24 page, soft cover poetry book. Made for the editorial design class in November 2013, Gdansk Fine Arts Academy, Poland.

Poland's Nobel Prize-winning poet Wisława Szymborska had written fewer than 350 poems in her life and this book includes 29 of them in English. 

These 29 poems are able to capture a ‘voice’ even in their translation. It is obvious that Szymborska’s voice is straightforward, simple and honest. Amazement seems to be the key to Szymborska’s poetry, and this might be coming from a very detailed way of observation things as if she had seen and considering the objects for the first time. This is best summarized in her own words:
“[…] in the language of poetry, where every word is weighed, nothing is usual or normal.”

Szymborska’s poems are opposite of being surrounded by the silence, they are more like dialogues; colorful, warm conversations with a friend or stories told orally. Her poems are not abstract intellectual speculations, they are intermingled with daily objects like rocks, clouds, cows, tenderness, cups or jokes.

The design of the book tries to reflect the ‘voice’ of Szymborska, the illustrations mix the high with the low, using abstract shapes with the images of simple and ordinary objects. 

The design draws its inspiration from the geometry of everyday objects, decorative details and pastel/feminine colors. Szymborska’s poetry book design is be straightforward, simple, warm and honest like her ‘voice’ of her poetry.