The making of Organizational Management Thinking: Ideology, Methodology, Technology by Georgy Schedrovitsky

The book is a transcript of audio recordings of Schedrovitsky’s lectures. We want the reader to have a feeling that he or she is sitting at a real lecture, it’s the eighties and the offices are equipped with typewriters and purple carbon paper.

First we add a purple hue to all pictures and add a gradient of the same shade to all pages near the binding.

We decide to type stories included in lectures as “illustrative” material with a typeface simulating typewriter letters. But how do we choose the best face from an endless variety?

The chief typesetter brings her own typewriter and the type designer creates a typeface.

Another detail from the past: a shadow copy of the text on a neighboring page.

Drawing all the diagrams. We try using a pen, a marker, a hard and a soft pencil. Some things come out well right away, others we have to assemble from pieces. Going through a list.

For diagrams whose idea is revealed over the course of a lecture, we create a sort of an "animation"—a new part is added when it is mentioned in the lecture.

Doing the same things with the table.

Showing to the Schedrovitsky Foundation.

The editors of the foundation don’t like the fact that stories and inserts typed with the typewriter face stand out too much from the regular text. The “animation” doesn’t work either, because the diagrams must be read in their entirety, like formulas.

Making corrections. Even though we don’t want to abandon the diagram animation idea just like that. Going to the art director for advice.

Art director: Just make it plain.

Maybe, we should at least save the table?

Art director: Just do what they ask, don’t waste time on this shit.

Turns out, if you work on diagrams long enough, they start to look like... many things.

Typesetter: Maybe it’s an exaggeration, but I really do see hares here.

Chief typesetter: I would leave it the way it is, I don’t see any hares.

That’s decided. The work continues.

Coming up with the idea to place a picture of the building where Schedrovitsky read his lectures at the beginning of the book. The Foundation likes the idea. Finding the building.

Reconsidering.

Another idea: to use a picture of a tape recorder that was used to record the lectures. The Foundation agrees. All that’s left is to find the recorder as the Studio Museum of Oldies doesn’t have the right model.

Just what we need. Making a call, buying, taking it to the studio, cleaning it up, taking pictures, retouching.

It’s almost done.

Chief typesetter: ince the book turned out so plain, maybe we should also remove the binding gradient and the shadow print on neighboring pages?

Art director: Most definitely.

Starting to work on the dust jacket. We have to ideas here: to use diagram elements or to get inspired by the works of Todd Mclellan and take apart the Legenda-404 tape recorder.

Implementing the first idea.

Art director: What happened to the recorder, you couldn’t take it apart?

An interesting question indeed. It turns out, disassembling a Legenda-404 tape recorder is not all that easy. Ultimately, we find tin snips which help us take apart what wasn’t meant to be taken apart.

Many extra details were left after we put it back together.

Polishing the final details.

Showing the layout to the editor again, then sending the book for proofreading.

Scanning a School board to get an image for the endpaper.

Making final instructions to the print shop about cutting the dust jacket.

Choosing the binding, the tailband, the ribbon and sending to print.