The Stolen Night

Today a novel doesn’t live on the page alone. Before opening it, readers listen to it, watch it in a video a few seconds long, look it up on their phones. For ‘The Stolen Night’, the story of a Christmas night when time stops on a train in the Swiss Alps, we built a world that holds together in every format: the same atmosphere, the same colours, the same clock stopped at 23:59.

What we built

• An identity with a clock inside. In the logotype, the O of STOLEN is a pocket watch stopped at 23:59. It comes in a horizontal and a stacked version, plus the mark on its own and the icon. It animates with four gestures: the stop, the engraving, the ticking and a halo of light.
• Engraving-style plates. Thirty-eight pen-and-ink illustrations in the style of nineteenth-century engravings open the chapters: each chapter begins with an object, and the main characters never show their faces. Ten more plates accompany the recipes in the novel.
• An original soundtrack. Eight tracks: two instrumentals and three songs in both Italian and English, with the Italian lyrics written from scratch. Music and lyrics are by the author. Production and mastering are ours, and the tracks are ready for the streaming platforms. In the book, five QR codes take readers to the track at the right point in the story.
• The trailer in three lengths. A fifty-second vertical teaser with two shorter cuts for social media. Every version exists with an Italian or English voice, with music only, and with or without subtitles.
• The book in two languages. Italian and English editions laid out for ebook and print, with the cover and the interior of the book ready for publication.
• A website to travel through. You enter at 23:59 as the snow slows until it stops. From there you choose where to go: the book, with the prologue to read on a night or paper background, the soundtrack, the objects of the story, the novel’s recipes, a minute to give as a gift and a dossier for anyone who wants to take the story to the screen. All in Italian and English.
• Respect for the reader. Sound starts off and only comes on with a gesture. There’s a quiet mode for those who prefer less movement, and the site works without JavaScript too. Plot spoilers only open if the reader chooses. On mobile the first page weighs just over 400 KB.
• Communication ready to go. Graphic templates and short vertical clips for social media, with the same identity as the book and the website.

What we add

Every piece leads to the others: in the book, five QR codes play the track at the right point in the story, the website leads to the book and the trailer to the website. Logotype, plates, songs and pages all went through the same creative direction.

When it makes sense. If you’ve written a book, made a record or are launching a work, the website is only one piece: what matters is that identity, music, video and pages speak with the same voice. You can start from just one of these pieces and add the others when you need them.