The Brief
This brief included the collaboration of Graphic Design students from Greenside Design Center with South African Honours creative writers from the University of Witwatersrand in which the design and creation of a publication of their writing pieces was required. In order to design the publication, an in-depth understanding of the writing piece was needed so that the design aligned to the authors writing and reflected their vision.
This publication design included the creation of an art direction and creative concept which was developed based off of the authors vision and what they have written. It included the design decisions of the sizing of the publication, the typography, the grid, the method of binding, the type of imagery and the paper which all aligns to the authors writing and reflects the creative concept outlined.
When Nature Rages
Written by Mahilo Raletjena, When Nature Rages is comprised of two personal stories and four poems which is aimed for readers between the ages of 15 and 30, basically children born in the times of modern technology and alternative resources. Millennials and Generation Z, generations that question everything and are opinionated.
When Nature Rages challenges the reader to look into nature through taking a trip down memory lane into her personal accounts of her childhood. Highlighting common themes of reflection and nature, as she tries to make sense of the changes taking place in the environment around her. Having worked and reported on the 2020 Nyiragongo volcano from her newsroom desk, Raletjena allows her imagination to go thousands of kilometers away to Congo. She writes poetry about the loss and heartache of that night. She further writes about the country itself of how it never catches a break and know some taste of peace, from all the turmoil that has taken place in its land.
The Concept
Taking inspiration from common themes identified within the authors writing, this design aims to showcase the common themes of nature and reflection through the nature inspired illustrations and the placement of some illustrations on transparent tracing paper in areas where the author is reflecting back on her childhood memories.
Moreover, the minimalism art movement is the inspiration behind the design and composition of this book publication. This art movement reflects beauty and purity in the most simple and effective way. It uses negative space to create emphasis on the content and the design is stripped down to its most basic form to reveal its natural beauty.
When Nature Rages consists of two stories and four poems, the author requested all writing pieces to be placed within one book. To bring her vision to life and truly showcase the poetry in its own light, all poems are designed in a smaller sized book within the main book itself. This creates differentiation between the stories and the poetry.The poetry is placed on grey paper to create contrast between the stories and the poetry
The Illustrations
With regards to imagery within this book publication. I chose to do illustrations with charcoal. I chose to use charcoal as charcoal is a raw, natural and dry art medium which reflects the authenticity and personal emotion within the authors writing.
The Typography
The typeface chosen for this book publication is: Bilo
This font aligns to the minimalistic theme and art movement as it
creates a simplistic yet legible look allowing for the reader to be interested and connect with the emotion behind the writing context within the book.
Bilo Regular was utilised for the main copy of the book while Bilo Bold was utilised for pull quotes and sentences on each page to create emphasis and truly highlight the text in a unique yet simple and effective way.
Paper Choice
For this publication design, I wanted to keep a cohesive visual effect throughout the book. Therefore, for the paper choice, the covers and stories were placed on the same type of paper (Naturalis in Pure White) however, they differ in thickness as the covers were placed on 250gsm while the stories were placed on 135gsm. This paper choice has a smooth texture allowing for texture of the charcoal and the text to truly shine through.
In order to keep the cohesiveness feel throughout, the poetry was placed on Cloud Grey paper in 130gsm - similar to that of the paper used for the stories within the book
The Binding
The Binding chosen for this book publication is: Japanese Binding.
Japanese binding was chosen due to it providing the book publication with an interesting, effective yet minimalistic look. This binding method provides just like the charcoal illustrations, a raw and natural feel to the publication which aligns to the content within the publication itself.
The Final Publication
