Explore! Awesome South African Artists
Client: Jacana
Period: 2018-2019
Publishing
Arts, culture & heritage
01 — The sneak-peek
South Africa's art stars, sized for small hands
Explore! Awesome South African Artists is a children's book introducing young readers to the country's finest living contemporary artists and curators. BBA Liminal designed the book, its artist-by-artist typography and a set of interactive bookmarks — making a serious art canon something a child can hold and play with.
02 — The liminal moment
South Africa's contemporary art is world-class, but it mostly lives where children rarely go: galleries, auctions, art fairs. Dr Cobi Labuschagne wrote Explore! Awesome South African Artists to change that — a literary treat introducing young readers to artists and curators including Lady Skollie, William Kentridge, Nandipha Mntambo, Athi-Patra Ruga, Penny Siopis, Banele Khoza, Zander Blom and Dr Same Mdluli, published by Jacana.
BBA Liminal was asked to design the book and bring it to life: its layout, a typographic system, and a set of interactive bookmarks. The brief was publication design. The deeper task was access of a different kind — making living artists and their work legible, inviting and genuinely fun for a child, without flattening the art that made them worth meeting.
03 — The transformation
A typeface for every artist. We designed all 36 featured artists' names in a style drawn from their own work, and built a series of typographic chapter headings to match. Each artist arrives in their own visual voice — the language of graphic serialisation, made for browsing.
Bookmarks you can play with. We engineered and designed a set of six interactive bookmarks, illustrated by Lauren Mulligan, that turn the book into something to handle and return to, not only read. A small invitation to keep exploring.
Printed with care. We printed the book on Lenza Green, paper made from 100% recovered fibre and manufactured without chlorine bleaching, sponsored by our long-time collaborators Antalis. The making matched the message: art for the public good, produced responsibly.
04 — The craft
The language of graphic serialisation
Thirty-six artists' names set in the spirit of their own art, chapter headings to match, and six interactive bookmarks illustrated by Lauren Mulligan — a children's book printed on 100% recovered-fibre paper.
05 — The validation of purpose
36 artists' names styled from their work
100% recovered-fibre paper
6 interactive bookmarks
Typography
Publication & editorial design
