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Design Category
Book design, 2001
Design firm
Costello Communications, Inc. (Chicago, Illinois)
Collection
(2002) 50 Books/50 Covers of 2001
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This book examines the historic and cultural significance of letter fragments from the late ninth century, found at the Ben Ezra Synagogue in Cairo, Egypt. Our challenge was to make an academic text, intended mainly for students and researchers, visually interesting and inviting for a general audience.
With a limited budget, our efforts focused on making typography—a critical factor in the design— along with innovative use of color and texture, particularly evident on the cover. The mosaic patterns, reminiscent of the synagogue interior, are symbolic of the fragments of transcripts that were pieced together to provide a glimpse into medieval Jewish life.