The design of the covers for “Hypospace” draw from two important works—the hypocenter map of Hiroshima by Sasaki Yuichirō documenting the destruction of the city (1954), and Wim Crouwel’s “Hiroshima” poster (1957) designed for an exhibition of drawings relating to the bombing.
The covers feature a bold, die-cut circle with a folded red flap that completes the image of Hinomaru (the “Ball of the sun”) when closed. The map of the area destroyed by the bomb, as documented by Sasaki, is debossed into the cover as a textural element. Concentric red circles radiate outwards from the hypocenter and wrap around the spine and onto the back.
A custom typeface, Hypospace Display, was designed for the cover and features a (mostly) monospaced set of highly-constructed letterforms in the 2:1 aspect ratio—the ratio of the tatami. The result is a graphically heavy typeface that relates to Japanese kana in its modular nature and fixed width across most of its characters.

The Text volume is laid out in a highly-organized grid system that carefully considers the experience of leafing through a book that is designed to be laid flat. The system creates a rhythm and continuity for the reader. The body text is left-justified to prevent an uneven rag and allows the blocks of text to themselves become a graphic element. Adjacent to the main content are the side notes for any citations set within the text. The intent was to create a layout that allowed the reader to easily reference the cited material without losing their position in space.