HarperCollins Publishers Award for Best Cover 2026
Finalist
Designer: Aaron Beehre
Title: Whenua
Publisher: Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū
Format: 260 x 220 mm, 392pp, hard case with printable cloth debossed on front and spine. Two marker ribbons in harakeke and muka colour tones. Printed on 200gsm matt art paper
Typography: Three main typefaces used from Klim type foundry.
Manuka and Manuka Condensed (principal heading typeface) set in a range of sizes from 165pt for the chapter pages through to 37pt for essay headings. Newzald set at 12pt on 16pt leading for essay copy and National set at 14pt on 18pt leading for other commissioned texts.
Publisher’s Brief
“Design and produce a major publication to accompany a large-scale exhibition titled ‘He Kapuka Oneone—A Handful of Soil’.
The design needs to accommodate a variety of text formats, including essays, interviews and short texts, and must suit historical, modern and contemporary artworks. It should feel serious and lush, and allow the reader to dip in and out of the book rather than reading from start to finish.”
