MANNING – FAITH & VISION

Patrick Manning served Trinidad & Tobago for over four decades; as an MP, twice as Prime Minister, and the longest-serving member of parliament in the nation’s history. When his widow, Hazel Manning, commissioned historian Professor Bridget Brereton to tell his story, the book that resulted needed to carry the weight of that legacy on every page.

As creative director and designer, I was responsible for the full publication: cover design, interior layout, typographic system, and photo integration across approximately 400 pages. The brief was to produce a biography worthy of a head of state, rich with imagery, and designed to be both a serious historical document and a book people would want to keep.

One of the central design decisions was the treatment of chapter openings. Each chapter begins with a portrait of Patrick Manning selected and sequenced so that his face ages progressively through the book, mirroring the arc of the narrative itself. A young man enters politics in 1971. By the final chapters, the photographs carry the weight of a life fully lived. It’s a quiet device, but it gives the book a visual rhythm that no caption or headline could replicate.

Manning: Faith & Vision was launched at the National Academy for the Performing Arts, Port of Spain, in June 2024 attended by Prime Ministers, regional dignitaries, and the people who knew Patrick Manning best. Professor Brereton described the final product as “lavishly illustrated and very well designed.”