HarperCollins Publishers Award for Best Cover 2022
Finalist
Cover Designer: Alan Deare
Title: Kelcy Taratoa: Who am I, Episode 001
Publisher: Quentin Wilson Publishing
Format: 210 x 297mm, 112pp, section sewn, case bound, PLC. Soft Touch Velvet laminate to cover artwork. Glossy UV emboss to cover title captures the range of Taratoa’s exploration from the painterly surface to synthetic substrates and screen based technologies. The publication was originally intended as an educational resource.
Typography: Söhne Leicht, Kräftig and PX Grotesque. PX Grotesque, the masthead typeface, has qualities that suggest digital technology — the subtly squarer counter forms along with blocky, stacked alternates utilised in the chapter numerals etc., throughout. We set the title tightly stacked to reflect the artist’s densely layered imagery. The episode number 001 is deliberately loose to dial up the binary aspect — a clue to the book’s contents. The ‘pixel’ text alternates simultaneously remind us of the low-bit resolution of early game graphics, Tukutuku panelling and Poutama. These segue nicely with the artist’s enquiry into the distraction of virtual reality and the visual traditions of painting and te ao Māori. The bold move with this book cover, is that the artist allowed his work to sit primarily on the reverse, only just spilling over to the front, allowing space for the large masthead to sit in an unconventional orientation, which is prominent yet subtly contrasted through print processes.
