Logo of Studio laVina

Stress

Design Research x Book Design
The main image for the project "Stress" showcasing the book cover and open stitch binding.

Stress is an inherent part of our lives. The first stress that humans experience is birth. It kickstarts every system of our body and helps us to survive dangerous situations. In modern society, while the flow of data and information is getting faster and life is speeding up, stress starts to work against us by affecting our health. This project is about a poetic idea: what creates us - destroys us.

The effects of stress on different systems of the human body are visualised through materials: flexible silicone represents muscles; fragile porcelain stands for our heart; burns on paper express the stress response of the stomach, sealed paint imitates hormones circulating in our bodies and expanding hydrogel shows the swelling in the throat as we struggle with breathing.

The text of the book is framed in a grid, which consists of an average amount of days that the human embryo takes to develop. Within this timeframe our body systems appear in a specific order, which is represented by the placement of the chapters headlines.

Concept, design and development:

Studio laVina x Varvara Lazareva