Irma Boom (born 15 December 1960) is a Dutch graphic designer who specializes in bookmaking.

Her bold experimental approach to her projects often challenges the convention of traditional books in both physical design and printed content.

Boom has been noted as the youngest recipient of the Gutenberg Prize, an award recognizing outstanding services to the advancement of the book arts.

Boom attended the AKI art academy in Enschede, Netherlands, where she pursued a B.F.A in graphic design.

Boom had applied to intern at Total Design in Amsterdam, where Wim Crouwel was director, but had been rejected by his colleagues for mixing too many typefaces.

Boom experienced her first job as both an editor and designer during her time at the Dutch Government Publishing and Printing Office in The Hague.

[1] The annual Dutch postage stamp books was considered a prestigious opportunity with previous designers had including Wim Crouwel, Karel Martens, and Gert Dumbar.

Boom structured the book in a Japanese style binding and had text crossing multiple pages with printed folds and translucent paper.

Though well received by Oxenaar, this project drew a lot of public outcry for being overtly experimental in comparison to previous editions.

Upon graduating during the 1980s, Boom decided to return to the Dutch Government Publishing and Printing Office where she worked for another five and a half years.

Boom's books take on an architectural form and she views them as a unique medium for delivery of information.

It is her aim to enhance the readers' understanding while at the same time creating an object of beauty, with quality and permanence.

[9] Unconventional typographic trademarks of Boom may include the use of oversized type which successively shrinks from the opening to end of her book.

The concept behind the book was inspired by the nature of perfume—it is best understood in an olfactive, not visual, manner—and relies on lesser dominant senses to tell the story.

Her conceptual book design for The Road Not Taken has 718 pages printed using ink mixed with a base of beef bouillon.

Creating a sensory tactile experience when designing and making books is very important to Boom and she aims to inspire discovery and interaction.

She has received extensive media coverage of her work, and Alice Rawsthorn writing for the New York Times profiled her in 2010.

She designed a book titled Beautiful Ugly by Sarah Nuttall, with an olive-green colored cover and no pictures or text.

Tulip fields and a Dutch poem were incorporated into the edges of the book, viewable depending on the direction in which each page is flipped.

Initially there had been consideration in publishing the content as a CD-ROM, but a book proved to be a more timeless and opportunistic option.

It was designed to be distributed worldwide, yet Boom has calculated that it will take five hundred years for the book to spread to all the corners of the globe.

A circular hacksaw was introduced into the production process to create these edges, which mimicked the selvedges of Hick's textile work.

[24] For Chanel's 2013 exhibition at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris, Boom created a book filled with solid white, textural pages.

The 300 page book was printed devoid of ink, instead embossed with text and image creating a semi-invisible narrative for Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel.

The concept behind the book was inspired by the nature of perfume—it is best understood in an olfactive, not visual, manner—and relies on lesser dominant senses to convey the essence of the Chanel N ͦ5 fragrance.

Featuring an overview of Boom's work are two 800 page identical copies of extremely contrast in size, published in 2010.

Boom's clients include the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, Inside Outside, The Museum of Modern Art New York, Prince Claus Fund, Fondazione Prada, Maserati, OMA/Rem Koolhaas, Yale University Press (London)/Bard Graduate Center (New York), Serpentine Gallery, Wiel Arets, Chanel, Paul Fentener van Vlissingen, Museum Boijmans, Zumtobel, Ferrari, Vitra International, NAi Publishers, United Nations, Koninklijke Tichelaar, Makkum, Aga Khan Foundation and Camper.