HarperCollins Publishers Award for Best Cover 2024
Finalist
Designers: Alan Deare and Dave McDonald, Area Design
Title: Flora: Celebrating Our Botanical World
Publisher: Te Papa Press
Format: 290 x 250mm, 452pp, hardback.
Typography: Erotique, Ivy Journal, Nuckle
“We always knew that with such a vast collection ranging across so many aspects of the arts, science and mātauranga Māori, the trick would be to make a virtue of the diversity. We therefore decided against grouping all the paintings, all the botanical specimens, all the decorative art pieces etc together, opting instead to pair each of them up with a taonga of a similar tone or texture or shape to force the reader to look at them in a fresh way.
Almost everything was rephotographed – a massive logistical exercise. Every text was freshly written for the book, and we needed a design that could accommodate the complex hierarchies of ‘label’ texts and then the discursive longer text for each.”
Judges’ comments Sumptuous and ornate. The expert selection of this font paired with an image that connotes both art nouveau, fashion and science the cover does well to cover immense territory simply. You almost want to take a sniff to get the sensory notes from the environment. No expense spared, the opulence gives esteem to the taonga inside and the vibrancy of the colour elevates the imagery to see a new era, its a coffee table book but only a marble coffee table.
