Schønning Jart unpack the process of designing the post-event publication for The World is in You

Launched in 2020, The World is in You was a large-scale project and subsequent exhibition, aiming to engage a broad audience in four contemporary scientific disciplines. Initiated by Medical Museion – a Copenhagen-based museum and research unit – The World is in You was based on biomedical research that seeks to understand our bodies, our health and our world. 

Following the event, a publication was created that documents the intricate process of realising the exhibition. Copenhagen-based graphic design practice Schønning Jart helped to bring the narratives to life through a beautifully considered editorial design direction. “The book shows the thoughts and ideas behind the exhibition which became a driving factor for the decisions behind the layout as well as the materiality of the book,” Rasmus Hylgaard Schønning explains. “The open spine with visible thread, bulky paper, paper cardboard and the monotone colour palette all in combination reflects upon the idea that this book is a look into the raw process, considerations and new learnings written by the exhibition team.”

Many of the visual elements draw from the original exhibition, such as the typographic direction. Due to the exhibition’s long texts and explanations, the studio opted for a workhorse typeface “with high readability and a subtle personality letting the art and medical objects stand out,” Schønning recalls. “Monument Grotesk Semi-Mono was a great match combining a technical characteristic with a raw feel to it,” he adds. “In need of a typeface for longer reads, the choice fell upon Times New Roman as it reflects the academic aspects of the exhibition in a classical and beautiful way.”

“Both we and Medical Museion wanted the graphics on the book cover to have a clear reference to the exhibition,” Schønning tells us, explaining the cover’s design direction. “Gaia is a seven-metre globe created by Luke Jerram and was a central part of the exhibition, and we thought a simple graphical translation of this piece would be an obvious reflection of the exhibition title as well.” 

Translating the globe image into a bitmap initially proved challenging; finding the balance between pixelation and clarity. Therefore, to achieve the highest contrast, the cover elements were printed in white, whilst the text block was printed in dark brown. “It can be a challenge to print white because of transparency so it usually requires being printed several times on top of each other,” the designer explains. “Fortunately we teamed up with Narayana Press (which must be one of the printing houses in Denmark with the nicest and most skilled staff). We ended up running the cover through the press four times – it was a bit of a nice surprise that it could be done without losing any detail.”

Schønning Jart

Medical Museion