Threads Through Time (In 03 Acts)

Susana Xavier Desislava Danova

A book about the ephemerality of a moment, the memories within, and the physical manifestation of the past in the form of objects. Threads Through Time traverses the background of the World Wars and the challenges they presented, yet always showcasing and highlighting the human-centered side of history.

NEXT UP

Graphic Elisava 2020

Lots of things tend to happen during a graphic.elisava master’s program. Mountains of research. Maybe one or two existential crises. Designing so much that you have nightmares about mismatched hex codes.

In some weird twist of fate, this year’s biggest ‘thing’ ended up being a global pandemic. We were forced to embrace digitalism over presentialism, do more with less, and channel disillusionment into positivity. In school, the lesson comes before the test, but life often takes the opposite approach. We think we’re better for it.

PLATFORM AND IDENTITY

For this year’s degree show we decided to continue the digitalist lifestyle that we’ve come to know. Pills replace name tags, thumbnails replace handshakes, and ingenuity replaces normality in order to illustrate how we view topics like “design ethics”, “comfort”, “manifestos”, and “freedom”.

About

This is graphic.elisava’s digital Degree Show. Find out more about the program at graphic.elisava.net

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to this year’s students in the Graphic Design and the Editorial Design master’s degrees. The 2020 graphic.elisava Degree Show – both the platform and the campaign that precedes it – wouldn’t have been possible without the indefatigable work of a group of design students making time for it in the middle of their end-of-year presentations.

On the typeface

Thanks to Non Foundry for letting us use their Non®Natural Grotesk throughout the website and campaign of this digital Degree Show.

Visit nonfoundry.com to find out more about their work.

Project Information

A book about the ephemerality of a moment, the memories within, and the physical manifestation of the past in the form of objects.

Threads Through Time traverses the background of the World Wars and the challenges they presented, yet always showcasing and highlighting the human-centered side of history, the strictly emotional and delicate aspect of love, passion, naivety, and belonging. A book that takes its reader on a journey to the past, anchored to the present with a humble object passed through the generations. An object that carries in itself the essence of one’s heritage.

The book follows the storyline of Sophie & The Ration Book as the anchor point that allows for further exploration of the topic. At every pivotal change of the narrative Threads Through Time switches to a new Act, an approach deeply inspired by theater plays. The content passes through the topics of love, separation, anxiety, and ultimately it reaches the present time and the ancestors of the original character. Each section of the book is supported by archival documentation of stories, objects, and places, building a dimension of sincerity and complexity, shaping the meeting point between memory and physicality.

Threads Through Time acts as an archive of memories exposed through personal objects from wartime by exploring them from an emotional perspective.

The book examines the topic of war, emotions, and memories in a respectful, honest, and delicate manner. The use of photography, typography, and design elements echos an archival look, allowing the reader to get deeply connected with the content. The classic and subdued layouts are juxtaposed with the modern feel of a narrow, hardcover book with a subtle deboss on the front cover.