Book design: down the rabbit hole

Happy bright, sunny, and wonderful Friday! Ah! The weekend is finally here! But before I sign off I would like to share a little personal project of mine as I promised earlier this week, are you with me?

Alice in Wonderland is one of my favorite Disney classics, and when I had to choose a topic to design a book on in my final year of design school, there was no doubt in my mind that I would want to base it on the fantasy tale. Since Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland comes out today, I thought what could be more fitting than to share with you my own version of my book that I recently reprinted and bound with a hardcover and slipcover?

The original story has so many hidden messages and is pretty twisted itself, but I wanted to exaggerate the “dark” aspects of the story and design my book for an adult audience instead of a children’s fairy tale. I chose to portray a visual story through collages combining my own original photography, illustration and typography designed just for the book of course. Mirroring the actual Disney movie and ‘old hollywood’ movies, the story begins by fading into the first scene, and ends with a fade out.

The main events in the story are highlighted in my book, and messages are emphasized with very intricate and big illustrations and experimental typography. I wanted to stay away from narrating the story using text since I feel like it is well known enough and could be understood using only visuals. What do you think? Do you follow?

My main aim was to have fun with the book, and create an adventure for the reader. Like they would be diving into the story through the visuals, and they can do with them whatever they would like. I hope you enjoyed my book! Are you excited to see Tim Burton’s take on Alice in Wonderland?

(images: samia kallidis for burrs & berries)