Penguin Random House New Zealand
Award for Best Illustrated Book 2017
Finalist
Designer: Alan Deare, Area Design
Title: Beach Life
Publisher: Penguin Random House
Format: 225 x 225mm, 296pp, printed on 140gsm woodfree text stock, with 400gsm one sided art-card cover with grained lamination finish.
Typography: Harmonia Sans Pro Type family, varying sizes and weights according to hierarchy of the text.
Judges’ Comments This could have been a good coffee-table book, that adequately balances long text with a wide variety of photography styles. It certainly does this but two noteworthy interventions have elevated it. First, the typography, especially the captioning, with the tasteful font and size choices, have introduced variation without creating a mess. Second, the sun-bleached tones are delightful. This was a risky decision, potentially pushing the book into kitsch territory but it’s used with restraint. A really good example of taking a standard format to another level.
