Page 1: Great Expectations is now back from the printers and we’re really pleased with the result. It’s always hugely exciting to see something that has only existed previously on screen, and in a series of printouts, as a tangible object that can be held in your hands, flicked through backwards and read in the bath.

In paperback terms, it’s pretty substantial, with an extent of 320 pages. As well as the individual contributions and rationales from 70 designers, it contains a fascinating conversation between GraphicDesign& founders Lucienne Roberts and Rebecca Wright and Dickens expert Professor Robert Patten.

With a project such as this, the cover is often the last thing to be resolved despite its being the essential shop window for what’s inside. In this case, finding an appropriate solution when there are so many different design approaches shown inside the book itself could have been problematic – but in a way Page 1’s cover designed itself.

The shapes printed in fluorescent ink represent the footprint and position of the page number (1) as placed by all of the individual contributors. It’s a completely random design over which we had little control, but we were very happy with the outcome. The cover design reveals that the most common position was close to the bottom edge of the page, but it was fortuitous that Winterhouse’s design gave us a very satisfying block of solid colour that sits just above the title.

Buy your copy of Page 1: Great Expectations here.