“What is Graphic Design?” Bespoke Children’s Book

The full interior design can be viewed on Issuu.

Type of Work: Book Design, Bookbinding, Illustration
Fall 2015

When I made this project, I was an undergrad design student studying something many of my peers were unfamiliar with. So when I introduced myself to new people, it went something like this:

Me: “Hi, my name is Brianna!”
New Person: “Hi! Tell me about yourself!”
Me, enthusiastically: “I’m a graphic designer!!!!!” ...
...
...
New Person, blankly: “Ok.”

That empty “k” was usually followed by a variety of follow-up questions: “What is graphic design?” “Are you, like, one of those people who sells logos for $5 online?” Or, the most vague and generic of all, “What is design?” The answers seemed so obvious to me, as if these were questions a child would ask. Taking frustration as inspiration, I answered these questions, not for the adults who asked me this, but for children in a book I wrote, designed, illustrated, and hand-bound.