The Temp: fiction/adult literacy aid

Designed for the headquarters of the YWCA in Montreal, this softcover novel about the life of a temp worker was written and illustrated by a mentor to adult literacy students.

Vast margins and linespacing were required for all the notes students and mentors would write and use. The type was set at a standard size and with a traditional face, the idea being that as with schoolchildren, anyone learning to read should get used to reading what exists in their futures as readers.

The cover design references with simple means the office setting and the tension and danger lived out by its workers. The writing is stark, it is about desperation, poverty, false identities and violence. The materials a temp deals with are referenced on the cover in the image of a bulldog clip, and in the cover stock itself which has the tactile quality of a kraft envelope.