Local firm and author score big in national
book design competition.

Fairlawn, OH, September 12, 2007- Designed and published in Akron by Trio Design & Marketing Communications, a volume of poetry titled Air Mask has been honored in New York's prestigious "AIGA 50 Books/50 Covers" design competition as one of the 100 best-designed books produced in 2006. Air Mask is the fifth book, and first work of poetry, penned by local author, Vanita Oelschlager.

The "50 Books/50 Covers" competition, held each year since 1923 by AIGA (American Institute of Graphic Arts), is one of the oldest and most prestigious in the book design field. Categories range from trade, reference and juvenile books to university and museum publications, and include limited-edition and special-format books. This year's winners, chosen by a jury of top design professionals from a field of more than 920 entries, will be exhibited at the AIGA National Design Center in New York from September 18 through November 21, 2007 and will then tour the country as a traveling exhibit.

Air Mask will also become a permanent part of both the Rare Book and Manuscript Library of Columbia University and the Denver Art Museum's AIGA Design Archives and of the Rare Books and Manuscripts.

The winning design was a collaboration between Trio's David Buehler and Jennie Levy Smith."We're honored that our first venture into design for a book of poetry has been so well-received," says Buehler. "This award is a kind of Holy Grail for graphic designers."

Levy Smith adds, "We could not have created this design without close consultation with the author. Vanita's poetry speaks clearly. Our design succeeds because we listened."

Air Mask, a series of poems about the tribulations and triumphs of a caregiver, was inspired by the real life experience of Vanita Oelschlager, whose husband Jim suffers from multiple sclerosis.

The "50 Books/50 Covers" competition included books and book covers designed between January 1 and December 31, 2006. The distinguished jury, chaired by Michael Carabetta (Chronicle Books, San Francisco), included John Hamilton (Penguin Group UK, London), Jerry Herring (Herring Design/Herring Press, Houston), Yasuyo Iguchi (MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts) and Susan Mitchell (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York).