I’m Explaining A Few Things: a Collection of Poems by Pablo Neruda is a typography project I made as a student at Auburn University. This project focused on using text size, placement, and alignment, along with color, to convey the themes and emotions in the sixteen poems in this book.

Above is the contents page containing the names of each chapter and the poems within along with their page numbers for easy reference. The highly contrasting colors and oversized title are used as an introduction of the style of the book to the reader and to give visual interest for what could otherwise be an unmemorable page.

This is the first chapter page titled “Burning”. In this project, I picked poems of Nerudo’s that fit themes of destruction, revolution, redemption, and hope to name a few. I titled the three chapters according to how I saw the primary themes of the poems in each section. The coloring and stacking of the chapter name are meant to symbolize and communicate the imagery of fire and its destructive power.

The second chapter page is titled “Rising” and is meant to represent the rising up of those who have been downtrodden and the coming together of a people to make a better world. Many of the poems in this section were influenced by or directly about Nerudo’s experiences in the Spanish Civil War and its aftermath. The color and symbols in this page’s design are meant to evoke hope, solidarity, and getting back on one’s feet.

Below is the last chapter page which is titled “Soaring”. The poems in this section are the most hopeful of the book and contain themes along the line of peace, joy, and the beauty of everyday life. The line elements in this spread are used to convey movement and wind.

Above is a double poem spread containing the poems “The Dictators” and “The Night in Isle Negra”. The text placement, size, and color are all used in order to guide the reader through the poem and to help the reader to understand and connect with the meaning and emotion of the poem more easily. Shapes are also used as symbols for this purpose or are used to help clearly differentiate title areas.

Below is a single poem spread for “From the Heights of Macchu Picchu”. The main theme of this poem is rising up and lifting others from suffering and injustice and the central arrow through the spread is used to help communicate this. The size, color, and alignment of the text is used to facilitate easy reading and enhance the emotional connection to the poem.