We’re delighted to repost this from our colleagues over at the National Book Festival. This year’s festival is on Aug. 31, and we’re looking forward to seeing you all there!
The poster for the 2019 Library of Congress National Book Festival has been unveiled! This year’s poster is the work of Marian Bantjes, a designer, illustrator, typographer and writer whose work is invested in beauty and structure and the intersection of words and graphics. She has been working in and around the design industry for 38 years, and is a member of Alliance Graphique Internationale.
Here’s what she has to say about her work on the 2019 National Book Festival poster:
I look for structure in any given project. For this, I started with the open book, on edge, with its pages radiating outward. I wanted something very sunny and bright, and so I built the structure further from these radiating lines with the idea of having words flowing out of the book. The book opens to a half-circle so I used this circle to form other parts of the structure, and divided the whole area up into sections based on this. I then developed a series of patterns used on the cupid-bow shape of an open book, and finally built some little flying books to accentuate the patterns and add a playful exuberance to the poster. The whole is a celebration and a joy.
Check out her work below, and download a high-resolution version of the poster here. You can also view and download all of the previous National Book Festival posters here. Then, make your plans for this year’s National Book Festival on August 31 in Washington, D.C.!
Comments (2)
Attended my first book festival two years ago in Collingwood. I was so impressed with the amount of children involved with the day. Spoke with the mayoe of my township (Florence) to start one here in florence, haven’t heard anyrhing yet but it would be to tbe best interest of book lovers and to encourage children to read and do research instead of using quick sources such as the computer and internet
Designer’s explanation proves she missed the whole point of the project and went for structure and fling moths out of book’s pages apparently… that she intended to be flying books… Obviously followed some Rule Book of Structure Design Order and then “popped in” some independent color… Yee Gads, where is the artistic freedom of thought and understanding of books and reading.
Poster looks like the face of a mean cat.
Poster “digital” “elitist” “complicated.”
Reading isn’t complicated and the poster should express that fact and encourage all to read.
Now, if a Mystery Book Poster, mean cats and complications are appropriate.