Censored Reading
Book and Publication Design, Data Visualization


This project is a visual exploration on the process of reading an academic essay and the mental steps involved in order to comprehend a text.

To conceptualize this project, I began by thinking about how I typically read texts. The design of this project is based on each of these steps.

How to read an academic essay
(based on my experience)

  1.     Skim through the pages. 
  2.     Pick out key phrases or concepts that stick out. 
  3.     Do an in-depth pass of the text.

This project consists of loose pages of texts and a folder with a “reading window” as its front.  The layout of each loose page is meant to look incomprehensible, and only by looking at the pages through the reading window will there be some sort of clarity on how to read each page. The window blocks off incomprehensible and irrelevant information, leaving only the relevant parts of the text.



  1.     Skim through the pages.

The loose sheets that are part of this project contain the full text to bell hooks’ All About Love. The text is laid out in a way where it is incomprehensible at first glance, which requires you to use the folder’s reading window to get a gist of the text. 

  1.     Skim through the pages.
  2.     Pick out key phrases or concepts that stick out.

Once the loose sheets are put behind the reading window, it’s easier to find the key phrases in the text. 

  1.     Skim through the pages.
  2.     Pick out key phrases or concepts that stick out.
  3.     Do an in-depth pass of the text.

Finally, once the key phrases are identified, the reader can then move forward with reading the rest of the text. The reading window serves as a guide on what to read and what not to read on each page by blocking off irrelevant or incomprehensible text. 


See the full project below




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