WKW: The Artistry of Wong Kar Wai is a concept book I made to celebrate the work of my favorite director: Wong Kai Wai. In order to highlight the themes of light versus shadow in Wong’s work, I chose to use toned black paper and print CMYK+W. This dark paper also mimics the darkness of a theater, which allows the fim tills to shine even brighter on the page.

For the cover design, I chose thin lines and geometry inspired by classic Chinese patterns. These rules are continued in the interior spreads where they become threads that draw connections and lead the reader from one element to another. The title of each film is featured as a running header along the bottom of the pages. It is cut in half to reference the themes of what is seen versus hidden in Wong’s films.

In addition to stills from the film, this book also features movie posters designed by me—featured in images 2 and 7 below. As the primary audience for this reading book would be film buffs, I chose a monospaced typeface that is not only legible, but enhances the film analyses and references the “undesigned” UI of film production technology. This stiffness is contrasted by the serif typeface Lucette for the headers and title, as it reflects the wistful, romantice mood of Wong’s films. It should capture the grace and subtlety of Wong’s filmography through editorial design.

So far, only In The Mood For Love is completed. Text by Li Cheuk-to for The Criterion Collection