A high-school design and layout project from a Grade 12 Communication Technology course, this coffee-table book project gives the reader a glimpse into the history of ink-grinding while mixing text with visuals.

This book was my first print design project. It introduced me to basic typography, layout planning, and Adobe InDesign. I included it in my Winter 2017 design portfolio, but the original files were unfortunately left on a high-school Mac hard drive and deleted.

Looking back from 2021, I can see that I maintained a strong aesthetic consistency throughout the entire book with typefaces and graphic elements. However, text legibility was one of this project's weaknesses. 

As a teenager, I always tried to find ways to connect to my Chinese heritage through my work while trying to keep Orientalist elements at an arm's length. I didn't want my designs to look like a stereotype of East Asian culture.

In hindsight, I should've prioritized the text over the graphics and kept the graphics within the margins. These issues were the most prevalent on the page highlighting the difference between ground and bottled ink.

I still like the decision to use ink splotches, paint marks, and brushstrokes to add a new texture to the pages. It tied the pages together and drew a link to the typeface used for the headings.

Overall, I can see a lot of growth between this project and my design work now. I can pick out a lot of design choices I still like but see a lot of potential improvement at the same time. It was refreshing to re-examine and reflect on old work, crucial for advancing skill and personal development.