This project asked me to select and research a Canadian artist or designer and produce a 12 page booklet showcasing their life and work. The project challenged me to gather, arrange, integrate, balance and unify images and text to give a glimpse into the life and work of the selected artist or designer.
Marian Bantjes is a designer, typographer, writer and illustrator working internationally from her base on a small island off the west coast of Canada near Vancouver. As a member of Alliance Graphique Internationale, she regularly speaks about her work and thoughts at conferences and events around the world. In 1984 she started working as a book typesetter then opened her own design firm in the year 1994. In 2003 she left all that behind to begin an experiment in following love instead of money by doing work that was highly personal, obsessive and sometimes just plain weird. Marian’s art and design crosses boundaries of time, style and technology. She is known for her detailed and lovingly precise vector art, her obsessive hand work and her patterning and ornament. Her works holds an underlying structure and formality that frames its organic and fluid nature. It is these combinations and juxtapositions that draw the interest of such a wide variety of designers and typographers from experienced formalists to young students. You can view more of her work at http://www.bantjes.com/
The finished 12 page booklet consists of 6 double sided spreads folded and saddled stitched into an 8 x 10 inch booklet. It focuses on highlighting her versatility and eclecticness of her work by displaying her many pieces in dynamic page layouts. Page elements were inspired by elements commonly found in her work such as calligraphic typefaces and floral-like patterns and vector art.
