Our Polite Society plays with scale in exhibition catalogue design

Our Polite Society’s catalogue for Susann Bränström’s exhibition Progression, at Norrtälje Konsthall, Sweden took the scale and questions of the work’s reproducibly as the starting point for their design. Working at often over a metre squared, Susann Bränström’s paintings and drawings depict tense, bending lines that form exposed structures; referencing techniques of weaving and calligraphy.

With works so large, it is difficult to convey the exhibition experience through print. To resolve this, Our Polite Society employed a variety of techniques – using diagrammatic drawings that included both the work and its setting, illustrated plates of each drawing and close-ups that emphasise the dimensions by showing parts of the work at true scale. It’s an interesting and effective way of conveying the experience and setting of the exhibition while creating something that is valuable as a work in its own right.

The Amsterdam and Stockholm-based studio design exhibition identities, signage, posters, books and typography and work mainly in the cultural sector. As well as their design practice, Jens Schildt and Matthias Kreutzer teach at Konstfack University, Stockholm and the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, The Hague respectively.