Flower Fables

The design and production of a book in the public domain.
Flower Fables
Timeline: Winter 2024, 5 Weeks
My Role: Sole typesetter
Program(s): InDesign
I designed a small hand-bound edition of The Flower Fables by Louisa May Alcott — author of Little Women — for my Bookarts class in the fall semester of my junior year. The project allowed me to dedicate my attention to typographic layout and production craft. I explored paragraph and character styles, typographic hierarchy, and the structure of long-form text, while also designing a colophon and copyright page to better understand book publishing conventions.

I collaborated with an external printing company to indigo print the interior pages, learning how to communicate print specifications, choose paper stock, manage production timelines, and adapt to material constraints. This experience strengthened my skills in flexibility, problem-solving, and clear professional communication. Finally, I designed and printed a custom letterpress cover and hand-bound a limited edition of the book. The finished result reflects both technical craft and personal care—a thoughtful blend of digital and analog bookmaking. 
A selection of the letterpress cuts I used to print the cover of Flower Fables. a photo of the letterpress cover printed in dark green ink laid out flat on a table. a scan of an example double page spread in my edition of Flower fables. a scan of the copyright and title page spread in my edition of flower fables. Scan of the colophon I designed in the back of Flower Fables. a photo of the completed Flower Fables book, showing the button hole stitch binding.