We The Many

After exploring several creative directions with the client, we connected with the idea of individual lives weaving together to form each generation. This became the central concept for the book, expressed through threads, woven patterns, and overlapping visual elements that symbolise the connections between people, places, and time.

I paired this concept with a vibrant colour palette to move away from the conventions of a traditional history textbook and towards a contemporary, design-led coffee table book. Combining photographs supplied by the client with Creative Commons imagery, I brought together classical paintings, archival photography, and modern graphic elements.

The front and back covers became a visual collage of these influences, reflecting the meeting of past and present that runs throughout the book.

Pull quotes and typographic moments gave the voices in each story room to breathe, while the endpapers and finishing details carried the woven motif to the very edges of the book.

Before designing the individual pages, I established a set of flexible layouts for infographics, informational spreads, and more distinctive feature stories. This gave the 230-page book a clear visual structure while allowing each story to be presented in a way that suited its content.

One particularly memorable spread was inspired by the story of Franz, who travelled from Germany to the United States and changed his name to Francis. I translated this moment of cultural transition into a bold graphic treatment, creating a visual approach that could also distinguish other significant stories throughout the book.

I also developed specific treatments for the archival photographs and created recurring graphic elements, including threads and woven patterns. These details connected the different sections, giving the book a recognisable visual language without making every page feel the same.

Generations of names, dates and journeys needed to be easy to follow, so I designed a set of infographics to sit alongside the stories: a timeline of key moments, a map tracing each branch of the family’s migration, and a lineage diagram connecting the people throughout the book.

To accompany the book, I designed supporting materials for an intimate launch event that invited guests to engage with the themes of family history, cultural diversity, and shared experiences. These included brochures, bookmarks, and hands-on activities such as bracelet weaving, bringing the book’s central concept into the physical experience.

Rather than treating genealogy as a story of lineage alone, the event focused on how different backgrounds and individual journeys intersect. The weaving theme became a natural bridge between the book and the gathering, encouraging guests to reflect on the many threads that connect us as people.