Taking more than two years to complete, this book is a detailed catalogue raisonné that is not meant to be a comprehensive guide to the collections, but more of a showcase of key items, books, works of art and other treasures from Oman and the wider world and presents the country’s heritage from the earliest human settlement in the Oman Peninsula some two million years ago through to the present day. The contents of the book are based on the the layout of the Museum itself, with chapters broken down into the various galleries found in the building. This makes the book easy to navigate as well as being a guide of sorts, although not pocket-sized!
Using elements of the brand and some early designs as a starting point, the biggest issue was deciding what wouldn’t make it into the book because of all the rich source material on offer. Ultimately we ended up with the best pieces in the collections, along with some stunning imagery from George Ramsey and Saleh alruzaiqi, the Museum’s own in-house photographer. The key with any book of this size (that doesn’t have a natural narrative flow) is the grid – you need to be able to anchor the design and retain consistency, but also have the flexibility and freedom there keep the reader engaged.
The Museum building is incredibly striking, and as such the client wanted that reflected in the book as much as possible, both in the content breakdown and with the finish. The texture on the cover is a detail of the walls on the outside of the building, and the spot metallic Pantone represents the brushed copper metalwork found on the doors and windows. A matt laminate finish with simple spot UV for the title and subtitle then rounded it all off, creating a clean and complementary look.
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