{"id":4343,"date":"2026-02-12T22:03:28","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T21:03:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lauraforerodesign.co\/?post_type=portfolios&p=4343"},"modified":"2026-03-14T00:04:00","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T23:04:00","slug":"100-years-reading-together","status":"publish","type":"portfolios","link":"https:\/\/lauraforerodesign.co\/?portfolios=100-years-reading-together","title":{"rendered":"100 Years Reading Together"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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100 Years Reading Together<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Illustrating a century of literature
through the books that shaped each decade<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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ART DIRECTION - ILLUSTRATION - \nDIGITAL CAMPAIGN\n<\/h6>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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Client
Casa del Libro<\/b><\/h6>
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Creative Director
Juan Zilli<\/b><\/h6>
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Creative Supervisor
Natalia Arias<\/b><\/h6>
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Copywriter
Ana Benitez<\/b><\/h6>
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Art Director
Laura Forero<\/b><\/h6>
Digital Director
Julio Fern\u00e1ndez-Sanguino<\/b><\/h6>
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Account Executive
Mar\u00eda Garc\u00eda Lydick<\/b><\/h6>

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Tools
Adobe Photoshop<\/b><\/h6>
Procrate
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In 2023, Casa del Libro celebrated its 100th anniversary. Founded in 1923, the bookstore became one of the most important literary references in Spain, with its historic store located in Gran V\u00eda, Madrid.<\/h5>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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To celebrate this milestone, our team developed a visual campaign that looked back at one hundred years of literature through the books that shaped each decade. Instead of creating a single commemorative graphic, I designed a series of illustrated pieces released throughout the year. Each visual represented a key literary work from a specific decade and translated the themes of the book into a visual language inspired by the graphic style of that period.<\/p>

This approach allowed the campaign to connect literature, design, and cultural memory, creating a journey through time that readers could discover month by month.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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The campaign was built around a simple question:<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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How can we visually represent the emotional and cultural impact of books across an entire century?<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Instead of illustrating the stories in a literal way, the goal was to translate the main themes of each book into visual metaphors. Each decade was approached as its own visual universe, where the illustrations not only reflected the narrative of the selected book, but also referenced the artistic movements and graphic styles of the time in which it was written.<\/p>

By combining literary insights with historical design references, the campaign created a visual timeline where literature and graphic culture evolved together.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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1923 | El Tema de Nuestro Tiempo | Ortega y Gasset <\/div><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/path><\/svg><\/span>\n\t\t\t<\/path><\/svg><\/span>\n\t\t<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/summary>\n\t\t\t\t
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Individuality in the age of mass society<\/h5>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Published in 1923, El tema de nuestro tiempo<\/em> by Jos\u00e9 Ortega y Gasset reflects on the transformation of modern society during the early twentieth century. The book explores how industrialization, technological progress, and the rise of mass culture began to reshape individual identity and collective behavior.<\/p>

Through the analysis of the text, four central ideas emerged:<\/p>

INDIVIDUALISM\u00a0 |\u00a0 INDUSTRALIZATION\u00a0 |\u00a0 DEHUMANIZATION\u00a0 |\u00a0 INFOXICATION<\/p>

These concepts became the foundation for the visual development of the illustration, where each scene represents one of these themes within a single composition.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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The illustration was structured as a single composition divided into four narrative scenes.<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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INDIVIDUALISM<\/strong><\/p>

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Ortega y Gasset describes how modern society encourages people to follow collective trends instead of developing their own ideas and identity. The concept of individualism appears as a form of resistance against conformity and social pressure. In the illustration, this idea is represented through a figure that visually breaks away from a uniform crowd.<\/h6>

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INDUSTRIALIZATION<\/strong><\/p>

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Industrialization is presented in the book as both progress and threat. While it drives economic development and productivity, it also introduces standardized systems that reduce diversity and individuality. The visual scene represents this tension through mechanical environments and repetitive structures that surround the characters.<\/h6>

DEHUMANIZATION<\/strong><\/p>

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One of the strongest critiques in the book focuses on how industrial systems transform people into anonymous parts of a production machine. Work becomes repetitive and detached from human meaning. In the illustration, this idea is expressed through characters integrated into mechanical environments that suggest loss of identity.<\/h6>

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INFOXICATION<\/strong><\/p>

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The book also anticipates a phenomenon that feels extremely contemporary: the overwhelming presence of information. When information becomes excessive, it loses clarity and meaning. The visual interpretation of this concept introduces elements that represent accumulation and saturation, reflecting how knowledge can become noise.<\/h6>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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