Book cover for Wilson Simonal´s Official Biography, "Nem vem que não tem - A Vida e o Veneno de Wilson Simonal"
Client: Editora Globo
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This was my first major book cover. Wilson Simonal´s Official Biography, "Nem vem que não tem - A Vida e o Veneno de Wilson Simonal", written by my friend and Editor-in-Chief of magazine Época São Paulo, Ricardo Alexandre.
Had very little time to develop them. The Editor and the author weren't that happy with results from another designer, so Ricardo asked me for a couple roughs. Surprisily i got the job hehe
Ricardo really wanted to use Bauhaus typeface on the cover, cos for him it would work fantasticly with Simonal´s language and way of life.
For those who dont know Wilson Simonal quite well (I was one of you, bunch of ignorants!), he was one of the greatest brazillian singers of all time, having a massive sucess during the 60´s and 70´s but was totally forgotten in the 80´s accused of being a "stool pigeon" for the military dictatorship that ruled Brazil from 1964 to 1985.
Back to design issues, Ricardo Alexandre along with Simoninha and Max de Castro (Simonal´s sons) found in the familie's archives this amazing black and white photoshoot, with a bunch of great pictures, all perfectly suited for a book cover.
I started searching for Simonal´s album covers, pictures and visual language, looking for a color pallet and any type of visual clue for a design element. Ricardo came up with the idea of having some organic graphisms to make link with "the crazy 70´s" so we decided to put some kind of psychedelic pattern covering the whole cover (back and front), totally inspired in master Verner Panton´s pattern works.
The Editors like the color pallet so much that they decided to print the book in two different colors - my favourite one is the yellow/orange version.
