Nat
Illustrated Publication
A collection of recipes from Mildred Johnson
Objective
Mildred Johnson was my great-grandmother. I knew her as "MaMa". This illustrated publication is in honor of her. It is
a scrapbook of treasured memories and need-to-make recipes. The objective was to design a cookbook that felt like a vintage time capsule. While you do not know Mildred Johnson like I do, I hope this cookbook brings you sweet nostalgia and inspires you to share a piece of cake with someone you love.
Mildred Johnson and her famous Lemon Meringue Pie.
Illustration
The illustrations were created with Procreate. I utilized inking brushes to build washes of color, instead of a heavy, opaque approach. The patterns were inspired by vintage fabric and tableware.
Text + Layout
For the body copy, I chose the serif typeface, Athelas. It is easy to read for the times when the butter and brown sugar are simmering a little too fast and you can't remember what temperature to preheat the oven. The two column structure gives visual cues to move onto the next step—even when stressed in the kitchen.
Binding
When designing the cover and spine, I wanted the focus to be on Mildred. The cover includes the photo that was featured in the her newspaper, which shows her cutting into the lemon meringue pie. The typography of her name mimics the hand written element of her original recipe cards.
Final
I used a blending mode and textured paper effect to create a well loved look for each page. This enhanced the vintage feel for the publication. I included scanned elements from newspaper clippings and her original recipe cards.