THE X-FILES: The OFFICIAL ARCHIVES
Cryptids, Biological Anomalies, and Parapsychic Phenomena
Patient
Abrams Books
Treatment
- Design
- Artifact creation
Diagnosis
Crack open The X-Files: The Official Archives to gain access to top-secret visual evidence from Agents Mulder and Scully’s vast research archive. Designed to mimic a collection of FBI case files, the book is jam-packed with lab results, autopsy reports, newspaper clippings, mug shots, crime-scene photos and security camera printouts—allowing readers to scour the evidence and immerse themselves as firsthand participants. We combined props used in the show with faux documents we created to meticulously build each case file.
• 9 x 11.5 • flush-trimmed cover to expose the chipboard edge • debossing • 304 pages, 4-color hardback book
Accolades
- Communication Arts Design Annual 62, 2021
- Print Awards 2020, 1st Place, Books—Entire Package
The cover is flush-trimmed to expose the chipboard edge and stamped details are debossed, evoking file folders and office paraphernalia through production techniques.
The front- and end-matter of the book (the endpapers, table of contents, and credits) are disguised as in-world documents to keep the realism of the book consistent from beginning to end.
Most of the X-files were destroyed in the office fire at the end of season 5; Agent Mulder tries to salvage and restore as many pieces of evidence as possible with a wet-restoration technique. Due to this plot twist, we had to make many of the artifacts in the first half of the book look burned, charred, or melted—a meticulous Photoshop task that seemed almost as painstaking as Mulders’ technique.
Sketch artist renderings are included of elusive creatures that had no pictorial record. Some of the sketches were provided props; others we did here at the studio.
We created an FBI logo for the book since you are not allowed to use the real logo. Because the show has been in production since the early ’90s, the logo and letterhead design changes throughout the years.
Ephemera created for the book needed to match every small detail from the show—like this invoice pulled from a paper shredder before the evidence could be lost.
