Antennae (series)

Book coverAntennae (series)
Book coverAntennae (series)
Book coverAntennae (series)
Book coverAntennae (series)

The panel were much taken with the initiative of publishers Valiz to bring out a series of books concerned with the theory and criticism of art, under the collective name Antennae, to promote further debate and exploration in this area. However, there was also some debate about the design of the series. Some panel members saw it as particularly inspiring because the designers have taken an exploratory approach to the interior, but others could see no essentially new interpretation of the essay in playing with type sizes and fonts – even if the typography certainly
looks highly contemporary. Nor was it entirely clear why a number of sections were printed on glossy paper.

Design agency Metahaven have made the series stand out through the covers, each of which has two colours that merge in a random pattern. There is also a small black bar with rounded corners that acts as a mark of recognition. This returns on the spine in a ‘taped on’ library label – a device which the design collective uses to signal that an idea is not the personal property of anyone, but something that is borrowed. It is, of course, the circulation of ideas, views and theories that is the goal of the whole series. The bar may also refer to such concepts as feelers, antennae and lines of thought, notions employed by the publishers in their starting points for the series.

Edition: 2009
Language: English
Publisher: Valiz, Amsterdam
Graphic designer: Metahaven
Printer: Bariet, Ruinen
Binder: De Haan, Zwolle
Size book block (w x h x d in mm): 135 x 210 x 18/19/21
Number of pages: 255 p. / 271 p. / 288 p.
Print run: 1,500 / 1,500 / 1,600
Price: € 17.50 / 18.50 / 19.90
ISBN: 978 90 78088 29 5 / 978 90 78088 35 6 / 978 90 78088 34 9
Font and foundry: Riccione, Janson Text, Bembo
Binding style: sewn soft cover
Material: 110gsm Munken Print White 1.5, 115gsm Hello Gloss (interior), 240gsm Bioset (cover)