Yung Lean Releases 256GB

June 27, 2025

Today Yung Lean’s first book, 256GB, hit the digital shelves. An amalgamation of 574 images shot on Lean’s iPhone 6, 8, X & SE, the book provides an intimate look at his layered perspective. Leaning into the artist's straightforward take on creativity, 256GB takes the reader through his constant evolution as a crucial pillar of 2010's internet culture. It serves as a rough around the edges yet refined guide.

Produced in Italy and keeping with their traditional methods of bible-making, the book is made with the highest artisanal care. No detail was left behind as even the book's 9 chapters are organized by color, each leaning into different feelings the images evoke in the viewer. Lean’s typical sense of gritty frankness seeps through the pages, while nostalgia for a time that may have never really existed creeps in as well. office was able to chat briefly with director Leo Siboni and his publisher OK-RM to take a closer look at the vision and collaboration behind the project. Reinvention, evolution, and timelessness seemed to constantly fall at the core of the team's visual storytelling.

256GB is available for purchase on Yung Lean’s website here.

Interview by Abby Dillingham
Photos Courtesy of OK-RM

What motivated you to take this project on?

Leo Siboni : I was in New York in the studio with Yunglean in October 2022. We were talking and I told him we should do a book about you. He then transferred all the photos from his phone over a period of 10 years to me on a hard disk; I ended up with around 80,000 images. That's how it started. I went back to Paris and started looking at everything, sorting and selecting.

Rory McGrath: The offer to make a book for such a cult icon and with such a treasured archive of material was such a great opportunity, the rest is history.

Tell me more about your relationship with Yung Lean and his involvement in the process.

LS: I have a long and close relationship with Jonatan ( Yunglean). I directed 8 music video for him. I've known him for ten years. My first music video for him was on the Hoover track and the last one on Babyface Maniacs. As for the book, Jonatan trusted me; he gave me his photos and I remember that he suggested organizing the images by color. He wanted to do something honest.

How did you all collaborate together?

LS: It was a pretty smooth process. At first, I worked alone, making a layout of the book with my selection of images. Then I met Rory and Olly (OK-RM) at Offprint in Paris. I told them about the project and sent them the mock-up of the book. They were immediately very enthusiastic. From then on, we started to think about the book as an object, its shape, size, material etc. As a photographer and filmmaker, I had no experience of publishing. OK-RM was a perfect partner, and I knew very quickly that we were going to do something special together.

RM: Leo and Yung Lean were very clear about why they wanted to work with us. The approach we took is to get into the source of a pure book form, we started by presenting a thesis of the archetypal book and how this would relate to the content. We made a suggestion of additional content layers. Like for example, the blunt language associated with the captions within the classic image index. Our thoughts and visions was always met with enthusiasm and respect so the approach maintained a bold confidence embedded in the final book.

How did you go about designing the layout? What did you pull inspiration from in creating the graphics and design?

LS: I didn't want to make an object that would age over time. So we quickly thought about emblematic books, and one of the most emblematic books is probably the Bible. I really like the idea of a book that's very classic in form, but which contains Yunglean's memories shot on an iphone. The contrast is very interesting.

RM: Exactly. Many of the approaches you can see in the book are in line with classic vernaculars - the contrast with the content is where the beauty exists. Describe the visual world of the book that you were aiming to create. LS:Something raw, non-chronological, honest. RM: Something that works with polarity and tensions and extends both aspects into a singular project.

What inspired you to produce it in Italy using methods that pay homage to bible-making at Legatoria Industriale Artigianale’s premises in Cava de’ Tirreni?

LS: As I said, we wanted something timeless, something that would propel iphone-shot visuals into another dimension. The Bible was our main reference and Okrm had the great idea of collaborating with this printer in Italy. It was perfect.

RM: Exactly every decision has to be inline with a book like this to produce the authenticity and resonance desired, cava de’ Tirreni are masters of this kind of book and the lithography at Longo in North Italy is some of the best available.

How did you integrate notions of nostalgia, surrealism and melancholia into the pages?

LS: I think it comes naturally. Jonatan has a sharp eye, and I think he's a very good photographer. He has a kind of strong visual intuition.

RM: Couldn't agree more the content does a lot of the work but to see it clearly and to give it space to perform the pace, clarity and organisation of the images needed to be perfectly tuned.

The nine chapters are organized by color…how did you decide this and what’s the significance of this?

LS: Jonatan is a synesthete. He associates sound with colours. It seemed logical to organize the images by color rather than chronologically. What's more, Yunglean is passionate about color, which is very important to him, not only in his music but also in his paintings.

In which ways did you infuse Yung Lean’s essence into the book?

LS: I don't know, these are the personal images from Jonatan's telephone. Somehow they speak for themselves.

RM: There’s also this juxtaposition within all that Yung Lean does and also a tendency to always find a mood or approach that tests the boundaries of this given context.

Do you have a favorite part of the book whether that be a chapter, a font, or a detail in its construction?

LS:I love the object, the fact that you can hold 10 years of Yunglean's life in your hand. A sort of paper hard drive.

RM: The total artwork is what we try and pursue with all our work. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts!

Preview some of the images from 256 GB below.

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