For Joy

Date

2017

Material

Matte paper 100#
Steel screw hinge
Chip board

An exploration of book design based on interviews with my mother, Resi Joy. A mo‘olelo (spoken history) of overcoming tragedy and struggle - a burn survivor with nearly 75% of her body covered in scars. Her story inspired the design and form of this book.

Based a Pantone swatch book, the color swatches reference the shades of skin, from her natural sunkissed tone to white hot and damaged. Graphically, elements in the book shift from chaotic and fragmented in the beginning toward rebuilt and structured. This change chronicales the healing of her skin, and the rebuilding of her life after the event. The quote "let the house burn down" on the reverse a reminder of what is important: a house can be rebuilt, but a life cannot.