Art and design · Instituto Perene
Água que se planta: a springs booklet for the Fogão do Mar project
An illustrated booklet that turns a technical manual on spring restoration into plain language for fishers, shellfish gatherers and young quilombolas in Bahia.
- Client
- Instituto Perene
- Year
- 2026
- Territory
- Recôncavo Baiano (BA), around the Baía do Iguape Marine Extractive Reserve
- Format
- 16-page illustrated booklet, print and digital
- Funding
- Petrobras and the Federal Government, Fogão do Mar project
The challenge
In the Recôncavo Baiano region of Bahia, decades of pasture have dried up springs that feed the Paraguaçu River and the Baía do Iguape Marine Extractive Reserve, where more than 4,000 families make a living from fishing and shellfish gathering. Instituto Perene's Fogão do Mar project aims to restore three springs by 2028 and needed material that would turn technical and legal concepts into language close to the communities, valuing the knowledge of elders and mobilizing young people.
What we did
What we delivered
- Text rewritten from a technical manual
- Graphic design and layout
- Original illustrations
- Print supervision
- Delivery logistics in Bahia
We rewrote the content of a technical manual into short texts in large type, explaining what a spring is, as well as river basins, permanent preservation areas (APP), extractive reserves (RESEX) and the cacimba, a traditional dug well, around the idea of "água que se planta" (water you can plant).
We created original illustrations of the territory and its people, laid out the 16 pages within the project's wave-based identity, and handled the printing and shipping to Cruz das Almas.
Illustrations: Renato Moll.
“Come closer and bring your community. The invitation is open: together we can care for the springs of the Recôncavo Baiano and plant a seed of transformation.”
Outcome
The booklet was printed and delivered in time for the project's reporting deadline. The first spring to be restored is the Cacimba dos Antepassados, at Engenho da Ponte, in Cachoeira.
