THE witches
SPECIAL EDITION BOOK

We were briefed by the Roald Dahl Story Company to create a gift for the cast and crew of the new The Witches feature film. After concepting ideas, the chosen route was two special edition books in a slipcase, which were produced in a limited run of 30.

Storytelling was a key element of the design. Greys, blacks and whites hinted towards the element of horror, and the deep green emulated The Grand High Witch’s secret recipe, whilst a bright shining contrast of copper foiling symbolised our hero, the mouse, and his fur. The covers and slipcase were illustrated with a witch’s hand trying to catch our hero, following the line of a mouse tail wrapping around each spine. The precision of this foiling earned the production team, Kingsbury Press, a PrintWeek award for Book Printer Of The Year.

THE GIFT WRAPPING

Each gift was wrapped with a ribbon sourced to match the colour of the leather spine, and tissue paper with a pattern to match the Formula 86 bottle hiding in the back of the book. The ‘W’ icon of ‘The Witches’ title was embossed into the gift card, alongside a gift message in handwritten calligraphy.

from the archive

Whilst the grey cloth book contains the original story with illustrations by Quentin Blake, the second was created especially for the project. This contains archive material such as photographs, handwritten story drafts and Roald Dahl’s letters. The book was side-stitched with matching green thread to make the reader feel as if they had uncovered a secret document.

PLAYFUL paper stock

Different paper stock was used in the book, ‘From The Archive’. Paper with a slight sheen was used for the archive materials. This provided a contrast against the more tactile stock of the dividers, which had a translucency that hinted at the content beneath like a witch hiding in plain sight. The typesetting of these pages was carried over to the literary book.

COLLABORATORS & CREATORS

ROALD DAHL STORY COMPANY. Brief.
ROALD DAHL MUSEUM & STORY CENTRE. Archive materials.
QUENTIN BLAKE. Illustrations.
DONALD STURROCK. Author & Biographer.
KINGSBURY PRESS. Production.
OLIVE AND REID STUDIO. Calligraphy.
WE ARE STUDIO. Photography.

JULI HAAS. Senior Graphic Designer.
LOUISE NEWMAN. Proofreader.