Graphic design for a book, annual publication – Creation, concept and execution of the entire project, including the layout of the entire book, illustrations, cover design and monitoring of the printing process.

 

An annual publication bringing together articles published throughout the year by the Coordinator of the Technical Council¹ of the National Confederation of Trade in Goods, Services and Tourism (CNC)² and Economic Adviser to the CNC, Ernane Galvêas (former Minister of Finance of Brazil (1980–1985) and former President of the Central Bank of Brazil (1968–1974 and 1979–1980) (IN MEMORIAM)). Every week, the author had written articles analysing the economic and political landscape; this publication is a compilation of these articles for the relevant year.

 

 

In the previous design, the cover had, until then, been a combination of graphs and figures with a theme colour for each year; I had realised I needed to make the new version more human, something that would align with the entity board’s core thinking: the production of goods and the presentation of the workers’ activities generating wealth for Brazil and the world. Economists focus on figures and statistical analysis, but as the articles dealt with macroeconomic and political analysis, a broader perspective was needed. Unlike the previous design, and with the author’s consent, I have created a composition featuring various sectors of the economy – Building construction, a worker atop a building waiting for the crane to bring concrete to be poured over the metal framework at the base of the floor; agriculture, represented by a tractor and its operator; mass production, a car factory with vehicles lined up awaiting final assembly; the stock exchange, shareholders trading shares, the commerce’s sector (with a focus on retail, the entity’s main area of interest), a handbag and a pair of shoes in a shop window, and a woman trying on trousers with the sales assistant, and tourism represented by an aeroplane. To meet the needs of the CNC’s target audience and its stakeholders, the visual compositions needed to be very clear; therefore, I have created a clockwise-rotating arrow connecting all seven images mentioned above, to convey a connection between the activities depicted, which generate goods and move capital, all integrated, with the aim of creating greater unity between the cover and the articles; and at the base of the cover, I have inserted a graph showing GDP figures for the last 20 years.

 

Regarding the use of colours in the project, the CMYK process has been chosen for the covers, as it would allow for subtle tonal variations, thereby generating a wider range of colour variations. The inner pages are printed in black only. On the first cover of the new publication design for this redesign, I have used shades of green with the title in red and the circle/arrow image with a yellow-to-orange gradient, alongside the negative GDP indicators at the bottom of the cover, which featured the same gradient, thereby highlighting the crisis that was unfolding in Brazil. On the following year’s cover, I have used shades of purple, I have been seeking to give the negative indicators the same contrast as in the previous version, but placing greater emphasis on the title and subtitle, and on the circle/arrow, due to the improvement in the economy: brick red for those requiring less prominence and yellow for those that needed greater emphasis. Both covers I have used cool colours in their respective backgrounds and images, and complementary, warm colours in their titles, subtitles and circles/arrows.

 

In the layout, the emphasis was on highlighting the theme of the articles, which dealt with macroeconomic and political analysis, examining the trade and production sectors.

 

1 CNC Technical Council – A group in which various men and women who had distinguished themselves in their respective fields gave lectures, which were later published as articles; these included diplomats, judges, lawyers, economists, philosophers, etc., among them the Coordinator of the CNC Technical Council and Economic Adviser to the CNC, Ernane Galvêas (former Minister of Finance of Brazil (1980–1985) and former President of the Central Bank of Brazil (1968–1974 and 1979–1980) (IN MEMORIAM)), José Bernardo Cabral (Rapporteur of the 1988 Brazilian Constituent Assembly, former Minister of Justice and former Senator of the Republic), Carlos Tadeu de Freitas Gomes (former Director of the Central Bank), Cid Heraclito de Queiroz (former Attorney-General of the National Treasury from 1979 to 1991), Ives Gandra da Silva Martins (Professor Emeritus at Mackenzie University, UNIP, UNIFEO, UNIFMU, CIEE/O Estado de São Paulo, the Army Command and General Staff Schools (ECEME), the War College (ESG) and the Federal Regional Court of the 1st Region; Honorary Professor at Austral University (Argentina), San Martín de Porres University (Peru) and Vasili Goldis University (Romania); Honorary Doctorate from the Universities of Craiova (Romania) and the PUCs of Paraná and Rio Grande do Sul, and Full Professor at the University of Minho (Portugal); Chairman of the Higher Council of Law at FECOMÉRCIO-SP; Former President of the São Paulo Academy of Letters (APL) and the São Paulo Lawyers’ Institute (IASP), Arnaldo Niskier (Member of the Brazilian Academy of Letters and former President of CIEE/RJ), Vasco Mariz (historian and diplomat, former Brazilian Ambassador to Ecuador, Israel, Cyprus, Peru and Germany), Nelson Mello e Souza (philosopher, former Chancellor of Estácio de Sá University and member of the Brazilian Academy of Philosophy), Samuel Buzaglo (lawyer, former Deputy Attorney General of the Republic), João Paulo de Almeida Magalhães (economist and researcher at the Centre for Development Studies at CORECON/RJ), Arnaldo Wald (lawyer and Full Professor at UERJ), Marcus Faver (Appellate Judge, former President of the Rio de Janeiro Court of Appeal), Claudio Contador (economist, Executive Director of SILCON), Mary Del Priore (historian and writer, member of the São Paulo Academy of Letters), João Ricardo Moderno (journalist), Roberto Fendt (economist, former Special Secretary for Foreign Trade at the Ministry of Economy, Executive Secretary of the Brazil-China Business Council), Maria Beltrão (archaeologist, scientist and researcher, former professor at UERJ, former Director of External Relations at IHGB), Gilberto Paim (journalist) etc.

 

2 National Confederation of Trade in Goods, Services and Tourism (CNC – cnc.org.br) – An employers’ trade union organisation, bringing together 34 federations across Brazil, 27 representing their respective states and 7 of these 34 operating at national level, representing over five million businesses in the trade sector that generate around 25.5 million direct and formal jobs; through its structure, it works to ensure the sector is always involved in the formulation of public policies, monitoring the progress of relevant proposals in the National Congress and defending the Constitution, always focusing on laws that may impact the sector.

 

The CNC was founded on 4 September 1945; its president is responsible for the administration of two institutions with significant operations in Brazil, which together form one of the largest social development systems in the world: the Social Service of Commerce (SESC – sesc.com.br) and the National Commercial Apprenticeship Service (SENAC – senac.br), the former, with social projects such as Mesa Brasil, the Ecos Sustainability Programme, etc. (operating in the following areas: Food, Social Assistance, Culture, Education, Sport, Leisure, Health, Sustainability, etc.) and the latter in supporting the training and upskilling of employees in the commerce sector (shopkeepers, waiters, chefs, hospitality staff, etc.).

 

 

Book Title: Economic Chronicles

Print run: X copies.

Number of pages: 88.

Size: 150mm x 230mm (closed format) – 305mm x 230mm (open format) (I calculated the spine as 5mm).

 

Cover

Paper: Duo Design 250g/m².

Printing: 4x0 Offset Process (CMYK).

Finishes: Square spine, glue and stitching, matt lamination and spot varnish (if soft-touch lamination is required, please quote this separately as well).

 

Inner Pages

Paper: Pólen Bold 90g/m².

Printing: 1x1 Offset (Black).

 

Turnaround

1 day for proofing and 4 working days for production.

Note: Graphic design support is required.