The Periodic Table by Primo Levi

A prose poem about the delights of chemistry. ...more info on wikipedia

About the artist: Lieven Moensfrom Belgium

Lieven Moens is a Belgian web/interactive/graphic designer, living in Leuven. He tailors his work to the needs of his customers, but whenever he has time to work on his personal projects, he prefers elegant, pure fictional designs.

Why this work

“Science was an in important aspect during my education and has always been my passion together with art and creativity. The deductive structure of this book through chemistry appeals strongly to me. I have the urge to fit inexplicable concepts such as ‘life’ and ‘world’ in a logic frame, and it comes naturally to me.”
“The subject contains different visual references to ‘structure’, ‘Judaism’ and ‘science’. The book narrates the anecdotic life of Levi, whether real or unreal. Each story has a chemical element as title and these anchor points are represented like the chemical elements in Mendeljev’s Periodic System. The simple and rigid blue design conveys a calm and deliberate mood, not unlike science itself. The star stands symbol for the Jews and is an indirect reference to the Nazi regime and again does the colour emphasize this interpretation. The typography has only one aim: to suggest that this is not Mendeljev’s periodic table but that of Levi as seen through his eyes.