and/or

Best Dutch Book Design 2013

Along with Wim Crouwel, Karel Martens and Walter Nikkels, Jan van Toorn belongs to the generation of designers who determined the look of Dutch graphic design in the 1970s and 80s. His socially engaged design practice is founded on a notion of communication based on democratic reciprocity and solidarity with the public. In contrast to prevailing forms of visual communication, Van Toorn’s visual journalism establishes meaning in dialogue with the viewer and reader. In her book and/or, on contradiction in the work of Jan van Toorn, design publicist Els Kuijpers gives insight into Van Toorn’s methodology.

The author employs various academic methods, journalistic strategies and rhetorical figures for her own objective: breaking through stereotype images. The book was created in close collaboration between the author and designer. With its countless digressions and derailments, the layered text is comparable to the visual designs of Van Toorn himself; the layered structure of the book’s design follows Kuijpers’ literary enterprise.