Custom coffee table book for Bombardier

Global aviation brand Bombardier approached SO in 2020 to create a bespoke coffee table book – their first in over a decade. With many more years of brand stories to tell, the brief was to produce a new publication that would celebrate the company’s heritage alongside its growing range of luxury business jets.

This substantial, beautifully crafted book was designed to be gifted to corporate clients, private customers and prospective buyers. It also forms part of the handover ceremony for each new custom-made aircraft.

“I am simply thrilled with ABOVE. It is stunning. The details are beautifully executed and the quality is beyond even my very high expectations”

Sandra Tymchuk – Senior Director of Marketing, Bombardier Aviation

A custom book making company’s dream brief

Our brief stipulated that only the very best would do. With over 20 years’ experience making custom books for luxury brands we know that this translates as a powerful book concept, an emotive story, a unique design concept, beautiful layout and evocative imagery. In terms of the coffee table book production our client’s expectations were equally high and only the highest quality book printing would be acceptable. A custom book making company’s dream project!

The journey we go through when making coffee table books is highly creative but also reassuringly methodical and it always starts with understanding. So, working with our long-standing strategic partner Anew, the project kicked off with in-depth research including interviews with senior management, engineers and other aviation specialists. Once the research stage was complete, work began on the overarching core concept, book pagination and copywriting.

The resulting coffee table book theme and the title ‘ABOVE’, beautifully encapsulates Bombardier’s dream to create the world’s most exceptional business aircraft, as well as the experience of ownership and flight.

High expectations

The title  ‘ABOVE’ influenced everything that came next. We began with the creation of inspirational mood boards exploring ideas for how  ‘ABOVE’ might translate into the luxury book’s design theme and creative approach. Working closely and collaboratively we developed and refined every last detail of this custom book over many months. 

We developed ideas for how to express the core concept through the use of imagery, much of which existed already and some which was to be commissioned. We agreed which brand guidelines were essential for brand consistency throughout the book and which we could stretch.

Following a thorough design development phase, final guidelines were established for the book design layout, page architecture and typography, and final decisions were made on the ideal number of pages, format, paper stocks and luxury cover materials for both the custom coffeebook and book box packaging.

The power of touch in luxury book making

The hand-crafted custom book box we created is covered in a highly tactile, textured gold material. This cover material is unusual because it has all the qualities and feel of something in between leather and rubber. This perfectly answered our client’s book box brief for a hard wearing and forgiving cover material which wouldn’t finger mark easily and would look good for years to come.

During the custom book design stages we developed multiple ideas for book boxes and book covers. We explored different formats, designs, materials and special finishes, inviting the client’s feedback at every stage to bring us closer to the perfect custom coffee table book solution.

The art of custom book printing

Filled with a combination of stunning photography and beautiful working sketches, we always had layflat binding in mind for this book. Layflat binding is fantastic for coffee table books as the pages lay completely flat allowing for seamless full bleed imagery uninterrupted across the spine. Printed lithographically in the UK in a zero emissions factory, the final printing process also included special finishing elements including foiling, UV varnish, gloss lamination, debossing and hand tipped elements.

If you would like to speak to us about creating a custom coffee table book for your own luxury brand we would love to help. Please complete the enquiry form at the bottom of this page or head over to our custom coffee table book services page to find out more.