Antalis Creative Power Awards finalists: three projects that send a message beyond the written word

Earlier in 2022, we brought you news of the Antalis Creative Power Awards – a celebration of printed projects by international paper manufacturer Antalis. Once the deadline was closed and all of the entries were in, we travelled to Paris to take part in the jury alongside a range of talented individuals from the design industry; helping to select the finalists from the awards’ eight categories. From there, we have curated our favourites, and will be presenting them to you across a series of eight articles before unveiling the winners. Among the Mailers & Invitations category, our chosen trio of projects show how type and tactility in tandem can help convey more than just the written words they embody. Utilising a recycled Eska board stock covered with Pop’Set Grey, embellished with a striking debossed illustration, 2022’s Libros Mutantes invitation, printed and designed by Labobratori Notebooks, welcomes those to Madrid’s eminent publishing fair with texture, style and grace. With Pangram Pangram’s Agrandir leading the invitation’s typographic design, the sans serif’s elegant letterforms provide a subtle sounding board for the tactility of the illustration by Enrique Barco. Discussing the purpose behind the illustration, Labobratori Notebooks’ Robert Fuster tells us of the invitation’s shadow-focused illustrative theme. “With the pressure on the paper, textures and volume are created,” Fuster explains, “something that is not common on paper by creating a new dimension with the relief,” noting the easily debossed nature of Barco’s drawings. “The postcard format of the card allows it to be a graphic work that you can keep in your pocket,” he reveals, cementing the invitation as a piece of graphic art beyond its technical function.