Les Allusifs is a Montreal-based publishing house that distinguishes itself from the more commercial, less art-oriented publishing firms. Throughout Europe and North America, they publish challenging works of fiction by internationally renowned authors. They asked us to design the new edition of Les aventures de Minette Accentiévitch. Gerard DuBois made the illustrations of this sulfurous novel.

Focusing on red and black—colors associated with Les Allusifs—we intervened to typographically enhance the poetry, surrealism and eroticism of Vladan Matijevic’s raw text. With the help of the illustrator, we designed a cover on which the protagonist is revealed without shame. In the inside cover pages, we unveil to the reader a few pages from his sketchbooks. Minette’s carnal and existential adventures are printed on a tinted paper that evokes the skin of this man-eater.

Loved the gritty realism of the design and illustrations. Nice use of alternate paper stocks for the interior pages.