Sensitive and versatile designs by Portuguese designer Catarina Dantas

Date
6 November 2014

There’s got to be something quite special about a designer who can make water safety look interesting. Browsing the work of Porto-based graphic designer Catarina Dantas, it’s clear that she’s got talent, versatility and an eye for an appropriate visual solution, whatever the brief. Her clever graphical solution for the aforementioned water safety app, mWaterSafety (which uses smartphone technologies to help fishing communities and sailors alert others to their whereabouts) uses a clean, clever design incorporating the letterforms of the name and extending them into smiles and patterns.

Her most arresting designs for us though are her editorial work, in particular the sweetshop pinks and yellows of the Benguela – Cultural Agenda magazine, a monthly publication disturbed in Benguela detailing theatre, cinema, art and other cultural event listings. As a contrast, the striking editorial designs for the Over Placed architectural publication are superb in their subtlety. All glorious gold detailing and monochrome, the designs perfectly communicate the gravitas and complexity of the essays within, exploring “the interdisciplinarity between architecture and visual communication.”

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Catarina Dantas: Cultural Agenda editorial design

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Catarina Dantas: Cultural Agenda editorial design

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Catarina Dantas: Cultural Agenda editorial design

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Catarina Dantas: Cultural Agenda editorial design

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Catarina Dantas: Cultural Agenda editorial design

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Catarina Dantas: mWaterSafety branding

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Catarina Dantas: mWaterSafety branding

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Catarina Dantas: Over Placed editorial design

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Catarina Dantas: Over Placed editorial design

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Catarina Dantas: Over Placed editorial design

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About the Author

Emily Gosling

Emily joined It’s Nice That as Online Editor in the summer of 2014 after four years at Design Week. She is particularly interested in graphic design, branding and music. After working It's Nice That as both Online Editor and Deputy Editor, Emily left the company in 2016.

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