Designed under the ISTD Dead Wood Archive Brief, the task was to convert our birth dates into Dewey Decimal Numbers and then find a way to typographically celebrate the book we matched with. The conversion of my birth date led me to Phantasmagoria: Spirit Visions, Metaphors, and Media into the Twenty-first Century by Marina Warner—a spellbinding study into the world of psychic phenomena. Warner investigates how society has made sense of the supernatural in art, film, literature, science, philosophy and religion. The book is filled to the brim with fascinating content, but does hold an overwhelming amount of information. This inspired my idea of The Curious A-Z, a way to make Phantasmagoria more accessible and easier to navigate for readers. It is an alphabetical handbook of the book’s 26 most intriguing terms, from paranormal jargon to mythical creatures. The exploration of so many distinct words also celebrates the diversity of topics and history the book covers—one of its most defining qualities.
The book is also inspired by the context of the word ‘phantasmagoria’. Historically, it was the name of a light projection horror theatre show in the 1800s. As one of the first forms of audio-visual entertainment, it involved projecting images and sounds of supernatural beings such as skeletons, ghosts and demons onto the walls and into the audience. It created a multi-sensory experience, one that both frightened and captivated spectators. This inspired me to incorporate tactility and materiality into my own publication.
The layout and font choice is also based upon vintage supernatural texts on magic, fortune-telling and astrology, similar to spell-books. Further use of a monochromatic colour palette and white ink/black on black printing aims to create a purely typographical publication that is as mysterious, enchanting and intriguing as Phantasmagoria.
Through assessment of the The Curious A-Z, I was awarded membership into the International Society of Typographic Designers (ISTD).
