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Living on the Last Page

Category

2025

Poster

Awarded

Designer / Designers / Design Studio / Agency

Client

Year

Daniel Lupu

Glitch

2024

Other Credits

—

Short description

Long description

A poster for an exhibition celebrating the launch of an art and design-focused library in Bucharest. The theme of the poster was my personal experience with books, so I chose to talk about the sadness of when a book ends, as well as other secondary ideas, including topics like the spread of knowledge or cozy reading sessions.

Glitch Design Studio approached me in late 2024 to be a part of an exhibition celebrating the opening of a design-focused library space they made in their building.

Given that this exhibition was made to inaugurate a library, the theme of the posters was “the artist’s relationship with books”. So, to respond to that, I focused on the sadness that comes from finishing a book, and how it stays with you forever. The primary image within the poster is a person standing proudly, having conquered the last page of a hill-like tome. Looking out at a final page that stretches far into the landscape, seemingly without an end. But the multi-compositional nature of my work allows for multiple concepts and images to coexist, and as such, throughout the poster, I included several book-related visual concepts.

Some of these concepts are more direct than others, such as the bee I labeled as “noi” or “us” making its way to pollinate a book-shaped flower. The spread of information happens only when we interact with it, so I likened our reading and then passing on information to the activities of the noble insect that sustains our ecosystems. Other concepts consist of visual coincidences regarding books that denote my thoughts on literature as a whole. Such as the decorations on the bookshelf on the right-hand side of the composition being related to the Goode homolosine projection map, suggesting that the world and our culture reside in a bookshelf. Or just below that, where one can see 3 types of bookmarks - a Japanese style bookmark with string, a cartoony bookmark with a fringe, and a simple bent corner. Referencing the different ways in which people decorate their reading experience.

These are just a few of the messages I alluded to in the poster, and I leave the discovery (and interpretation) of the rest to the viewer.

LDA
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LDA

Foto: Mihai Ciobanu

Jury Notes

Process Notes: Daniel Lupu

We appreciated how this poster tackles the challenge of representing space and time visually. It manages to bring together three different notations, three types of communication, into a shared visual language. The result may appear messy at first glance, but it remains functional, with each layer still accessible and legible. The simplicity of the approach makes it both effective and interesting.

 

JG: It’s an interesting idea to play with space and time on a poster, and a very difficult thing to represent and play with. And it’s done in quite a simple, straightforward but effective and interesting way.

 

ML: It’s like three different notations that are just coming together in the same visual language. Three different types of communication that come together in a single poster.


PV: It’s messy but functional, in a way that you can still perceive every layer.

Thinking about the journey from initial idea to the finished piece, which moments had the deepest impact on the project and what made you realise those changes had to happen?

The biggest impact on the project came from Dan Stănescu, who commissioned the poster. I had completed an entirely different poster, after many sketches and versions, titled "Let books become you". I sent it to him, and he advised me that the result didn't look like my usual style. So I took the feedback to heart and started from scratch, and in doing so, realized that I actually wanted to say something completely different but chose the safer option initially. Luckily, there was time before the deadline to restart and come up with something even better.

Collaboration is built on trust and dialogue — within that process, which part of the project feels most authentically yours, and which unexpected voices pushed you beyond your comfort zone?

Again, the feedback from Dan was invaluable in pushing me in the right direction. But it was also when I decided to go with my gut and express the sadder and more profound theme (of not wanting to let go of a finished book) versus this initial idea I had (a positive message about encouraging people to read more and let books become a part of them) did everything fall into place, and I created something more authentic and unique. 

In what ways do you believe awards like LDA shape (or should shape) the design landscape locally? And is there a responsibility attached to being an awarded designer within that ecosystem?

I think that awards of any kind help focus our attention on efforts that matter. There's a reason why awards like the Oscars are so culturally impactful and elevate the status of a film. Making it easy for an audience to understand the value of a creative project is invaluable in a time when it is far too easy to depreciate the craft of creation.


Local Design Awards is especially important because of the lack of visibility Romanian design has. I feel all of us (visual creatives) have a duty to beautify the world and elevate the human experience in a tiny way. So having an opportunity to be recognised, and by extension, let others know that something was recognised, could inform the public what is worthy of appreciation. And foster a healthy audience for innovation and cool design.

 

The responsibility each creative has, regardless of awards or not, is to strive for excellence and visual non-complacency. Being an awarded designer makes me want to chase the new even more, and makes me realise that I have a responsibility (to my fellow creatives/myself/future audiences) to maintain a high standard of output.

Whether placed in public space or circulating in digital environments, a poster must both inform and attract. How did you balance the clarity of the message with the expressive design needed to capture attention in such fast-paced contexts?

I didn't think about clarity as much as I felt the flow of the composition. When trying to make a memorable image, I approach a poster the same way I would an illustration. Since both are about visual communication, I feel the point is to first make people actually want to look. The message comes after, and since the poster was for an exhibition, I could afford to fragment the message into many smaller ideas than I could for a poster destined to be viewed outdoors.


But having a fun image is the point. For me, it should be fun to make. Fun and rewarding to look at. And at the same time, the message (if possible) should have layers, with the audience drawing their own conclusions about what's being communicated beyond the main theme.

What element of the poster (scale, colour, typography, image, texture) did you consider your boldest “move”? And which one was the quietest but most important?

One of the bolder decisions in the poster was making everything I could be book-shaped (flowers, birds, torches, etc), especially the title being in a book-shaped speech bubble that causes a really big curve, which makes for a dynamic compositional element.
The quietest but most important was a small tribute I made to both my grandmothers, who passed away the month before I finished this poster. I realised that things like photo books are a way to remember people, so I drew a book with a 'doliu' ribbon as a bookmark. This is a small black ribbon pinned on your chest at funerals.

Did you encounter moments of “too much / too little” while working on the composition? How did you determine the balance point?

I am a maximalist, so I always aim for the balance to be biased towards 'too much'. For me, the balance point is determined by the flow of the overall composition, which I build organically around elements that will be there no matter what. After I determine my main elements, I usually know how much space I have left for going crazy and adding decoration or another mini supporting idea.

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