Awards Book Archive

1984
  • Shortlisted

Designed by
W.H. Chong
Category
Best Designed Literary Fiction Book
Year
2017
Publisher
Text Publishing

About the Designer

W. H. Chong is the long-time design director at Text Publishing and designed their logo. In 2013 Chong was inducted into the Australian Book Design Hall of Fame. He is a founding member of ABDA, serving as Secretary from 2014 to 2016. He has written and spoken about book design, and blogged on art and culture for Crikey and Daily Review. He is also an exhibiting artist.  …

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Design Rationale

BRIEF: Reissue of one of the most famous of 20th century novels as a contemporary classic. DESIGN: George Orwell’s 1984 is so well known, and so often reissued and redesigned, that it needed defamiliarisation. The cover metaphor is of the year as clock numerals, close to striking an unexpected 13 o’clock (the official clock does just this in the first few pages). The back cover uses the famous slogans instead of a blurb. The interior design features part-titles which get darker as the book progresses, with the lethal rat on Part III.

Details
Dimensions
128 x 198 mm
No. pages
324
Special finishes
Matt lamination with spot uv over clock and back black panel (excluding circle with rat)
Credits
Internal Design
Text Publishing
Typesetting
Midland Typesetters
Printing
Griffin Press
Author
George Orwell