In “Schematics: A Love Story,” New York-based photographer and author Julian Hibbard proves that picture books are no longer just for children.
Split into three acts, “Schematics” is a high-concept story book of love, loss and memory. And although he writes about personal memories, he assures that the book touches on universal feelings everyone has.
“When we talk about love, beauty, touch and loss, these are phenomenons that everyone experiences,” he says.
Each page in “Schematics” is accompanied by a schematic diagram, which mirrors and plays off the theme of the prose.
“For example, [in one part] I wrote about feelings of attraction. We all understand that magnetism is a phenomenon that deals with attraction,” he explains.
Keeping this idea in mind, Hibbard then used diagrams of magnetism that show attraction and picked the ones that offered a “nice balance and weight” to use.
While there is a love story weaved throughout the book, how each person interprets the themes can vary, leaving one with the sense “that beauty and mystery of life cannot be separated,” he says.
And while this might seem slightly high-concept, don’t worry:?Hibbard included an appendix to help you understanding the meaning of each illustration.
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