André Jolles, Simple Forms. Designed by Practise.
Simple Forms is nearly a century old, but this is its first English translation. Jolles identified nine “simple forms” as the building blocks of narrative structure: legend, saga, myth, riddle, saying, case, memorabile (anecdote), fairy tale, and joke.
I thought the cover would best make use of an elemental, even formal approach that didn’t get bogged down in rules, and James Goggin (dba Practise) was the first name I thought of.
One of the real thrills that comes with the art direction territory is commissioning covers from designers whose work I’ve respected for years. When Verso originally asked me on board as their first art director, I made a short list of designers that I thought would be ideal fits. Some were peers, like Everything Studio or Neil Donnelly, but others were designers whose practice I’d admired, or even emulated, since school.
Not sure when I first saw James’s work — probably when he was art directing The Wire, in the liberatingly restrained post-Non-Format days? I’ve followed along eagerly since. He’s got a knack for informally formal work (or maybe better to say, formally informal?). Under his care, designs that would otherwise click into place with a fussy precision or a bureaucratic correctness stay alive and approachable.
