Because music venue EKKO had not seen their friends for a while due to lockdowns, the closing of cultural spaces and other government measures, I designed this classic Dutch friendship book for them to pass around and reconnect with old friends, colleagues and relations. This particular friendship book is meant to go from one friend to the next until it's completely full.

EKKO’s Vriendenboekje (“EKKO’s Friendship Book”) is a unique and sincere way to keep in touch with ones that once were closer to you, but now can’t see you due to the circumstances. Since 2021 has been EKKO’s 35 year anniversary, they wanted to make it a little more special while celebrating responsibly.

Friendship books are a typical Dutch and German cultural object used by mostly children to exchange with one another. It can almost be described as some sort of proto-Facebook. Once you receive a friendship book, you glue a picture of yourself on the left page and answers questions about one’s personal information, hobbies, memories, experiences and much more, before handing it back to the owner. In this case, the recipient is asked to pass the book on to another (potential) friend, until the booklet is complete and to be handed back to the music venue.

I used Fadoli for its friendly and playful characteristics, to try and capture the child-like concept behind the booklet. The EKKO 35 JAAR logo and banner are designed by Sasha van den Haak and use Folio.