Editorial Letras Cubanas - Colección Giraldilla (cover designer: Raúl Martínez, editor: Juan N. Padrón, author: Luis Suardíaz), "Todo lo que tiene fin es breve," 1983. Offset print, book.

Raúl Martínez's cover design for Luis Suardíaz's poetry anthology "Todo lo que tiene fin es breve" showcases the artist's mastery of geometric abstraction and decorative patterning in Cuban book design. The cover features a vibrant mosaic composition of repeating petal or leaf-shaped forms arranged in a precise grid pattern against a stark black background. The palette of coral orange, emerald green, sky blue, and soft pink creates a chromatic rhythm that frames the clean sans-serif typography of the author's name and title. This geometric framework, reminiscent of traditional tile work or textile patterns, demonstrates Martínez's ability to adapt modernist design principles to Cuban cultural aesthetics. The design creates a visual tension between the organic curves of the individual motifs and the rigid geometry of their arrangement, perhaps reflecting the anthology's thematic exploration of time, brevity, and the flow of lived experience.

"Todo lo que tiene fin es breve" is a carefully curated anthology spanning twenty-five years of Suardíaz's poetic output, drawing from his previous collections including "Colección de poetas de la ciudad de Camagüey" (1958), "Haber vivido" (1966), "Como quien vuelve de un largo viaje" (1975), and "Leyenda de la justa belleza" (1978), along with twelve previously unpublished pieces. The collection represents a significant moment in post-revolutionary Cuban poetry, with Suardíaz (1936-2005)—a journalist, editor, and cultural figure who served as director of the Biblioteca Nacional José Martí and vice president of UNEAC—offering long-form verses that merge philosophical reflection with everyday experience. The poems challenge conventional temporality and explore the development of revolutionary consciousness through personal and collective history.

Martínez (1927-1995), one of Cuba's most influential graphic designers and pop artists, helped establish the visual identity of revolutionary Cuban culture through his work with the Cuban Film Institute, Casa de las Américas, and the Cuban Book Institute. His book covers for Editorial Letras Cubanas became iconic markers of Cuba's post-1959 literary production, combining international modernist sensibilities with distinctly Cuban visual vocabularies. This design for the Giraldilla series—named after the weathervane symbol atop Havana's Castillo de la Real Fuerza—exemplifies the sophisticated design standards of Cuban publishing in the 1980s. The decorative yet structured approach reflects both the aesthetic rigor of the revolution's cultural institutions and the accessibility these institutions sought to maintain. Printed at the Establecimiento "Mario Reguera Gómez" in October 1983, this volume represents the intersection of literary excellence and graphic innovation that characterized Cuba's most productive period of cultural production.