Fragmentos
Maria Pinto
The brief called for a book of free content and format that would reveal the boundaries between the designer’s and the editor’s roles in a personal project, preparing students to conceive an editorial and graphic communication program grounded in theory and practice.
The response was Fragmentos, an iconographic archive devoted to preserving and sharing the memory of Vila Real throughout the twentieth century. The book is organized chronologically by decade, weaving a visual archive (photographs, postcards, posters, engravings, stamps, tickets, maps) with a textual one made of stories told over coffee and sections on the events that marked each era.
Formally, a large format showcases the detail of the archival images, and a sewn binding ensures durability for an object meant to be consulted over time. Conceptually, the project is as much an exercise in curating and editing as in design — selecting, ranking and giving voice to scattered memories.
Its contribution is above all cultural: an accessible record of Vila Real’s identity, countering the gradual erasure of these local memories.
Imprint / Technical Rider:
Year: 2026
Dimensions: 200 × 240 mm; 160 pages
Materials: Arena 120 g/m²; card stock 160 g/m².
Production and finishing: Digital printing (Fotomecânica Molográfica, S.A.); sewn hardcover binding; debossed letterpress finish.
Resources and credits: Photographs courtesy of Duarte Carvalho, Arquivo Municipal de Vila Real and Museu do Som e da Imagem.
Texts: “Vila Real: História ao Café” by Emílio Amaral Neves and A. M. Pires Cabral.
Software: Adobe InDesign and Adobe Photoshop.
Curricular Unit:
Project (1st year)
Supervising Professor:
Cristina Ferreira
Keywords: Editorial Design, Iconographic Archive, Visual Memory
See this project in the Material Archive interactive archive →