Restful,
An anthology of Nigerian reflections.
Design Direction & Art Direction
The brief was: make something for the readers’ bedside table. Thoughtful, gentle, and quietly delightful.
As editor-in-chief, art director, and design director, I worked with Radhika Valjee as the editorial designer to shape every layer of the visual and tactile experience: the concept, the palette, the rhythm, the feeling.
I wanted the book to feel easy on the eyes, spacious yet compact, calm, unhurried, and soft and dull to the touch.
I designed the brand identity for the book, curated the contributions, and art-directed the cover illustration done by Amina Gimba.
We chose fonts for their warmth and legibility. I fell in love with Monterchi Book as soon as I saw it and only later realised that it was because it reminded me of The New Yorker wordmark’s font, a font that takes me back to my first years out of boarding school, finding community among other young Nigerian writers on Twitter.
Specs: A5, 148 pages. Colour printing on cream 80 gsm paper, Perfect bound, Softcover. Printed by Solo Press, UK.
Section breaks used fragments of the cover illustration, serving as a reminder that though the contributions are individual reflections, they belong to a collective experience.
