Goethe-Album

For the Typographie und Grafik course we worked in alliance with the Teßmann Library to redesign a selection of books from their archives.

The book I was in charge of redesigning was “Goethe-Album by Ludwig Richter” this book was originally published in 1857, it is a collection of poems from the famous german poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

The intention was to take the original design which had classic ink illustrations and used gothic typefaces, and transition it into a modern sort of abstract representation of itself. That is the reason why the style of the new illustrations and choice of typefaces (clean lines and easy to read) followed a more modern, simple take on the trends of the last years and also why it was decided to use two complimentary colors to be the main color palette in order to create a clear contrast in the overall design, which made the final outcome seem like it flows smoothly from start to finish.

In addition the creation of a portable book case/writing kit, was inspired by the main plot of the book in itself: great poems from a good writer. The bag has an inside pocket for carrying around writing tools and a pocket for storing your favorite poem book or notepad nonetheless, always maintaining its size easy to carry besides using the same typefaces and color palette on its design so to match the book perfectly.