Allen & Unwin
Award for Best Commercial Book for Adults 2023
Finalist
Designer: Jenny Nicholls with illustrations by Greg Downie
Title: Kiwi Bikers: 85 New Zealanders and their motorbikes
Publisher: Massey University Press
Format: 250x 250mm, 264pp, hardback.
Typography: Text: Sentinel Book.
Display (headings): Industry Inc, Ringside Regular Light/Bold.
The display font choice is a nod to the graphics of 1960s motorbike race posters. The designer’s partner Greg Downie, brother of the photographer-author Ken Downie, gave this book an unexpected artistic decadence with his remarkable illustrations and endpapers.
“Jenny Nicholls was commissioned to design this book as I felt that her background as an award-winning magazine designer (and friend of the author) was a good fit. The book is quite formulaic in content — 85 motorbikes and their owners and a set amount of text per each — and so the challenge was for there to be dynamism in the design ‘system’ so it didn’t feel rigid and repetitive. Jenny made this happen with her slight variations in approach. The font weighting and size is strong, elegant and also energetic. The amazing endpapers commissioned from Greg Downie plus his line drawings were a real bonus.”
Judges’ comments Punchy and striking images illustrate this book about a favourite Kiwi pastime. Each portrait displays happiness and satisfaction with a hobby. The cover choice of a father and child, shows a wink to the next generation of riders. With an index by name of rider and also bike model, it makes for easy searching. The illustrated end papers as well as the dedicated chapter to illustrated motorbikes are a lovely surprise. Title fonts look like they could come from a motorcycle manual and the red spine and shiny red cover font nods to a shiny red bike — many of which are in the book!
A photographically-driven publication that presents portraits of motorcycles and their owners – including highlights such as a 1992 Britten V1000 – okay, I used to ride bikes back in my teens and twenties. The photographs are engaging and consistent – natural, relaxed portraits. The images are sharp — almost too sharp — with colour to the fore, bright and saturated. The typography is a feature, with well-chosen fonts, reflecting an automotive aesthetic that runs throughout the design.
