Córdova Canillas seek inspiration between nostalgia and obsolescence for Spanish Advertising Annual

Each year the C de C (Creatives’ Club) selects a Spanish studio to design its advertising annual. This year Córdova Canillas has been appointed to create the 17th edition. The studio developed the concept ‘between nostalgia and obsolescence’ and took inspiration from the encyclopaedia for two reasons: “Firstly, as an unifier of content by nature, and secondly, because of its symbolic value as an object,” the studio explains. “Since C de C commissioned us the annual as a reference book, its design should facilitate the task of finding things. The design of this annual will last over time, its conception levitates between modern, for its details, and conservative, for its structure. Its design is part of a tradition and as an object it forms part of our memory.”

The studio looked to fuse traditional design and book binding styles and techniques with modern details. For example the cover has black over black stamping, whereas the edges of the pages have holographic foils. Alongside this the studio commissioned over 20 individual portraits of the jury members who presented the awards by photographer Teddy Iborra.

This clash of the historical and contemporary is also explored in the typefaces used throughout. “As the main typeface we have chosen Century Schoolbook, a transitional serif drawn a hundred years ago for Century Magazine with the purpose of replacing the movable type,” say the designers. “As a secondary typeface we have used Prestige elite standard, a monospaced font drawn for IBM in 1953 as a replacement for Courier, the typeface for use in the brand new electric typewriters. Both fonts are an innovation for their times, we are creating a new discourse by interpreting their tradition.”

The studio turned to illustrator Marc O’Callaghan to create imagery for the publication, asking the artist to make new works that depict creation as a concept. “With clear references to medieval symbolism and classical art, Marc has skillfully synthesized each of the sections by creating symbolic landscapes full of hidden meanings,” says the studio. “You can find the full explanation behind them on the last pages of the book.”