Ai Tu Book&Canvas

Creative direction, graphic design, illustration and photography

2004

Porto, Portugal

Front view of Ai Tu Book&Canvas in its minimalist attire (aka packaging). Águas Santas, Portugal. 2024 © Pedro Rodrigues

The Book That, Like Cinderella, Transformed at Midnight-ish

In 2004, my friend António Alberto Silva, who was at the time a physics university professor at the Polytechnic Institute of Porto, asked me to design a book based on his exquisite writings, which he wanted to share with his network of family and close friends. However, the printing budget he had in mind was so tight, it made a charity shop look lavish! I gently suggested that we needed a bit more wiggle room if we wanted to create something truly memorable in both shape and content. We had to think outside the box to make the budget fit, and this is what happened...

Following a research marathon and enough discarded ideas to fill a library, I proposed the Book&Canvas concept. This wasn't just any book—it was a true showstopper, with packaging as striking as a catwalk model dressed in minimalist attire and printed in silver ink on exquisitely refined black paper. Our mission? To create a book so fabulous that it would transform into a 150cm x 50cm wall art canvas, not merely a shelf ornament.

Looking at the pictures below, you might be wondering what all those "+--++-+-" are. Well, they’re the heart of a concept I created called "(de)coded abstractionism." Essentially, what you see is a coded message that, when properly decoded, reads: "Written by António Alberto Silva and designed by Pedro Rodrigues." The "+-" choice was inspired by the fact that the author is a university professor of Physics.

Below, you can find out how it all turned out. And yes, it’s officially registered in the Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal as a book, in case you were wondering!