In terms of the design process, there were a lot of components I took into consideration. First, something that I took very seriously was the typography. I wanted to make sure that the Korean-English typeface pairings were similar in texture to be more cohesive, while still maintaining legibility and a friendliness that is suitable for children’s books. After I established the typefaces I wanted to use, I came up with an illustration style that I could employ throughout all three books, and this was one of the most difficult parts of the process. I wanted to come up with a new style that could be differentiated from my previous work but still felt true to me as an illustrator. Once I landed on an illustration style that I was happy with, it was just a matter of arranging the illustrations and text so that they worked in harmony and created a well-designed book. The resulting products are these three books that are floating around. Each book focuses on a different topic. We have one about Korean consonants, one about animals, and one about numbers and fruit.
Looking back on the process, it turned out being a lot more reflective than I had initially imagined it to be. I had to think a lot about the visuals and text I would have wanted to consume as a child. Also, I drew a lot of influence from my life when creating the characters and storylines, and even when I was creating the exhibition space, I had some pictures of me and my brother from an age that I imagine we would have been reading these books. It was through this reflective processes that emphasized just how important representation is in children’s literature, especially for future generations to come.
