Perspective Chapter. (Typo)Graphic Novels – Text as Pictorial Element of the Page in Cutting-Edge-Picture Book-Making

In the book "Arte come Mestiere", Bruno Munari suggested that the shapes of letters and words are capable of creating dynamic and meaningful compositions as they can be used to emphasize the significance of the word itself. Starting from these thoughts and from the concept of “typographic landscapes” formulated by Martin Salisbury and Morag Styles (2019), the chapter aims to explore the communicative power of words and the narrative strength of typefaces through the analysis of (typo)graphic novels that blur the boundaries between text and images and experiment with the composition of typographic shapes to vehicle meanings and outline new paths of graphic design experimentation. The analysis focuses on two case studies: the graphic book "P!nocchio. Racconto grafico" by Stefano Rovai (2022) and the picture book "A Child of Books" by Sam Winston and Oliver Jeffers (2016).