This is the cover of Stories for an Uncertain World, the booklet that I designed for the Edinburgh Art Festival 2019 commissions programme.
In the context of ‘major geo-political and societal shifts’, the EAF Commissions Programme brings together five artists with new projects that ‘reflect the uncertain times we find ourselves in, poised between the disintegration of an old world order, and taking the initial faltering steps towards an unknown future’. The participating artists are: Nathan Coley, Alfredo Jaar, Rosalind Nashashibi, Sriwhana Spong, and Corin Sworn.
While working through ideas for the cover of the booklet, I was thinking about ideas of uncertainty, using transparencies and gradients to create type that dissolves, almost to the point of becoming unreadable. The main titles are set in uppercase and centred on the page, echoing traditional book typography and creating a sense of authority that generates a tension with the ethereality of the fading type. A further sense of uncertainty is created by the use of Museo for the titles, a typeface that initially appears rational but that, on closer inspection, carries subtle quirky elements that disrupt this message. Museo was designed by Jos Buivenga – his love for the uppercase letter U inspired this unique set of fonts: “In a daydream I saw the top of both stems bended into semi-slab serifs.” It is these curved slab serifs that give the typeface its idiosyncratic character.
I have used colour gradients on the inside and back covers (above), an effect that I wouldn’t normally use, but that felt appropriate in this context – the sky blue echoes the landscape in the cover photograph, a still from a film by artist Rosalind Nashahibi. For the body text and captions, I have used the typeface Aktiv Grotesk, a deliberately low-key choice that sits quietly in contrast with Museo. Imagery from the five artists is placed in sections that broadly correspond to the discussion of their work in the essay written by EAF director Sorcha Carey that forms the main body of the booklet.
The 24 page (plus 4 page cover) booklet was printed by Allander, in Edinburgh, on Horizon Offset 250gsm for the cover and Horizon Offset 140gsm for the text pages. The size, 210 x 165mm, follows the series of books and leaflets that I have previously designed for the Art Festival.