Finnish Design Yearbook

The Finnish Design Yearbook is an international review of contemporary Finnish design, published by Design Forum Finland. It is a reference book for contemporary Finnish design and a spark for discussion published by Design Forum Finland. As with previous editions, the Yearbook was designed to be distributed internationally to bookstores, online stores, design fairs and exhibitions, events and the press. The previous editions have spread the message of Finnish design to more than 40 countries.

We worked together with editor Liisa Jokinen to create the most straightforward, relaxed, unpretentious and simple yearbook yet. Our aim was to create a publication with a clear focus on the products and not the design of the book. However, we also wanted to present the products with an interesting interface and add a level of personal interpretation through the design solution.

The result was a nonlinear reading experience that subtly illustrates current trends and themes through the juxtaposing of product images into page-lenght mini themes. We took the possibilities provided by the wire-o binding to a logical extreme: the book has 7 different blue covers, all of which can be rotated to be the physical cover of the book, essentially creating a book with multiple ends and beginnings. Multiple paper stocks create rhythm and structure to the book.