Picture Show Men

Services

Concept
Publication Design
Print production

The challenge

The State Library of Queensland approached us to design Picture Show Men, a publication documenting the remarkable story of the Sourris family, whose vision helped shape Queensland's cinema landscape across three generations. Combining personal histories, archival material and cultural context, the publication needed to balance multiple narrative threads and identities—Greek heritage, Australian culture and cinematic legacy—within a cohesive reading experience. The challenge was to honour the family's legacy while creating a publication that felt historically rich, contemporary and accessible to a broad audience.

The solution

We conceived the publication as a cinematic system, where narrative, typography and pacing guide readers across generations. Three distinct typographic voices anchor the structure, with two typefaces from Greek foundry Parachute Typefoundry subtly embedding the family's cultural heritage. The colour palette bridges origin, place and history through a deep blue inspired by Kythera, a warm golden wattle yellow and a sepia tone recalling early cinema and archival imagery.

Cinematic language is woven throughout the publication, including a recurring horse-in-motion motif that references both the origins of cinema and the Sourris family's passion for horse racing. Tip-ins, die-cuts and fold-out spreads create moments of discovery, echoing the experience of uncovering archival material while bringing movement to the reading experience.

The result is a publication that functions as both a significant historical record and an intimate family archive—an outcome made especially meaningful when members of the Sourris family were visibly moved at the book's launch.