This catalogue accompanied an exhibit of Chinese scholars’ stones held at the Art Institute of Chicago. Historically, these stones were thought to embody primordial energy and magical powers. The curator wanted a book that was dramatic, one that captured the fluid energy of the stones, yet was open, spare and somehow contemporary. To accomplish this, we created an opening sequence that spotlights the captive energy of the stones and used Balance, a font that seemed both machine and handmade, typeset so that it had the feel of a Chinese scroll, set tight to the top and loose at the bottom. The book’s format and typography draw from traditional Chinese painting, where gaps in visual information and a series of repetitive horizontal or vertical forms are often employed. We created numbers and titling type for the catalogue using the idea of lines that fade in and out.