Charlene De Buysere is a World Aeropress Champion, Belgian Barista Champion and co-founder of WAY Specialty Coffee Roasters in Ghent. Her book, published by Lannoo in 2023, sets out to decode the complexity of specialty coffee for a broad audience. The editorial challenge: how do you design a 192-page reference work that functions as a practical tool rather than a linear read?
The book design centres on a tag-based navigation system. Each section carries coded tags, indexed at the front of the book, that signal both subject matter and cross-references. Readers enter the book at any point, follow a tag to a related chapter, and build their own path through the material. The layout supports this non-linear logic: typographic hierarchy, spatial rhythm and page structure are calibrated to keep orientation clear regardless of reading order.
The result is an editorial design that treats the book as an instrument. Not a coffee-table object, but a working reference built for repeated, selective use.
