A Planta do Mundo
Inês Pinheiro, Inês V. Teixeira, Joana Garcês and Stênio França
An editorial object whose art direction was defined by another group in the course. The text, images and much of the visual identity of this re-edition of “The Nation of Plants” by botanist Stefano Mancuso were created under the guidance and constraints set by that group. In return, we art-directed the editorial object they developed, in an exercise of cross-collaboration.
This book is about plants and their relationship with the world. The art direction therefore proposed that the book itself embody that relationship – the book as a living organism, the book as a plant, with stem, roots and leaves – and that its materiality relate to its themes through the chosen materials and textures, calling on touch, light, density, rhythm and pause. The reader’s experience thus approaches plant perception: slow, attentive, porous. The tracing-paper dust jacket, the translucent text block, the exposed spine and the treatment of the images all evoke different textures and were deliberate choices to enable this experience. Text blocks are centered on the spread, recalling a tree trunk and paying homage to the cover of the original book.
Our contribution lies in creating a reading experience that mimics plant perception, bringing the public closer to Mancuso’s botanical science and fostering, through the book, a more sensitive and reflective relationship with the object and its world.
Imprint / Technical Rider:
Year: 2025
Dimensions: 180 × 253 × 20 mm; 199 pages
Materials: Text block on Munken Pure 90 g/m²; dust jacket on 200 g/m² tracing paper.
Production and finishing: Xerox digital printing; hand-bound with French sewing and an exposed spine in green thread.
Resources and credits: Typeface: Swift by Gerard Unger. Software: Adobe InDesign CC; Adobe Photoshop. Original text: Stefano Mancuso.
Curricular Unit:
Project (1st year)
Supervising Professor:
Eduardo Aires
Keywords: Editorial Design, Redesign
See this project in the Material Archive interactive archive →