Author: Daniel Hernandez
Designer: Jennifer Heuer
Publisher: Scribner
Typeface: Berthold City and Gothic No 4
Interview with Jenifer Heuer
What is Down and Delirious in Mexico City about?
The author is a journalist living in Mexico City taking a look at the new urban youth cultures and the people who love them or sometimes violently hate them. This was directed at a young fresh audience interested in how certain, and sometimes similar subcultures can form and clash in different areas. The author introduces us to the new hyper-emo crowd, a fashion-forward crew, artists and musicians. It's in no way a tour book for the city, so the general direction was to aim in a fresh, modern and somewhat fashion-minded direction. Mexico City is set in a volcanic bowl which means the city can't physically grow outside it's borders. So the density within the city is intense, hot, polluted, and grounds for subcultural strife ready to boil over.
Were there any steps taken before starting, and was there a clear working process that led to the final? Any known influences?
I began by heading to the library (NYPL has a wonderful picture library and I'm lucky enough to have the Pratt library at my fingertips). I researched mainly aztec art, latin-american catholic art, Day of the Dead ephemera and so on. I also began setting up an online moodboard through Imgspark.com!
I tend to spend at least half of my time writing and sketching. I start by listing out categories within the book, then lists within those categories and see if there's anything interesting that pops out or crosses over(I find this works for fiction and nonfiction alike). It's also just good to get bad ideas and buzz words flushed out of the system so I can ignore their nagging.
The final and usually most fluid step is sitting at the computer with sketches to scan and design. Lately I feel like I've been creating a lot more with my hands before I ever start designing on the computer. I tend to find a lot of happy accidents that way, and it slows down the process to allow me to think while I'm making something. For this cover, the final piece uses a cutout aztec-inspired pattern and beneath is an image of a volcano erupting.
What was the message behind the design? And what's something unique you learned while working on this project?
To sum it up, the message from the book was about cultural divides and more specifically those based in an area seeped in ancient history and modern urbanization. It was fascinating to learn about the history, geology, and culture that makes up Mexico City. I basically learned what I always knew; which is to get away from my desk, go to the library, museums, read through fashion magazines and the newspaper, listen to the radio, watch documentaries and observe closely. Oddly enough, I started noticing aztec art, Mexican fashion, latin-american bands and related articles everywhere—pay attention and a specific subject matter will show up wherever you're looking.
