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Now Voyager - Around the World in Eighty Days

Jules Verne's literary classic Around the World in Eighty Days, written in 1887, has been reinterpreted by contemporary artists for an exhibition organised jointly by the South London Gallery and the ICA. As well as through artworks created by the likes of Mona, Haoum, Yinka Shonibare and Francis Upritchard exploring Verne's themes, the book has found a new lease of life in the hands of graphic design studio A Practice for Everyday Life.

Rather than a straightforward catalogue of the exhibition, APFEL has created a volume that is an exhibition in itself. The London design duo was also responsible for the identity and design of the exhibition at SLG. Through a careful research process that involved trips to the British Library to track down the original French first edition of Around the World in Eighty Day, APFEL sourced Victorian book initials and engravings, which formed the basis for its illustrative identity for the exhibition. "It was really important to us to be able to see and hold the original novel since it was key to the entire show," say Kirsty Carter and Emma Thomas of APFEL.

The pair also embarked on a voyage of discovery to fit the original font used in the book. It turned out to be an obscure, undigitised member of the Didot family. As a modern replacement, the designers alighted on Emigre font Filosofia. The book's fascinating content (a treasury of travel statistics and a chapter by chapter synopsis of the novel) is sensitively handled and the hardback, clothbound, gold foil-blocked cover, patterned endpapers and excellent typography revive the Jules Verne experience perfectly.

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