Tarot in silver and black

Puglia-based graphic designer and teacher Vito Battista has illustrated and designed a set of dramatic tarot cards, now available from Italian publishing group Inferno 5. The third edition of Battista’s ‘Gli Arcani’ series (the title translates as ‘The Arcana’) was digitally printed with silver ink on Sirio Black/Black.

Battista took a Master’s degree in communication and editorial design at ISIA Urbino, where he had the opportunity to work with renowned professors and designers such as Leonardo Sonnoli (see Pulp 10, ‘Poetry and motion’), Mauro Bubbico (see Pulp 19 and 20) and Patrick Lacey, among others. Three of his fellow Urbino student body subsequently founded Inferno 5.

It was during his time at ISIA, inspired by an illustration exam, that Battista ‘began exploring tarot iconography to illustrate a set of ‘major arcana’ and found a wealth of inspiration and meanings within it’. The deck he created includes 22 cards, designed to support the weekly horoscopes published by US astrologer Rob Brezsny.

When asked about his process for the cards, Battista says, ‘The style is essential, rather than minimalist, focusing on the interplay between shapes using voids, solids, subtle contour lines and delicate patterns that enhance specific areas.’ The ‘major arcana’ cards Battista illustrated – including Il Sole (The Sun), L’Appeso (The Hanged Man), Gli Amanti (The Lovers) – represent significant life events or the ‘big picture’ of a situation.