Speculative States is an anthology of texts on different territories that skirt the edge of conventional statehood. One is Somaliland, a de facto independent country in the Horn of Africa that is virtually unrecognized by any other countries. Another is Tuvalu, an island country in Oceania, which is planning to move to the metaverse because it is facing imminent threat of losing all its land to rising sea levels. And yet another is Zomia, a vast mountain region in Southeast Asia that is characterized by its fugitivity from state control and nation-building efforts.

The book bootlegs passport design to reflect these fringe cases of statehood, and uses Unstately, a typeface I created by customizing Ramiro Espinoza's Medusa. My adaptation was inspired by the ornate script found in 17th-century European maps to denote country names, as well as guilloche patterns, the elaborate government-patented patterns printed on banknotes and passports to protect against counterfeiting. For the images interspersed throughout the book, I applied another engraving pattern for currency.