2025, book design, print, writing

Portraits of deception: publication

Ethics of Election/Political Campaigns and Coping With Them (main booklet) and Contextualizing Romanian (Presidential) Election Campaigns (complementary booklet) make up the written part of Portraits of Deception. The publication contains 2 booklets that contrast and complete each other.

The book design is simple, but effective, built around showing a strong contrast between sections. Printed on crisp white paper, the typographic system is designed to make textual categories like quotes, body text and highlights immediately recognisible and distinct. The writing is enhanced by a large collection of visual references, graphic interpretations and a vibrant colour palette that separates each subject into unique and personalized chapters.

The colour blue is a common sight in Romanian election designs, from the ink used when stamping the ballot to the privacy curtains in the voting booth. It can even be seen on some electoral boards used to present the candidates during the election campaigns. The books’ vibrant blue dust jacket (printed on the risograph) is a nod to this. Underneath, a bright red and soft peach cover makes the book immediately stand out when revealed.

Excerpt from the introduction to Ethics of Election/Political Campaigns and Coping With Them:

“What started out as a general curiosity about how impactful the poster can be in influencing the results of an election ended up a thorough examination of ethics, consumerism, the prospects of being a graphic designer in Romania, the importance of graffiti and memes in political discourse and the history of electoral designs following the fall of communism in my home country. With this paper, I aim to identify where I stand as a designer when it comes to morally questionable subjects and whether ‘good’ designs enable harmful messages to be spread.”

Excerpt from Contextualizing Romanian (Presidential) Election Campaigns (2.1 The ‘Golden’ era of Romanian election campaigns):

“Official election campaign posters today have to follow strict rules about how, when and where they can be displayed. But that was not always the case. During the 2009 presidential election campaign, for example, the entire city of Bucharest was covered in the faces of the candidates, from bus shelters and building walls to public transport vehicles and shopping mall LED screens. Even public waste bins could not escape being subjected to the aggressive campaign strategies. I think of this (~2004-2014) as the ‘golden’ era of Romanian election campaigns for the variety, boldness and sheer amount of materials it has resulted in.”

Colophon:

Writing & Design: Eveline Prunache

Promotors: Michiel Teeuw, Michiel Uilen

Printing: PeterPrint (inside pages), Academie Minerva Letterpress and Bookbinding Workshop (cover & dust jacket)

Binding: Academie Minerva Letterpress and Bookbinding Workshop

Typefaces: DM Sans (Colophon Foundry/Google Fonts), StixGeneral (STIX Project)

Paper: HVO Offset 120 grams (inside), Biotop 300 grams (cover), Biotop 200 grams (dust jacket)