Round the Garden

Illustrating a very simple and succinct story based on the Japanese box-style poems, our challenge was to create visual intricacy that would engage the reader and convey deeper meaning, yet augment the simplicity of the words.

To honor the simplistic beauty of the poem and maintain the fluidity of the text, we devoted entire spreads to the type, placing it in rhythmic sequence with the illustration spreads. We used icons on the type spreads to foreshadow the illustrations, and to suggest a continual unfolding that is analogous to the growth cycle. As the book opens, the color palette begins with yellow, and circles through the entire spectrum of the rainbow, eventually returning again to yellow to inspire the feeling of natural evolution. To create an added layer of information, we also incorporated scientific diagrams such as cloud types and the natural elements required in the growth process.