Vintage publishes entire book On Tyranny as a series of posters, designed with Kingston students

Vintage publishers, part of Penguin Random House, will publish the entire text of a new book by Timothy Snyder called On Tyranny as posters, to be exhibited on an east London street. Designed by Suzanne Dean, creative director at Vintage, and her team in collaboration with graphic design students at Kingston University, the posters depict 20 “lessons from the 20th Century” such as “Believe in Truth”.

The type-led, highly graphical designs follow a strictly black, white and red colour scheme, using a variety of fonts and layouts to convey their bold messages. These are drawn directly from the book, which “offers a chilling comparison of present-day personality politics with the regimes of Hitler and Stalin”. Each chapter has been interpreted by a different designer, which Suzanne says gives each its own “visual character”, and was designed in just a few days.

Publishing the entire book on posters, a campaign which the publishers believe to be an industry first, is intended as a “provocation and a rallying call”.

The author says: “I feel that the artists have joined me in understanding the urgency of the project…The world is turning and we need to find our footing lest we be thrown; the history that can give us leverage is visual as well as textual, and in that sense as in others the posters are the book.”

The posters will be installed on 27 March on Leonard Street, London, EC2A.

The designers from Kingston university include: Abegayle Elmes, Aimee Bish, Amelia Nunes-Carvalho, Anna Bargery, Aoife O’Doherty, Bryony Shepherd, Charlie Jeffries, Charlie Phipps, Charlotte Allen, Daisy Symes, Ella Anthony, Ella Hilton, Ellen Pizzey, Ellie Littlemore, Emily George, Emma Clarke, Emma Teasdale, Evie Godwin, Fernando Lobina, Fran Williams, Grace Lister, Hannah Brady, Hannah Marine, Harrison Tiller, Harry Archer, Harry Hobbs, Ieuan Lewis, Jamie Webb, Jemma Warrington, Joe Moreno, Lauren Denney, Leah Fredrickson, Lydia Barba, Matthew Tomlinson, Megan O’Donnell, Millie Tyler, Ollie Servini, Rosie Ackroyd, Sarah Houghton, Scarlett Chetwin, Scott Coleman, Seb Price, Shoena Turnbull, Sophie Liverman, Sophie Punchard, Stephen Pelling and Tess Edwards.