seasons

✦ Booklet Design, Typography

Client
Self Study

Role
Booklet Designer

Copywriter

Duration
1 month

Background

"seasons" explores the interplay between the natural world and Chinese traditions. Through its visually compelling and informative content, the booklet seeks to deepen the understanding by sharing stories of how each of nature's cycles influences Chinese customs.

Objective

To craft a compelling narrative that educates and captivates readers using thoughtful typographic choices and alluring illustrative imagery. "seasons" aims to invite readers to immerse themselves in these rich cultural stories and experience the traditions of each season.

✦ Process

01 | Designing

Conceptualizing
Layouts

Before I sketched out the layout for my booklet, I came up with the key elements I wanted to convey. I aimed for a blend of traditional Chinese elements along with modern design aspects. The goal was to create a booklet with a dynamic and engaging layout, intending to captivate users' interest in the seasons and Chinese culture.

Below are my various layout sketches along with a more developed version on Adobe Indesign.

Customizing
Typeface

I created a custom type that draws inspiration from the artistry of one-stroke Chinese calligraphy. This specialized form, known for writing entire characters with a singular, continuous brushstroke, encapsulates the dynamic energy of characters in a fluid, concise, and artistically expressive manner.

The font was initially conceptualized through digital hand sketches on Procreate, and later, these sketches were refined and vectorized using Adobe Illustrator. The finalized custom type is intended to be used as the heading on each page, presenting a unique and culturally inspired visual identity to the design.

02 | Constructing

Binding

One distinctive feature of the booklet is the intricate three-spike Japanese stab binding. The binding design is intentionally ambiguous and open to interpretation, allowing readers to determine the symbol, such as a flower, sun, leaf, or snowflake.

I also dedicated multiple rounds of practice to perfecting the binding technique before applying it to the final book.

✦ Outcome