me studio

my (signed) copy of the recently published ‘body type’ book of the seminal ‘human alphabet’ project by anton beeke arrived last week, the book has been lavishly designed by ‘rené knip’ and produced by ‘spinhex & industrie’ counting 120 pages in a box set divided into three volumes and separate tear sheets for creating your own messages using the alphabet…

the original images (originally published in black & white) have now been reproduced in colour and the numerals (not first included) have now been added, using naked black men in contrast to the naked white girls used for the original set from 1969; the book is a passing tribute to the project and beautifully made… the dutch are rightly proud of their (graphic) design heritage, however the whole package felt somehow perhaps a bit ‘over the top’ to me, too expensive and too pompous… beeke is rightly admired by many designers including myself but i can’t help feeling that the book would have had a more honest, maybe more ‘raw’ finish if beeke had made it himself…

for the dutch readers here is also a link to the article from the volkskrant newspaper