MARGARET ATWOOD

To engage in Margaret Atwood’s body of work is to undertake the challenge of looking over an array of material that spans a 38 year old career. It holds a lot of books, a lot of covers and a lot of mediocre photos of the author. While there is a push towards trying to capture a general sense of sophistication in the designs associated with her, most fall flat and very safe.

These conservative tendencies end up lacking a certain gusto and daring that, to me, is such a critical part of her work. The accumulative visual results of these decisions seem unfair when considering the freshness of her offerings. But at the same time, one can’t just scream out Atwood too loudly, as she demands a smart, confident and subtle treatment. A balance is needed.

Exploring the ideas of tradition within a bold softness that accompanies Atwood was the aim of this project. Mixing fresh ideas that comment, compliment and act as counterpoint to her work. Everything from the decision of using Heletica Neue combined with the refined and delicate Didot has been used with the idea of tension, balance and dualities in mind.

Visual rhythms that suggest the anxiety of the stereotypical imposed character traits of women (delicate, fragile) vs. men (strong, bold) or the Individual (small, inconsequential) vs. Society (massive, overwhelming) etc. Hopefully the eclectic nature of her work is properly visualized here by approaching each section with a different flavor. A showcase of independent focus that stays true to the whole of the intent.

Cover (top page)

The flipped Victorian woman was used to showcase a refined sense of dignity, coupled with Atwood’s fascination in examining, dissecting and exposing the myths behind the idea of tradition and its imposed structures (challenging them, and in this case literally turning them upside down).

Inside Cover (above left)

The same Victorian woman is reversed and the die cut idea is used in conjunction with an Atwood Poem: I take this picture of myself and with my sewing scissors cut out the face. Now it is more accurate: where my eyes were everything appears.

Along with the image, the type is also reversed. Encouraging the reader with the old idea of having to go in front of a mirror to “decode” it … the suggestion of someone reading this passage and being faced with themselves in the mirror afterwards was an interesting way to make the reader engage and participate in the work.

Editor’s Content Page (above right)

The heading “Surviving Atwood” is a small in-joke about how I had to “survive” this project, and Atwood in general (as I wasn’t a fan of her work, which made it very frustrating at times).

The above mentioned heading and survival icon kit tools where also a reference to her famous 1972 book called Survival: A Thematic Guide to Canadian Literature. The small number of pages in the project offered the opportunity to use the cryptic tools as visual links to each sections replacing the page numbers as the source of guidance.

Everything from the decision of using Helvetica Neue combined with the refined and delicate Didot was used with the idea of tension and dualities in mind. Whether it’s the stereotypically imposed character traits of women (delicate, fragile) vs. men (strong, bold) or the individual (small, inconsequential) vs. Soceity (massive, overwhelming) etc.

Bio (above)

Each section needed to have its own function, and the interest was to figure out exactly what a “bio” spread should look like and why. The trick was to look at each section and figure how they should be different all the while keeping a certain unity in the whole.

This was the ONLY photo of Atwood that I liked. I bought the book, scanned the cover and returned it. There is a strong confidence and calm in the picture that acts as a counterpoint to the tension formed by the horizontal and vertical elements in the layout.

The heading “Playing at Tension” toys with her infamous rough character when dealing with journalists and critics. The double meaning of “Paying attention” also reflects her quick rise to popularity as a (female, Canadian) writer to note and pay close attention to.

Works Explored (above x 2)

The challenge was to visually interpret the ideas contained within the theme of the text: female protagonists as victims (as explored in two of her novels). In these stories, the closed-in characters act as warning signs to the reader, under covering truths in hopes of possibly shocking the reader into waking up from their slumber.

The puzzle-like connections of the heading (Disclosing Fallacies) parallels the pattern mentioned above. It in lives a play on words that proposes an “OPENing up of truth” while also implying the idea to disCLOSE … in other words, to open by closing, exactly like Atwood’s dormant characters.

Scratchy drawers seemed appropriate with the ideas of opening and closing … sections and compartments become little secret places and interlocking rhythms. The cute, “Marry Poppins” drawing is used as a counterpoint to the horrific excerpt used: The woman they did not kill. Instead they sewed her face shut, closed her mouth to a hole the size of a straw, and put her back on the streets, a mute symbol. The aspect of the victim and self victimization doesn’t escape Atwoods scope, sometimes these female victims are self created.

List of Works (above)

The image of the Bull brings up many different types of imagery and meaning all the while staying mysterious and odd. The Bulls Eye of her many awards (including the Governor General) her infamous aggressive nature in interviews (grabbing the bulls by the horns) cattle branding (stamping numbers and taking away the individual’s character) and finally the notion that she’s been threatening in print with her tales of caution.

Having the usual threatening bull in such an odd space (ornamented room)takes away his ferocious character and offers a slightly ambiguous puzzle.

Back Cover (below)

The back cover ends with the Marry Poppins doodle, where the rhythm of the thing invites the idea of closure as the woman has jumped and landed safely (but now has a broken umbrella to carry around for a while).

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