This book explores four centuries of “special effects” and the way they shed light on power relations, identity and economic structures. There was an opportunity to highlight the duality of the title, between the baroque and the contemporary, to use type and image to exploit the range and contrast of subject matter covered, in an appropriate language suitable to the academic nature of the discourse. The design approach sought to exploit the subject's dramatic potential (Vegas, Hollywood, the pope-almost too many options!) while keeping in mind its academic audience of artists, art historians, historians and academic consumers of popular culture. The final solution brought together the powerful perspective of the Renaissance with an overlay referencing Star Wars, digital technologies and the collision of cultures over time.