Graphic design is a form-giving process. The forms it creates don't merely carry content, they become part of it because every choice of typeface and of typographic arrangement, of colour, of spacing, of photographic treatment, of paper, of printing technique, of format and finishing becomes a way of saying something. And every choice has implications for the way in which content is understood and interpreted. This is both the beauty and the magic of design.

Mãos is a publication that is concerned with craft activity, both traditional and contemporary; an activity that involves the skilful use of a wide variety of materials, techniques and applications. This was the starting point for the new design of Mãos; to reflect and to echo the richness and diversity of craft activity by creating a design that varies from issue to issue, that explores the possibilities of print and that adopts different visual languages according to changing themes and topics. In this way we hope to arrive at a closer, more expressive relationship between form and content and produce a publication that is itself a example of craft. 

In this first 'redesign' issue (the studio was invited to take up the design following the work of 2 previous designers) we implemented the practice of allowing the content to suggest design solutions. We were confronted with a mix of of articles that were only loosely connected in theme and journalistic style. Instead of ignoring this fact I decided to use it as a characteristic and to design the publication as a series of loose-leaf items, 14 in all – some of them single page, some concertina folded into 4, 6 or 8 pages. The typographic and graphic style was consistent throughout and different stocks of coloured paper were used for each of the inserts. They were then contained within a plastic envelope which had on it in the form of a dye-cut sticker, the title, and on the reverse, the contents.

Winner of New York Type Directors Club Typographic Excellence Award TDC 55, 2008