Book Design

5 Things Book Set

Everyone has favorite objects that they've picked up along the way, whether by inheritance, gift, or bought. Favorite things represent little moments, little stories, in a person's life and you can learn a lot of about a person just by their top five (can't live without) objects. That's what this book-set is inspired by. For this specific set, the person interviewed choose the following: the ukulele, a Biology Degree from Indiana University, a coconut nativity from Aruba, and some mementos from a study abroad trip to Indonesia.

Each booklet is dedicated solely to each object and the story that comes with each piece. You can see the objects and learn more about their stories below.

A few of the objects featured in the book set:

The Approach

 In the sketching and ideation phase, the primary inspiration came from organic materials and figuring out how to push organic materials in different formats. At one point, there was a coconut shell cover idea that came out of the inspiration of the coconut nativity object. Making use of sustainable materials was incredibly important to this project due to the interviewee's love for the environment and animals. 

Another driving theme was working with the concept of giving each object its own space to tell a story. Whether that be by a panel format, separate books, or including physical representation, etc.

Once a design direction was settled on and created, the goal then became finding papers/etc. that were recycled and could be easily recycled. There were explorations of straw and hemp paper before eventually settling on  Mohawk Paper's sustainable paper line, which is made out of extremely high amounts of post-consumer waste. The outside packaging that holds the books is cardboard.

Aside from sustainability, the outside packaging was inspired by the love of travel as it's meant to mimic a package you might receive in the mail. Like a small journal set.

The Interviewee:

© Olivia Allison Design