Award for Best Non-Illustrated Book 2026
Finalist
Designer: Arch and Jane MacDonnell (Inhouse)
Title: Tony Fomison: Life of the Artist
Publisher: Auckland University Press
Format: 240 x 170 mm, 472pp, section sewn, cased in on 3c printed Fine Linen, jacket printed 3c on creamy woodfree, laminated on the reverse, text on creamy woodfree throughout.
Typography: Display: Pitch Sans, a love letter to the typewriter. A typewriter has a singular purpose: putting letters onto a page. Put the paper in, stab away at the keys and letters instantly appear. It’s tactile, analogue, immediate.
Body text: Martina Plantijn.
The title typography adopts a measured rhythm, quietly echoing the generous spacing and cadence of Fomison’s handwritten title lettering from an early exhibition catalogue, creating a subtle dialogue between the artist’s hand and the author’s voice.
Publisher’s Brief
“To produce an artist biography with photographs of the artist’s life running through the text but no images of the work itself. Like the artist who didn’t put on airs, it needed to feel strong, clear and workaday, not highbrow or stuffy.”
