Judge's comments:

A great example of don’t judge a book by its cover. This book was so tasteful and elegant in every detail. A standout piece of work in the category.

Description:

QUEER: Stories from the NGV Collection explores the history of LGBTQ+ activism; the creation of queer spaces and communities; queerness as an artistic strategy; the expression of love, desire and sensuality; queer aesthetics; and the concepts of camp and the fantastic.

It was important for the publication to feel scholarly and serious, while maintaining elements of humour. With works spanning many centuries we decided to lean towards a clashing of the classic and modern with regards to the design aesthetic. The book’s physical form has a somewhat encyclopaedic feel, while the internal layout references the canons of page construction used in the Medieval and Renaissance era. This somewhat rigid construction is playfully implemented, allowing pages to scale up and down in size directly responding to the content. Queer typographer Robin Mientjes’s font Dover Serif was the perfect modern interpretation of a classical font for the project. The colours of the LQBTQ+ flag were used to create a pinstripe pattern which adorns the cover; this also went on to become the base for the associated marketing campaign. We used a debossed cameo on the cover in fluted wibalin, matching the vertical stripes of the flag; this also introduced the basis for the internal layout. Throughout the publication gradients are used on the outside of the page in order to clash with the formal layout, this is also used to help navigation between chapters, while a silver PMS has been used sparingly to highlight specific works.