An arresting photographic portrait – the unflinching gaze of a teen who will not be ignored. The power of an uncompromising statement – I’m Not No One. The cover of this 120-page perfect bound book is just the beginning of a striking design that tells the stories of youths in underserved areas of Kansas City, MO.
The project, a collaboration between those served by Youth Ambassadors, VML Inc. and AlphaGraphics, contains the unedited thoughts, essays and poems of children who live through difficult times in troubled places.
It captures and conveys the despair and hope they feel through a thoughtful fusion of intense design elements and print production techniques: a stark red and black palette; richly toned black-and-white photos; content written by the kids themselves; fonts that often resemble graffiti; thick, heavily textured paper (110 lb. Crane’s Lettra Cover and 80 lb. Royal Sundance Felt Digital Text); saturated pages printed both offset and digital.
