Ale patent!
English title: Impossible Inventions
Selection of inventions and main text: Małgorzata Mycielska
Publisher: Wydawnictwo Dwie Siostry
Warsaw 2014
Dimensions: 20 × 25 cm
Hardcover: 122 p.
ISBN: 978-83-63696-06-1
“Impossible Inventions” is a funky and fascinating collection of past and modern inventions. Some are revolutionary, others comical, others simply impossible. But each testifies to the extraordinary imagination of its inventor. You'll read about a personal cloud cover, flying bicycle, a bubble telegraph, ice gramophone record, a concentration hood, and many more incredible ideas.
We were given a finished text written by Małgorzata Mycielska. The text was not created for a picture book, so it needed some adjustments. We not only drew the illustration but also created layout, typography and wrote all of the texts on the illustrations (dialogues and side notes).
The idea for layout was inspired by early 20th century drawings and documents filed at the Patent Office. At the same time, it is based on a dense modular grid that allows a variety of arrangements.
The illustrations themselves not only visualize mechanisms behind the inventions, but also present their potential usage in the realities of the times they were invented. They also introduce humour and additional commentary in the form of dialogues.
We wanted to create a book that would appeal to all the future engineers. We also wanted to show that often even unsuccessful projects lead to breakthrough solutions.
In this book, we used our typeface of Mr Lucky, Mr Dodo, and for body text Clavo designed by Michał Jarociński.
Foreign editions
French, Incroyables inventions, Editions de La Martinière Jeunesse, 2019, ISBN: 978-2-7324-9323-7
Russian, Есть патент?, Самокат, 2018, ISBN: 978-5-91759-692-1
Chinese Simplified, 不可思议的发明, Guizhou People's Publishing House, 2017, ISBN: 978-7-221-14379-2
Dutch, Zo Werkt Dat, Lannoo, 2017, ISBN: 978-94-014-4424-8
English, Impossible Inventions, Gecko Press, 2017, ISBN: 978-1-776571-70-3
Korean, 기상천외 발명백과, Book 21, 2017, ISBN: 978-89-509-7110-6
Spanish, ¡Paténtalo!, Ekaré, 2016, ISBN: 978-84-944988-5-5
Swedish, Funkar Det?, Alfabeta, 2016, ISBN: 978-91-501-1778-3
Japanese, ややっ、ひらめいた！奇想外発明百科, Tokuma Shoten Publishing Co., 2016, ISBN: 978-4-19-864039-2
German, Das Funktioniert?, Moritz Verlag, 2015, ISBN: 978-3-89565-307-0
You can find a Google Sheet with a list of all our foreign editions here.
