l Cavaliere Inesistente
Concept and editorial design
Context
Il cavaliere inesistente is a personal project created as a conceptual editorial exercise. I wanted to design conceptual covers and the text within to dabble with the main concept.
Il cavaliere inesistente is a personal project created as a conceptual editorial exercise. I wanted to design conceptual covers and the text within to dabble with the main concept.
Project
I designed an special edition of this wonderful novel by Italo Calvino published in 1959. I designed the book from the idea that the protagonist is a knight inside in a white and blue empty frame from the army of Charlemagne.
I designed an special edition of this wonderful novel by Italo Calvino published in 1959. I designed the book from the idea that the protagonist is a knight inside in a white and blue empty frame from the army of Charlemagne.
My Role: Concept design, art direction, design and layout.
When I finished reading "Il cavaliere inesistente", I felt, as I had felt when I read Hamlet, that I had not managed to delve as deep in the dialogues as possible, so I set about playing with the double meanings and decided to accentuate the protagonist, a non-existent knight, going so far as to name the book after this character.
Covers
I designed the covers paying special attention to the idea that there is no person inside the frame. The idea was to create the silhouette of the knight using a die cutter, thereby allowing the reader see the dark colour printed on a flyleaf. The reader would realise, upon opening the cover, that the knight is in fact transparent, and see the title of the novel on the flyleaf, revealing the wordplay behind the title and the use of the die cutter.
Details
I paid a lot attention to the format, margins and the typographic style and added some ornamental details. In the header, the title of the work disappears little by little as the page is turned, continuing the wordplay of the non-existent knight.
