cmyplay

I can’t remember how I discovered Nicholas Felton’s self-initiated Annual Report. Having printed a third edition this year, I’d like to get my hands on a fourth edition when it hopefully becomes available.
Possibly the first example of “reality design”, the collected statistics go beyond being the sum of a man’s activities over the course of a year and begin to take on a form that seems to conceal a deeper meaning. The truths that lie between the listed details seem to tease one into looking a little closer.
The stylistic details themselves are what sold me on the very reasonable purchase. The attention paid to the typographic treatment, the proportions and the balance of all of the elements are striking to say the least.
I’m the guy you see searching the news-stands for the least molested copy of the Wired every month. Even so, I honestly feel that the small imperfections and idiosyncrasies of the seemingly hand-stitched binding; the tactile stock; and the bends and scrunching inflicted on the envelope really add character to the piece. Especially considering how the content makes one conjure up the intricacies that are missing from the events and decisions that were taken throughout the period described.

Felton is a graphic designer living in New York, and apart from this Annual Report, I was very taken by his other projects. Notably Hard Times – the Penguin digital novel he designed with the Author Matt Mason; and the Fast Company editorial on the Megafone site.