Specially Designed Bookmarks are Icons in Classic Tales

Crafting bookmarks for the classics, designers Gkhan Ycel and Fikr'et fashion placeholders that complement the story whose pages they save. The duo determines a book's icon, like a periscope in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea or a camera for George Orwell's 1984, and think beyond the standard rectangular bookmark. They play with the shape and visual style of each one so it fits in with the design of the cover. Moby Dick, for instance, features a lot of expressive lines of varying weight. Mimicking this, they emphasized the lines on the whale's tail. It looks like it's a part of the book rather than just an afterthought.

The phrase “don't judge a book by its cover” isn't exactly true – we're much more likely to pick up a book that has great looking typography and illustrations on its cover rather than one that's plain or poorly executed. Ycel and Fikr'et's bookmarks are a small yet unexpected way to enhance the classics and renew interest in them. If you didn't know what 1984 was about, it might pique your interest to find out what the camera means. By distilling the tale to a defining character or object, it intrigues the passerby to pick up the book and read the story.


Gkhan Ycel Behance page and Fikr'et Behance Page
via [Lustik]

Sara Barnes

Sara Barnes is a Staff Editor at My Modern Met, Manager of My Modern Met Store, and co-host of the My Modern Met Top Artist Podcast. As an illustrator and writer living in Seattle, she chronicles illustration, embroidery, and beyond through her blog Brown Paper Bag and Instagram @brwnpaperbag. She wrote a book about embroidery artist Sarah K. Benning titled "Embroidered Life" that was published by Chronicle Books in 2019. Sara is a graduate of the Maryland Institute College of Art. She earned her BFA in Illustration in 2008 and MFA in Illustration Practice in 2013.
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