A book that prompted much debate. The panel soon split into two parties: two genuine admirers of the boldness of its design and execution, and two who persisted in their attitude that its design was truly irritating. And the arguments took it in turns.
What’s so good about it? It’s a book you can’t help picking up in the bookshop, a design you won’t forget. The cover is intriguing, with its seemingly abstract, cheery circles and ovals which on closer acquaintance turn out to form a teddy bear; the circles and ovals reappear elsewhere, even inside the book, but here they are purely abstract.
Slightly odd, playful typography, with three different sizes of type taking turns, both on the cover and in the headings in the interior. ‘Ugly!’ someone shouted, interrupting the argument. ‘No, just different, unexpected and at the same time perfectly legible.’ ‘Weird page numbers, too big.’ ‘Come on! They’re brilliant!’
And then the third member of the panel, who had started off not being sure what to think, was suddenly persuaded: this book too belonged in the year’s Best Dutch Book Designs.