CALGARY—Work/Life, the Uppercase directory of Canadian illustration and photography is a nice package of great Canadian creativity. The pictures are balanced with quotes and stories about the image-makers’ life and work. Participants include art director Karen Simpson, illustrator Marco Cibola and photographer Vicky Lam. I've wanted to see something like this for a long time. Beautiful.

It's a source book so artists had to pay $500 to $800 to be in it, depending on experience. In return, it's sent out to 400 selected North American designers and becomes a great promotional vehicle sold in bookshops and online.

I'd like to see the Canada Arts Council inject some funding into the project so more copies can be sent around internationally.

Kudos to Janine Vangool for doing such a great job curating, designing and writing the book and to Darren Booth for the fantastic cover typography.

Editor's side note: Janine Vangool is a Calgary based designer, typographer and publisher who runs her own design shop, Vangool Design + Typography and gallery, book and stationery store, Uppercase, which opened in 2005. The gallery received international attention for last summer’s The Shatner Show, an exhibition and publication of more than 70 illustrations inspired by the life and career of William Shatner. Illustrators for that event included Marcos Chin, Joe Morse, Mark Todd and Calef Brown, among others. Contact: www.uppercasegallery.ca; www.vangooldesign.com

 

Editor's second side note: Ben Weeks is an independent illustrator, artist, writer and designer based in Toronto. You've seen his art work published in everything from The Walrus magazine to Honda ads to PEN Canada's award-winning annual report. He is also extremely well read and will be penning book reviews for DesignEdgeCanada.com. Send us your books or ideas for review and add your comments below. Contact: www.benweeks.ca