The city archive was opening a retrospective of an architect who built forty schools in the 1950s and was then almost forgotten. The material was fragile drawings, faded photographs and long letters. The archive needed a catalogue serious enough for scholars, a poster set that could pull in people walking past, and both on a public budget. The architect's family lent the letters on the condition that nothing leave the reading room.

We let the drawings lead: a dark, heavy catalogue with the plans printed large in one warm grey, and the letters set as a running column beside them. A folded poster carried one line drawing per school and a map of where they still stand. We spent two days in the archive scanning at full size so nothing had to be redrawn.

Both print runs sold out, and the catalogue is now on the reading list of two architecture schools. The exhibition ran a month longer than planned. Three of the schools on the poster map were added to the city's heritage register the following year, and the archive used the same format for its next show. Reviews called it the best catalogue the archive has made.