Mieszczanin szlachcicem

Polish title: The Middle-Class Gentleman
Dimensions: 13 × 19 cm
Hardcover 112 p.
2006

This book was never published. It was designed by Aleksandra at her fourth year of studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, as an assignment at Maciej Buszewicz’s Book Design Studio .

“Le Bourgeois gentilhomme” is a five-act comedy written by Molière in 1670. It pokes fun at pretentious middle-class and the snobbish aristocracy. The main character tries his best to act like a noble, but fails every time we see him. He learns how to speak, how to play instruments and even how to dance and fence but he always thinks he knows better.

Aleksandra’s take on it was to decorate the spreads with tiny objects that would look attractive at first sight, but after a closer inspection would turn out to be just a jumble of cheap junk.

This is a typical assignment at Maciej Buszewicz’s Book Design Studio. Play scripts have a unique structure and it makes a great exercise to design them. After at least one year of facing basic exercises this would be the first big (bigger than 16 pages) book designed during this course. Because students can choose book design class only after they’ve finished first two years of studies, their first book is usually designed during fourth year.

The best part about those classes is that usually 5 to 6 people will get the same text to work on and they will come up with totally different solutions. Aleksandra’s and Daniel’s designs confirm this rule.