Editorial Design: Ransomed
Brief Summary
This project involved conceptualising and developing the idea for a hardcover book on a person who is the subject of a 'Story Worth Telling'. The subject could not be a member of your immediate family and they had to be over the age of thirty and have an intriguing life story. Prior to the story being written in narrative form, interviews were done to gather information about this person's story. As long as the genre and narrative viewpoint were appropriate for the subject, they may be used. Following the creation of the content, original images had to be produced to go with it. This was followed by the layout phase, which involved designing the spreads. The entire book did not have to be created, only specific sections were designed as well as one full chapter of the book. Adult bibliophiles were the target audience of this book. The design, layout and illustrations have to be beautiful and unique.
Project Deliverables
1. A3 presentation boards (a minimum of 4) showing all components and spreads in mocked up format.
2.1 Dust jacket or outer cover
2.2 Inner cover
2.3 Two different endpapers
2.4 Title page
2.5 Imprint/copyright page
2.6 Contents page
2.7 One Completed chapter (minimum 4 spreads)
2.8 Three Additional chapters consisting of a title spread and one additional spread
Design Strategy
The world can be a cruel place that can swallow someone whole if they aren’t careful. Nadia has experienced loss, sadness, addiction and love all before the age of 36. Nadia moved to the United States at a young age after her parents got divorced to go live with her mother, who had ambitions of becoming a country singer. This ambition left little room for Nadia and her siblings, leaving her to fend for herself. At the age of 15, she experienced more freedom than ever before which would impact her for the rest of her life. Nadia has gone through more than any person should have to, especially at a very young age. One thing saved Nadia from a life full of darkness, and that is God. Even though she has done many things that she is not proud of, she is Ransomed. God paid the price for her sins and set her free, loving her unconditionally. This ultimately led her on a different path and changed her life.
After interviews with Nadia, I decided to write her story, starting with her adolescent years, which ultimately led her down a specific path. Even before moving to a different country, Nadia spoke about the different traumas she experienced in South Africa. This gave me insight into her upbringing, family dynamic, social interactions and habits. After moving to the States, things got progressively worse. Nadia went through many ups and downs, grappling with her own identity, purpose and relationships. This book is about her struggles however, despite all of the things she went through, God loved her and took her sins upon himself. She was reborn, ransomed.
Because of the nature of her story, the illustrations were done with blue and purple ink, using bleach to change the colour of the ink. This medium links back to Nadia's life. She has done so many things, good and bad, but they all left stains on her life. That is until she was Ransomed and God washed her of all her sins. Thus, the dust cover has splotches of ink and the cover of the book is white to symbolise this journey that Nadia had to go through. The medium is also very abstract, free-flowing and expressive to really evoke the emotion that was felt in the interviews. The red title on the white book cover represents the blood of Christ, making her new. This is a story full of joy, sadness, love and triumph. This is a story worth telling.
Nadia's Novel
Process Work
It is tough to tell a person's story. Great care was taken to tell this story as accurately as possible thus, multiple interviews were done with Nadia. She told her story, and was very open and willing from the start. She shared photo's of her time in America, remembering certain events as we pages through the album. Many of the pictures showed a bit of a false narrative but was helpful to get a lot of detail into the story. Ultimately, the emotion behind certain stories is what I wanted to capture in this book by using the writing and the illustrations as tools.
Moodboards
Illustration Moodboard
Design and Editorial Moodboard
Purple is a symbol for sacrifice, blood, and death. Christ is God and He is man. He took on the likeness of sinful flesh and, in some unexplained way, blended both natures into one.
Typography and Colour Palette
All the illustrations and media in this book was hand rendered to make it more personal and relatable. Initially, wine was explored as an option as it relates to Christianity as well as black ink and charcoal. After testing, coloured ink with bleach was used for the final result, as the combination thereof was very unique, bold and conveyed a lot of emotion. Blue in the bible, represents someone who is heavenly-minded. Purple is a symbol for sacrifice, blood, and death. Christ is God and He is man. He took on the likeness of sinful flesh and, in some unexplained way, blended both natures into one.
Ransomed in Action
Book cover and dust cover
Nadia's story is about her journey with God and religion. Thus, every chapter name has religion undertones to echo this journey with christianity.
Full Chapter
Chapter 5 is the chapter that I expanded on. This is the chapter that talks more about Nadia's time in the US. This was a hard transition and because of that, it was named 'Baptism by fire'. The imagery used is darker to substantiate her feeling of loneliness during this time. Even though it was exciting, it was also secluding and chaotic. Nadia was left to fend for herself.
