Pirandello em Cinco Atos

I was invited to design Pirandello em Cinco Atos, a special edition published in the occasion of the 150th anniversary of Luigi Pirandello’s birth.

Published by Carambaia, this volume contains five one-act plays. Each play is illustrated with a photograph of an object that act as an icon to visually represent the themes present in each text.

The design of the book is inspired by publications and posters from the beginning of the 20th century in Italy, the period when the five plays were written and/or first enacted.

I picked Futura Passata for its resemblance to the vernacular typography found in signage around Italy. With its rougher woodcut lines and the two widths combination, the typeface has a nice underlying human quality to it. Futura Passata also worked nicely for the big stacked type chapter openers since I could toggle between condensed and expanded width for each character.

For the body copy I’m using Lyon, which works really well counterbalancing not only the raggedy/irregular-looking nature of theater plays’ text blocks but also pairs well with the overly varied Futura Passata. It also brings a more contemporary flavor to the project.