We are very pleased that we managed to translate and prepare a Slovak translation of the Bid Book Cultivating Curiosity, with which we reached the second round of the candidacy for the European Capital of Culture for 2026.
You can read original book and also translation on the page BID BOOK.
The Cultivating Curiosity project was created during 2020 and in addition to the entire Trenčín 2026 team and employees of the city of Trenčín, also lots of other people participated, too :) Citizens participated through answers in questionnaires, various organizations and associations participated within focus groups and involved projects, as well as a large number of artists, consultants and experts from different directions. The result of several months of work, in addition to creating plans of activities as well as the art projects themselves, was the writing of a 60-page document, which was then evaluated by a jury. The Bid Book format was predetermined by the Ministry of Culture of the Slovak Republic and the European Commission in advance for 60 pages in A4 format, and in order for the project to be successfully submitted, the Trenčín 2026 team had to answer 38 predetermined questions.
The questions are from various spheres from general questions about the city of Trenčín as well as the region, the contribution of the project in terms of long-term strategy, cultural program, European dimension but also important questions such as finance, marketing, but also whether the city and region have real capacity and capacity to carry out the whole project in case of a win. Each part was written by different members of the Trenčín 2026 team and the actual writing of the project took two months. The rest of the time was spent researching, creating projects, communicating with artists, consultants and experts. Then it took a month in the whole process of text proofreading and the graphic design of the project itself.
The author of the graphic design of the project is Martin Pyšný, a young graphic and font designer from Trenčín, who, in addition to the entire visual of the project, is gradually embarking on the visual communication of the Cultivating Curiosity project. The photos used in the Bid Book are from our skillful Trenčín photographers who allowed the Trenčín 2026 team to publish their photos.
Three quick questions for graphic designer Maťo Pyšný
1. How did the process of creating the Cultivating Curiosity Bid Book went?
It started with a concept and then formal decisions followed. As for the concept, the idea of Cultivating Curiosity is based on the concept of an elastic circle "rubber band", which can be freely shaped.
If we dedicate enough energy to a closed ecosystem such as a city, we can create a better quality of life for it. And each of us has this opportunity.
Of course, then the more formal decisions had to be made, such as which font to choose or what to focus on. For more freedom in the typeface and character of the font, I modified the open source font Inter as needed and created the layout so that the book looked dense, but not crowded.
2. What was the biggest challenge for you?
The biggest challenge was probably to design a light and playful publication, to stimulate the reader's desire to discover the content of other pages and at the same time maintain the seriousness, formality and clarity that belongs to the city and the whole initiative. At the same time, the responsibility I had as the last link in the chain in the process of preparing the Bid-book was a huge challenge. The team of people in front of me did an amazing job in an extreme short time and I didn't want to thwart their efforts.
3. Can you tell us more about the material on which the book was printed? How does the book work, what material is it made of and what should it represent?
The entire publication is printed on recycled uncoated paper. On the cover is an abstract graphic element embossed with a holographic foil. This contrast of soft natural paper and playful, futuristic elements is the visual DNA of a Bid-book.