Silk & Stone
Xiao Jing Yan
PROBLEM: How do you harmonize and summarize such a large body of work?
Xiao is a successful Chinese-Canadian sculpture artist and material magician, who deserved an anthology of her art. Her work discusses her personal relationship between nations and other cultural challenges she's experienced on her journey. The booklet uses neutral colours to allow Xiao's dynamic work to speak for itself.
Balance between typography and photography was important for this project. The complex images needed to be supported with text, but through experimenting with layout and hierarchy, I was able to play with the 12 column grid to create a consistency for the eye while letting the images take precedence.
View the final PDF, here.
PROCESS
Visualization & Testing
Black and white prints are done first to test the contrast, light, dark, negative space, and effectiveness of typography.
Colour tests are done on the same printer twice at different times in the day.