For its 2013/2014 annual report, Singapore’s leading global port operator PSA International presents a simple brief: produce a creative showstopper that offers an original perspective into the workings of port and trade industries. The client’s chosen theme is bibliophile—a term that stands for a love for books and the craft of bookmaking.

Like global port trade, the history of books is a journey that spans time and continents. Tapping into this analogy, the annual report dividers draw copy and visual references from five iconic book covers. Jules Verne’s globetrotting romp is adapted into “Around the World With a Trusted Partner”, the divider prefacing the global footprint section. Sun Tzu’s war treatise is retitled “The Art of Cargo”, and Roald Dahl’s children’s book “One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish” is spun into a divider that references Fish!, PSA’s corporate philosophy. To simulate the book reading experience, the book-sized dividers are specially inserted as tipped-in pages. The technique allows us to introduce varieties in post-printing effects that enhance the depth of each divider design.

After winning a competitive two-round pitch, the vision for the annual report has been fully realized, widely circulated and warmly received by stakeholders.