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The History of Art Nouveau Publication
Art History Publication Design
This publication traces the history of the Art Nouveau movement. I've loved Art Nouveau since my graphic design history classes, and this was a chance to work deeply with a movement I'd always admired.
The challenge was honoring Art Nouveau's visual principles without the design getting consumed by the style. I knew from the start I wanted minimal layouts so the artwork spreads could stand out and feel balanced against the typography. I also wrote a 12-page research paper that served as the body text, which meant I could shape the content and design together from the beginning.
The artist name treatments (Chéret, Mucha, Toulouse-Lautrec) were hand-lettered, then scanned into Illustrator, to represent the quality of craft found in the artists' work — adding charm and character, making the stories feel current, approachable, and relatable. The large calligraphic script paired with clean sans-serif body text creates contrast between ornamental and modern. The poster imagery gets generous space, often full-bleed or across the gutter, with wide margins that keep the historical content from feeling claustrophobic.
