Hol Art Books

Europa Editions is the English-language imprint of Italian publisher Edizioni e/o. Europa is distributed in the U.S. by Consortium and it was at Consortium's booth at BEA that I first encountered Europa and their notable cover designs. At the left is just a small, randomly grabbed sampling, but Europa's books all bare striking similarity. While it's arguable that many don't hold their own by contemporary design standards, they definitely hold together as a group and, most importantly, look unlike anything else on the shelves today. Their simplistic design formula is itself a refined version of the Italian parent company's system, and it's perhaps in this that lies the secret to their unique look and, I think, success in the U.S. market.