Nicola Belen

Polar First - Cover - Polar First is a coffee table book chronicling the journey of Guinness World Record holder Jennifer Murray as the first woman to circumnavigate the globe pole to pole in a helicopter. I art directed the project, working closely with the author, to put her story together in a visually compelling and sleek manner that did justice to the magnificence of her journey.

Polar First - Layouts - A couple of the challenges with Polar First was balancing two sets of texts and a lot of photographs into a clean coffee table book without feeling too text heavy. A lot of the pictures we had to work with were not high enough quality to make full bleed images for the big size of the book. But we were all pleased with the end product as was author!

Parallels - Cover / February 2009 - Flat layout of front cover, back cover and spine. Matte black and white cover with gold hot stamp foil for text and emblem. Parallels depicted the similarities between the Middle East and the West. Through photography and short texts we illustrated the how these civilisations share so much in common. The cover set the tone for the book with two front covers rather than one front and one back cover. Each perspective was given equal treatment.

Parallels - Inside Spreads / February 2009 - Here are some inside spreads from the coffee table book Parallels. Parallels depicted the similarities between the Middle East and the West. Through photography and short texts we illustrated the how these civilisations share so much in common. I designed the layout, look and feel of the book. I also did photo research and selection.

Parallels - Inside Spreads - More inside spreads from Parallels. Also presented here is one of the divider spreads which I designed.