on everyone's experience and cooperation, the materials I choose can be presented to you without any loss.
Q10. Finally, in the process of designing this year's handbook, are there any interesting stories you would like to share with us? Recommended for friends who are difficult to choose colors, what advice do designers have? What color do you love the most!
In addition to the annual fixed white, my initial idea was to add some mature adult flavor to this handbook, hoping that the color would be more stable and the texture would be more delicate, so the initial setting, there was sea and sky blue, and this color could also echo the image of the long river, if you really want to recommend it, it may be. During the manufacturing process, there were other experiments with cloth colors, which also made the development team very happy, and finally it became an option that can be purchased now, and if it is difficult to choose a color, maybe the color package is also a good option (laughs).
Image: 2025 play with time account
Xu Jialun|Doctor Design Director
Born in 1990. During the graduate period, he focused on design methods and visual psychology, and worked in web design, brand design companies, advertising agencies, digital interaction companies, etc., and opened Doctor Design in 2017.
He is in charge of brand image design and renovation, graphic design, packaging design, corporate design consulting and other projects. Provide design services and brand image maintenance for independent entrepreneurs, brand renovation enterprises, new start-ups, and non-profit organizations.