Description:

The 2020 NGV Triennial exhibition brought contemporary art, design and architecture into dialogue, offering a visually arresting and thought-provoking view of the world at the time. With this in mind the brief for the publication was to reflect this innovation with an equally contemporary offering. A key challenge was to develop a progressive design that referenced and maintained a visual relationship with the 2017 publication.

Triennial 2020 is 5 individual volumes separated by theme, the combined covers create the graphic ‘T2’. This motif is a progression of the 2017 ‘T’ edition, creating a versatile visual language utilised throughout. A combination of 2 fonts allowed for intuitive design, mirroring the 2017 formula, printable linen gave the freedom to offset print, and separating the publication into volumes meant maximum spine width was no longer an issue. Visually tight margins were implemented creating a feeling of tension, unease and anxiety, reflecting much of the content and 2020 as a whole.

To maintain a relationship with Triennial 2017 I retained 3 visual cues, motif, format and paper stock. The format ensured past and future volumes sit together as a series, the paper lent familiar materiality, while the ‘T’ emphasises visual continuity. I decided to wrap 5 volumes with a magnetised case, ostensibly casing the new offering in an old jacket, marking the end of the old start of the new.