María Eugenia Alonso is 18 years old when she loses her father and must leave Europe to return to her native Venezuela. The impact of exchanging a culturally vibrant 1920s Paris for the monotonous and conservative Caracas inspires her to record her impressions in a diary and in letters. This is the starting point of Ifigênia, the diary of a young woman who wrote out of boredom, by Venezuelan author Teresa de la Parra (1889–1936).

The use of the P22 Bifur typography, a digital interpretation of A. M. Cassandre’s Bifur (1928), directly alludes to the time and setting in which the novel was written. The fragmented letters on the dust jacket and cover act as a graphic metaphor for the main character’s deconstruction.

The folded dust jacket was conceived as wrapping paper or a postal envelope, evoking the idea of a diary kept safely–something to be closed and kept secret. To reinforce this symbolic protective function, it features a metal eyelet. The colors were inspired by the palette of Brazilian graphic artist J. Carlos, a key figure of national Art Deco.

Photos: Nino Andrés