From the start, the artist and I had a clear vision of the type of book we wanted to create—a scrapbook that one could either read as a whole story from beginning to end or flip through to read a little here and a little there. We decided at an early stage that the graphic design would be an important part of the expression of the book. We have collaborated closely: the artist worked on the text and the images simultaneously while I did the graphic design. We would call out to each other: “This text is too long for this page,” and “Wouldn’t it be great with such and such an image here?”

This book contains different types of information at different levels and I have chosen to let the design reflect that. For example, the astronauts’ personal quotes are handwritten on notepaper and the hard facts on the rocket and command module and so on I made as fact sheets, trying to make them look a bit like blueprints.

I have tried to keep the design quiet, in order to try to make the book as silent as space itself.

“What an exciting package to deliver nonfiction material to young readers. Starting with the spaceship metallic jacket, we are led through a friendly and innovative design that uses line illustration, old photographs (cropped in a modern way!), clear diagrams and highly readable text. This is perfect from beginning to end.” Isabel Warren-Lynch