“Raízes” Book Collection
Designing a book collection is always an opportunity to project special pieces. It becomes the job of the designer to create a common interface between a series of intentions.
We were invited to materialize a project titled “Raízes” (roots) — a series of anthropological, ethnic and sociological studies debating the issues of poverty derived from the precarious conditions lived by the workers in the surrounding areas of Guimarães. An extensive and thorough job was developed in proximity with the local communities in order to establish a serious and solid view on the issues that affected these population groups from the 40s to the late 70s, and from there, the authors were able to draw a picture capable of explaining the social changes during the 20th century, and compare them to the current context.
Each of the five books has a very differentiated approach to its contents and organization. Therefore, we’ve decided to reinforce that structural characteristic with the design by using different typographic pairings for each book.
Yet, we’ve managed to keep a “family” feeling throughout the whole collection by applying common principles to each individual book: every object has the same format and papers, is coded using one main and one secondary color, uses similar typographic structures to it, and has its edges tinted with its main color. We have also commissioned the very talented José Cardoso different illustrations for each cover, which we’ve integrated and composed into the front and back covers.
The result were five different – yet related – softcover books. Each book able to live independently, but stronger when connected to the rest of the collection. Being this applicable to the design, it also becomes true for the contents. Each books offers an insight on the social phenomena triggered by a specific micro context. As a collection, they provide a deep and meaningful panorama of the life, sorrows and joys of the working class in the Guimarães region.
