Project / Ramli!–The Heart of Sutra
Task / Book Design
Client / Sutra Foundation
Publisher / Silverfishbooks
Year / 2004
Details / 11" x11.5", 160 pages
Foreword by James Murdoch

A pictorial biography that chronicles the milestones and achievements of Ramli Ibrahim, a Malaysian dance icon, from his early years up to present times. 

It includes a foreword by the late James Murdoch, a distinguished Australian art and music writer, which provides insight to Ramli’s contribution to the performing arts industry—both nationally and internationally—through his multiple roles as a performer, a mentor, a humanitarian and an ambassador of the dance culture.

After reviewing all the photographs—from the grainy black-and-whites of Ramli’s early years to the pumping colours of recent performances—we recommended to have all images to be in monochrome as a unifying factor, but to also introduce a splash of bright fire red, either in the typography or as a bold colour statement, to energise the presentation. Enhancing the overall character of the book is ITC Bodoni, arguably the 18th century genius Giambattista Bodoni’s most beautiful and majestic typeface.

A special printing technique was devised to boost the depth of the blacks in the images. A red lacquered box was produced for the leather-bound version of the book.

LINK to the second book