Aukso žuvys. Book design

This book introduces the reader to intelligence as a phenomenon and explores its development and evolution from the 19th century to the present day. The texts highlight the differences between Eastern and Western intelligence institutions, both ideologically and in terms of operational principles and objectives. The book focuses primarily on the intelligence services of the democratic world and their significance, examining the quest for a Western intelligence identity, its goals, and its culture.

Essentially, this book discusses ideas, so we aimed to create a rather conceptual design solution that complements but does not overshadow the content. The book introduces the world of intelligence, in a way bringing it into the light. Its presence in the so-called gray zone dictated the color scheme of the book cover. The cover itself imparts a general sense of secrecy to the entire design concept. The title of the book and the author’s name are presented as if declassified, revealed as the only visible texts, with blocks surrounding them, concealing the rest of the hypothetical text. In this way, the reader is invited to explore a previously secret world, promising to uncover more lines as they go.

In creating the book design, we sought to incorporate details that evoke the aesthetics of documents and files. The fonts chosen for the book are reminiscent of both typewritten text and the digital world’s aesthetics, thus bridging the past and the present. The motifs of files can also be seen in the presentation of photographs, where names are arranged on special cards. The overall aesthetic of the book’s design ties in with the idea of documentation, investigation, information gathering, and the enormous analytical work that constitutes the bulk of the iceberg. It is like a case about cases.