The Challenge

Peter and Wendy (also known as the Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up or Peter Pan) is the story of a mischievous little boy who can fly and his adventures on the island of Neverland with Wendy Darling and her brothers, the fairy Tinker Bell, the Lost Boys, the princess Tiger Lily, and the pirate Captain Hook.This classic tale touches on the importance of cherished memories, the innocence of friendship as well as the bittersweet feeling one experiences as one grows up. Peter and Wendy is a well-loved story that deserves to be reinterpreted in a way that can be reached by additional audiences.

The Process

The original inspiration for the interior and exterior came from a love for both vintage typography and whimsical art, such as those seen in Studio Ghibli films. My intention was to marry decorative type with engaging and textured visuals. The book’s illustrations are appropriate for all ages, but there was an emphasis on drawing a more adolescent audience to read this particular version of the story of Peter and Wendy.

The typography on the cover of Peter and Wendy underwent many changes in order to create a balance between the representation of the characters within the book.

The final green colour on the cover created a more inviting feeling, as opposed to some of the darker iterations. The final position of the “Never Bird” was also adjusted later for increased visual interest.

Because Peter and Wendy is a traditional book, the changes within the interior itself were minor details, such as adjusting leading, font size, and placement of headers and footers. The most important part of the interior design was the layout of the chapter numbers and titles.

The Results

This version of Peter and Wendy incorporates illustrations with both a sketched and lino cut quality to compliment the elegant type. The book’s illustrations and typography blend well to pull in a modern audience, but still pay homage to the original, classic publication. 

The intention was to create illustrations that could have been scrawled by the main character, Wendy, as she recalls her adventures with Peter and the Lost Boys in Neverland.

The book layout incorporates a traditional manuscript grid for casual reading. With this being said, dynamic typefaces are used in chapter numbers and titles in order to bring refreshing interest to the reader as they continue through the adventure of Peter and Wendy. Swashes and ligatures were added to the ornate and whimsical design of the Fire Flight typeface in order to create the most dynamic chapter titles, as can be seen above.

Project Information