bruce mau's life style

More manifesto than monograph, Life Style is the first book to document Bruce Mau's creative and studio processes. The $69 collection of Mau's essays, observations, anecdotes and project documentation embodies his unique world view and his belief that form and content are inseparable. Noting the book's fabric cover, Sikora credited Life Style with a "certain simplicity and flow."

Giasullo said she would relish reading the 623-page tome, which is about the best compliment a book can receive from a designer.

client/company Bruce Mau Design, Toronto
in-house design Bruce Mau Design, Toronto

yahoo! annual report

The design solution of a tear-out postcard book helps define Yahoo! as a "place" for visitors. The jurors liked that the report was reusable-especially from an ecological perspective-but Giasullo said that the images chosen for the cards are "a little bit all over the place." Although the report is missing financial information, its design thumbs its nose at the old economy and reinforces the Yahoo! brand.

client/company Yahoo! Inc., Santa Clara, Calif.
consultant design Turner & Associates, San Francisco: Steve Turner, creative director; Phil Hamlett, communications director; Laurie Carrigan, designer

soho poster series

The jurors liked the "something from nothing" aspect of this five-poster series promoting the SoHo Repertory Theatre, an experimental black-box theatre that operates on a very low budget. The series consisted of two elements: black-and-white posters and 1,000-2,000 promotional stickers for each production. The stickers, which were adhered to business cards and stationery, help form the theatre's singular visual identity. The jurors considered them to be an appropriately invasive element, each time altering the emphasis of the graphic they cover. On the posters, silkscreened versions of the "stickers" censor (Alice's Evidence); define (The Escapist); and emphasize emptiness (Cowboys & Indians)

client/company SoHo Repertory Theatre, New York
consultant design Office of Paul Sahre, Brooklyn, N.Y.: Paul Sahre, designer
materials/fabrication process: silkscreen

delta asset management connections brochure

The jurors "oohed" and "ahhed" over this brochure for its elegant but not over-the-top aesthetic and its ability to use a little to express a lot. "It's very restrained and refined-a minimalist and traditionalist's dream," Giasullo said. Delta manages assets for individuals with high net worth through several limited partnerships and managed accounts. Interspersed with vellum and letterpress printing, "Connections" conveys the company's unique approach to investing, stressing the effect each investor has on the growth of the fund.

client/company Delta Asset Management, New York
consultant design And Partners, New York: David Schimmel, principal; Vincent Ricardell, photographer
materials/fabrication offset lithography, letterpress, embossing; paper: Mohawk Superfine, Canson Satin; typography: Akzidenz Grotesk
hardware/software QuarkXPress, Adobe Photoshop

inside outside

This beautiful publication examines the work of Krijn De Koning from 1993 to present. The horizontal grid of the book, which separates essays set in two languages, is looped like an ongoing video still that shifts slowly to the right, page after page. A vertical grid is used for sketches, interviews and background information. Giasullo said the soothing, inviting book "makes you feel like you're in for a design treat" but noted that the type is sometimes heavy-handed.

client/company NAI Publishers, Rotterdam, the Netherlands
consultant design COMA Amsterdam /New York, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Brooklyn, N.Y.: Cornelia Blatter, Marcel Hermans, principals; Barbera van Kooij/ NAI, editor
materials/ fabrication paper: libra mat 135 grade; font: Scala Sans
hardware/software Apple Power Mac G4; QuarkXPress, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Acrobat

a view from the bridge

This poster for the world premier of A View From the Bridge, an opera based on the Arthur Miller play, portrays the lead tenor in costume and produces the perfect visual context for the narrative. Sikora said the beautiful color and expression translate to a very emotional advertisement for the production. "It's nice to see the human figure in posters again," Giasullo said, although she didn't think the piece was particularly stunning. She did, however, like the directional graphics and admired the designer's restraint.

client/company Lyric Opera of Chicago
consultant design design Thirst Inc., Barrington, Ill.: Rick Valicenti, Chester, designers; William Valicenti, photographer
hardware/software Adobe Photoshop, Macromedia Freehand

leatherman catalog

This piece fuses together the abstraction of the Leatherman tools' technical attributes with the natural conditions in which they're used. The handsome cover, along with an unusual saddle-stitch binding, makes for a nice package for this catalog. Giasullo said it's amazing to see "how sexy the tools can be." Sikora found that the catalog's every design element has a purpose and that the overall aesthetic "feels fresh and light."

client/company company Leatherman Tool Group Inc., Portland, Ore.
consultant design Hornall Anderson Design Works, Seattle: Jack Anderson, John Hornall, Lisa Cerveny, Andrew Smith, Andrew Wicklund, Don Stayner, designers
hardware/software Macromedia Freehand, QuarkXPress, Adobe Photoshop

iit poster series

"These are posters I would hang up in my studio," Giasullo said. Isn't that every poster designer's dream? The four lecture posters (for the College of Architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago) work together as a visually coherent seasonal series, each featuring an image from one of the program speakers. Sikora called them "structurally compelling" with "really intriguing palettes." Giasullo said the posters are "stunning," "handsome" and "evocative." And clever techniques like embedding and highlighting the school's initials in the word architecture assure the viewer that no detail has been overlooked in this production.

client/company College of Architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago
consultant design Thirst Inc., Barrington, Ill.: Rick Valicenti, Chester, designers
materials/ fabrication process: four-color
hardware/software QuarkXPress