Almanak ng Isang Aktibista
Cover design for a book of essays on activist life
An Activist's Almanac
Publisher: University of the Philippines Press
Author: Rolando B. Tolentino
Book dimensions: 6 × 9 in
Year: 2011
Author: Rolando B. Tolentino
Book dimensions: 6 × 9 in
Year: 2011
Finalist, Best Design, Philippine National Book Awards 2012
About the book
The book contains daily musings in the life of an activist, threshing out the exigencies of political struggle in everyday life and culture.
Design notes
The cover is all about cycles and progression. The consistency of circular forms (the eye, the phases of night and day, the type treatment) and the color red give unity to the images. The rhythm of the repeating circles connotes cyclic motion and the passage of time, while the evolving forms and the increasing size of the circles speak of change and evolution, of circles and horizons literally expanding, a reference to the remolding and raising of consciousness integral to the daily life of an activist.
I think it’s a very clever piece of design work. He used the phases of the moon, but the phases are not white, they’re red. So he can actually convey underlying tones of the author. In fact, it’s very clever that some people may get it, but some people may not get it. But I think for people who read, they would get the design, you know, the thing that he wants to show. He’s actually giving a voice to the text.
—Ige Ramos, book designer
Related links
Buy via the University of the Philippines Press
