Sophy Holland Super Humans

Book Design

Image shows a black and red book with gold text reading SUPER HUMANS on it.
Challenge

Sophy Holland, a NYC-based, British photographer, wanted to collect and celebrate a retrospective of her work in a new monograph, entitled Super Humans. The book's title and concept of Super Humans was inspired by the dynamic and powerful nature of Holland's photography, as well as her practice of shooting all of her subjects in a heroic and aspirational light. The title also shares initials with and visually mimics “Sophy Holland.” The repeated SH allows for the front cover reveal and is used as a motif throughout the book.

Solution

Adhering to the theme of the valiant, YummyColours curated Holland's vast photography archive, selecting images that best exemplify her ability to capture her subjects’ confidence. To highlight Holland's signature palette, the images were then further divided into sections defined by color, consisting of complex blacks, deep blues, and striking red accents. Reflections and texture—commonly featured in Holland’s photography—punctuates the book, on the covers and throughout the pages. In addition to the content, the design of the book adheres to the theme, making use of unorthodox printing techniques—disappearing elements through the use of an acrylic sheet, reveals via gatefolds and cut-outs, and spot UV gloss to create a 3D feel. The 146-page, limited-run book was designed in NYC by YummyColours and printed in Verona, Italy by Opero.

Image shows a grid of red books with the letters SO HO on it, with an eye peeking through the first O.
Image shows a black stack of books with gold text on the spine reading SOPHY HOLLAND SUPER HUMANS.
Image shows a book open to a black and white photograph of a person bending over backward to grab their ankle.
Animation shows a book's pages opening to reveal photographs of people dancing on a black background.
Image shows a book open to two blue pages on a blue background with the words SOPHY HOLLAND and BLUE on it.
An animation shows a page turning from a book turning a blue frame into the rest of an image.
Image shows a book open to black pages with gold text reading SUPER HUMANS on it, with the U spanning both words. The book sits on a leathery black background.
Image shows a spread that collages images of people on a beach with a person wearing a headpiece made of red flowers.
Image shows multiple books open to a spread that is a close-up of a face with sleek dark hair covering the model's eyes, and the model has black lips.
Animation shows flipping through pages of the book in a section dominated by the color red on a red background.
Image shows a close-up of a spread of black-and-white images with a small all-red booklet within that spread.
Animation shows a spread with spot gloss glistening in a moving light.
Image shows a stack of red and black books hovering, not touching one another, on a red background.
Image shows the book with the red cover and the gold letters SOHO and with an eye peeking through the first O standing on a black background, casting a gold reflection on the ground.
Credits
Client:

Sophy Holland ↗

Creative Direction:

Diego Marini

Design:

Katie Osborne

PM:

Krystal Greven

Printing:

Opero Italia

Book Photography:

Aaron Bernstein ↗

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