CHICO CHICO CHICO
Development of an editorial project for a monograph on Chico Buarque de Hollanda conceived as part of the "Máster en Diseño Gráfico Avanzado" (II Level Master’s in Advanced Graphic Design) at LABASAD in Barcelona.
Development of an editorial project for a monograph on Chico Buarque de Hollanda conceived as part of the "Máster en Diseño Gráfico Avanzado" (II Level Master’s in Advanced Graphic Design) at LABASAD in Barcelona.
The Chico Chico Chico project consists of an editorial graphics for a monograph on Chico Buarque de Hollanda, one of the most representative singer-songwriters of Brazilian Popular Music since the Sixties. The aim of the project is to represent with specific graphic solutions and with the interaction between texts and images the main characteristics of this artist and his music. However, the whole vision is filtered by personal suggestions developed through years of listening at his music and reflections on his peculiar figure, on his biographical path and on his way of composing and interpreting his songs.
A fundamental purpose was to enhance aspects of his artistic profile related to the strictly musical and performing sphere as well as to the authorial one. On the one hand, the precision of the harmonic solutions used in his songs, on the other hand, the deep link with the troubled Brazilian political and social context easily found within his lyrics. It was important to highlight the completeness, coherence and rigor of Chico Buarque's musical compositions, which are always precisely conceived as concrete forms in structure, form and content. It was also important to emphasize the clarity, essentiality and cleanliness of his musical choices both in terms of composition and expressivity when performing.
For this reason, the overall tone used in the editorial project is characterized by a minimalist, linear, clear and essential aesthetic responding to the qualities of Chico Buarque and his art. Through photographs and texts, which are formally put in mutual relation in the layout, the intention was to alternate the clear and explicit musical component of his compositions and the subtlety of the lyrics’ messages. The two components are tied together in a sober and uniform way, enabled also by the font used in the texts and the chromatic solutions used in the photo editing.
A fundamental purpose was to enhance aspects of his artistic profile related to the strictly musical and performing sphere as well as to the authorial one. On the one hand, the precision of the harmonic solutions used in his songs, on the other hand, the deep link with the troubled Brazilian political and social context easily found within his lyrics. It was important to highlight the completeness, coherence and rigor of Chico Buarque's musical compositions, which are always precisely conceived as concrete forms in structure, form and content. It was also important to emphasize the clarity, essentiality and cleanliness of his musical choices both in terms of composition and expressivity when performing.
For this reason, the overall tone used in the editorial project is characterized by a minimalist, linear, clear and essential aesthetic responding to the qualities of Chico Buarque and his art. Through photographs and texts, which are formally put in mutual relation in the layout, the intention was to alternate the clear and explicit musical component of his compositions and the subtlety of the lyrics’ messages. The two components are tied together in a sober and uniform way, enabled also by the font used in the texts and the chromatic solutions used in the photo editing.
