Donos do mercado by João Peres & Victor Matioli

The book Donos do Mercado (“Owners of the market”) by João Peres & Victor Matioli – from the website O Joio e o Trigo – tells how supermarket chains Carrefour and Pão de Açúcar grew so much in Brazil that they managed to form a total duopoly; how the state allowed this to happen; and what impacts this gigantism brings to consumers and suppliers, and to their nearly 200.000 employees. This book/report unravels the strategies, and shows that the highest price is not on the shelves.

Arquivo was commissioned by Editora Elefante editors Tadeu Breda and Bianca Oliveira to design the cover. We chose Rubik, using its regular width and the monospaced version – the same fonts that are used on the O Joio e Trigo website. A set of abstract geometric shapes is used for the illustration that refers directly to the logos of the supermarket companies analyzed in the book. The two green semicircles allude to Grupo Pão de Açúcar and the blue and red triangles refer to the brand of the French multinational Carrefour.

The book presents these elements on a white background in an attempt to refer to plastic supermarket bags that are very common in Brazil and also to guarantee a better reproduction of the same spot colors used by supermarkets.

We are therefore looking for a cover with an impact to stand out in the bookstore while making a diffuse reference to the supermarkets criticized in the work.