In the Country – in a Book

The book we have a pleasure of sharing today is a first one in a series. We quite enjoy designing series because in addition to the challenge of shaping a new book, you have to think of other issues: will this really cool solution actually work in the next volume, especially if it happens to cover a rather different subject matter? And, a crucial question, how to make the series consistent but not too repetitive?

Anyways, this series, published by Zajezdnia History Center, consists of history books that gather academic essays on specific issues, mostly from the second half of the 20th century and relating to particular geographic locations. The first book talks about the countryside in the western and northern Poland after 1945: the difficulties it went through under the communist regime and how the economy and lifestyle of people changed.

The design of the book is a nod to modernist design which appeared in Poland in a somewhat different form than in Western Europe but was still a very strong visual language. The ornaments in the book, partly crop illustrations, partly geometric patterns (which you’re fully justified to read as fields), appear on the cover and at the beginnings of essays (and they were fun to create). The illustrative material included with the essays is mostly a bit dry and so goes well with the modernist style and the geometric typography. Part of the cover design is printed in green foil.

The next books in the series will retain the typography and the style but with different color schemes and, obviously, different ornamental themes.

Beginning of an essay about attempts to design a typical country dwelling.

Beginning of one of two big sections.

This 1945 poster tells people arriving to Lower Silesia not to waste time pointlessly wandering the town.

Yes, the produce is real.

F is for Firefighter

We continue our work on the Working Girls series of illustrations. Today’s post is sponsored by the letter F. While this is a pretty straightforward idea, it took a while to decide upon the details and on how to incorporate the letter into the composition.

July re:commendation: A Deadly Education

We haven’t done one of these forever! But we read this incredibly fun book this month and wanted to share the joy.

A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik

What is it? A sort-of-but-not-really YA novel about a magic school that wants to kill its students. It is a treat for anyone who was ever terrified at the idea of Hogwarts.

Why we love it? This is not a life-changing thinkpiece. It is, however, an incredibly entertaining, engrossing story written in a strong, recognizable narrative voice that immediately makes you know the protagonist, El. You feel all sorts of feelings for her and stan for her not-quite-love relationship. It doesn’t overdo the action scenes and will make you laugh, we’re pretty sure. We did laugh, a lot.

Illustrating Seasons

It’s this season again! The season to talk about seasons. Last year we showed you the amazing book by Blexbolex, this year a different one, but just as much of a treat: My Four Seasons by one of the most recognizable and recognized Polish illustrators, Dawid Ryski.

The book can serve as a season primer, telling a story of a five-person family (the fifth person being the dog) and how they experience all the seasons of the year. It’s told through simple yet lavish illustrations in Dawid Ryski’s characteristic style, which includes masterful simplification that does not eliminate detail and beautiful color palettes. We especially appreciate the ability to make all the seasons seem appealing because, let’s face it, they’re not all created equal. Don’t even try to convince us they are. But at least they all fuel gorgeous illustrations!

As you can see, there are so many things to love about this book: how all the environments, while different, are consistent when it comes to colors and the level of details, how there’s something fun to do in every season and the sweet, idyllic picture of a family life.

Wild Finds

With the pandemic limiting access to art events, we have recently learnt of a fantastic one, and held in the open so it’s virus-free. It is a part of a women art festival and this particular outdoor installation has been created by our friend, Anita Wasik. After childbirth she took up embroidery and developed it now into a project integrated into a beautiful green area in Gdynia.

The installation is called Genesis and consists of 12 embroidered objects the author half-jokingly calls “pussies” that have been installed into 12 tree hollows. You can walk around the park and find them, on purpose or by accident. We love this project for two quite different reasons. One is that it looks fantastic. And also shows mad embroidering skills. The other one is more political: it feels like in some environments anything relating to either women or nature these days is, if not downright dismissed or met with hostility, at least considered a lesser subject. So art which manages to combine these subjects, potentially opening a door for an interesting discussion about the relationship between the feminine and the natural, but without being obvious and ugly, as political art often is, get our highest marks. Also, we love trees and tree hollows, so this endears the project to us even more.

If you happen to be in Gdynia this summer make sure to check out Genesis.

(All photos courtesy of the author.)

Rewards for “Reports”

This week we have great news to share. Our design of the book Reports of the Society for the Reconstruction and Beautification of the Malbork Castle (this title!) has won two design awards: DNA Paris Award and Communication Arts Award! We are overjoyed about the news and we thank the Castle Museum of Malbork for trusting us.

You can see more photos of the book in the previous post or on our website.

E is for Entomologist

Among all sorts of things we’re trying (and failing) to do on time, we’re still working on the Working Girls, though slowly. Today we’ve reached letter E. There’s probably a metaphor somewhere there.

Happy 80th Birthday, Bob Dylan!

There is not a musician that would have a bigger impact on (one of) us than Bob Dylan and today he is celebrating his 80th birthday. Having recorded dozens of albums and hundreds of songs, influenced the history of music and poetry (yes) in more than one way, he will always be important to (one of) us mostly for the deeply personal moments his music and words have given (one of) us. And helped (one of) us survive school so much easier. X!