Designing a prestige project, for South Africa’s newest university. Sol Plaatje University: an idea and its origins traces the roots of education in the Northern Cape.
The Brief
Sol Plaatje University asked us to design and edit a book on the history of the intellectual life of Kimberley and the construction of South Africa’s newest and most cutting-edge university. The book is both a history and an archive of Kimberley and the development of Sol Plaatje University, South Africa’s new state-of-the-art campus.
The text, written by award-winning historian and biographer Brian Willan, details the intellectual life of Kimberly from the days of the remarkable Sol Plaatje to the contemporary architecture of the neoteric Sol Plaatje campus. The book is filled with photographs and images reflecting this fascinating history.
The Book
The work involved creating a design concept using the innovative and award winning architecture of the University. We then wedded this to the colours and tones of the university and its geographical surroundings.
The book includes a range of photography from high-resolution images to ones dating back to Kimberley’s origins. Many of the photographs from the archive had to be retouched and digitally rendered for them to meet colour printing standards.