Adventures with Alice
When I was 28, my mom passed away suddenly. It was an enormous shock to me and my family. In the weeks after her passing, I decided I want to create a cookbook with all of the recipes she made so my siblings and I could each have a copy.
CLIENT | Self-directed project
ROLE | Design & illustration
SCOPE | 36-page cookbook with family recipes
Most recipes just had a list of ingredients, so I had to make some of them two or three times to get it right (and yeah, it was all very emotional)
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My mom was a 70s child, which is evident when you look at the recipe list (let’s just say there’s more than one kind of Jell-O salad).
I wanted the book to be something she would have loved. I used 70s-inspired typography, colors, and illustrations along with digitized bits of my mom’s handwriting.
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Plan the book layout & content
Making the recipes, deciphering steps when there were just a list of ingredients provided, and digitizing handwriting
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Bring it all together in a keepsake
We ended up ordering about 100 copies and people still tell me that they cook out of it often and remember her through it. In hindsight, creating this was a huge part of my grieving and healing process.
I also recorded a Skillshare class documenting the creation since so many people have asked me how I did it.
LESSON LEARNED | As difficult as it is to pick back up after that loss, I’m constantly reminded of my mom’s commitment to love and nourish the people around her.
