Project brief: In 2008, David Taylor received a Guggenheim Fellowship for his ongoing examination of the U.S.-Mexico border. His investigation documents a series of 276 obelisks that mark the international boundary as it extends from El Paso-Juarez to San Diego-Tijuana. Since border-patrol agents often refer to their job in the field as “line work,” Taylor titled the series of images Working the Line.

The photographs of the monuments along the Mexican-U.S. border presented a unique design challenge. We needed to give an appropriate form to this documentary collection of photographs while taking into account their symbolic context. The work is quite varied—the images of the monuments seemed very formal in style and felt incongruous when sequenced together with the rest of the work.

Approach: Ultimately we decided to break the work into two sections, hence the separate book and the accordion-fold booklet, one of which is literally “the line,” the other of which is more about “the working” (the design of the covers hints at this distinction). The accordion-fold booklet is arranged in a formal sequence—a continuous line that forms a border or fence when unfolded. The book is a looser arrangement that weaves together both the stories and images of David’s time on the border.

Effectiveness: The artist-affiliated museums and galleries have responded really well to the project. David is particularly happy that we have created a more unified presentation of a very complicated body of work. The accordion-fold booklet has been a particular hit.

An effective and powerful photographic documentation of the U.S.-Mexico border. Well-considered typography and good use of the accordion foldout on the booklet.