A Brief History of Civilisation

Sasha Gusov — Book
A Brief History of Civilisation, book design, front cover, typography
book design, interior
book design, interior
A Brief History of Civilisation, book design, interior spread, photography
book design, interior, photography page
A Brief History of Civilisation, book design, interior spread, typography
A Brief History of Civilisation, book design, interior spread, typography
book design, interior, detail quote
book design, interior, detail quote
book design, interior spread, typography title
type design, interior page, book
A Brief History of Civilisation, book design, interior spread, photography
A Brief History of Civilisation, book design, interior spread, photography
book design, interior spread, typography title
book design, interior spread, typography title
A Brief History of Civilisation, book design, interior spread, photography
A Brief History of Civilisation, book design, interior spread, photography
A Brief History of Civilisation, book design, interior spread, photography
A Brief History of Civilisation, book design, interior spread, photography
A Brief History of Civilisation, book design, interior spread, photography
book design, interior page, photography detail

A Brief History of Civilisation

A Brief History of Civilisation

Book

Bringing together Sacha Gusov’s photographs and Yevgeny Vodolazkin’s texts, “A Brief History of Civilisation” is a witty tale of human nature. In this hybrid between an artist’s book and a classic photo book, Gusov’s often humorous black-and-white images depict ordinary people and everyday scenes, while Vodolazkin’s playful and clever captions connect the series by making a consistent story from individual illustrations.

Researching references from the soviet avant-garde, whose ideal vision of art for the masses aligned with Gusov’s photos of everyday characters, we borrowed the visual language of 1920s publications and developed our own contemporary reinterpretation. After spotting a characterful typeface online, we identified its author, the Russian female designer Julia Plotnikova, and collaborated with her to develop unique glyphs. We were also inspired by the simplicity of classic photo books of heavyweights such as Walker Evans, Ed Ruscha, Johan van der Keuken and Man Ray to create a strong sense of story through the image pacing and layout, which brings observation rather than judgement. The humorous touch of the publication carries on to the back cover, which bears a fictitious, oversized price tag — 3 roubles, in a nod to the price of books in Soviet times.

Publisher: Paulsen
Editor: Amanda Renshaw

2022