Although Neat Rodanant’s graphic design work has spanned a number of mediums, she keeps finding herself coming back to books. A way to play with type and image in 3D form, the designer’s work on her BFA in Graphic Design and Sculpture at Rhode Island School of Design has consisted of a number of these experiments in publishing. What pulls her to play with paper so much is the “tangible and sequential” nature of a book as a physical object we move through. “I love designing the rhythm of type and images across the pages,” she shares.
Each publication in the creative’s portfolio has presented different design challenges, with formats, layouts and aesthetics all steered in the direction of their individual subject matter. In her publication Gum Girl, the designer wanted to evoke specific sensory experiences through the editorial design, playing on ideas surrounding girlhood and the grotesque. While the book provided a vessel for quotes from famous feminist literature and films that dive deeper into womanhood, it was designed to be garishly pink and satirical — “something you want to touch, but also something that disgusts you,” the designer says. Similarly, in her film-to-book translation of Psycho, Neat wanted her typography to scream with the film’s most nail-biting scenes unfolding quickly through a number of image-centred pages. Her publication on the late-El Lissitzky was something she printed entirely on acetate and tracing paper, laying out the artist’s typographic theories like architectural plants to demonstrate some of his constructivist ideas.
Artists and designers that have long held a deep focus on the materiality of the book such as Irma Boom and Ben Denzer are a big source of inspiration for Neat’s practice, encouraging an attention to the shape of a publication that’s full of care but also of joy and humour. Film is also continuously a subject that the designer brings into print: “I love psychological thrillers, sci-fi and surrealist films.” She adds, “I’ve always admired Yorgos Lanthimos and Vasilis Marmatakis’ partnership. Their work sparks your curiosity — the more you spend time with it, the more you find little details and layers hidden within. I hope to design like that. Something that strikes you at first, and stays in your memory.”