Alice | martha
Typography 2, May 2004
Typography 2, May 2004
The assignment: Find a text that complements Alice in Wonderland and create a book that illustrates some kind of interplay between the two.
In Wonderland, Alice meets new characters in settings like a kitchen and tea party, and inevitably has trouble adjusting to the "curious" social situations she finds herself in. Parties, tarts, and gardening are right up Martha Stewart's alley, so I decided to use excerpts from her first book, Entertaining, and issues of Living magazine as the secondary text.
In Wonderland, Alice meets new characters in settings like a kitchen and tea party, and inevitably has trouble adjusting to the "curious" social situations she finds herself in. Parties, tarts, and gardening are right up Martha Stewart's alley, so I decided to use excerpts from her first book, Entertaining, and issues of Living magazine as the secondary text.
Alice's text is set in a somewhat classical style, but takes on whimsy to better illustrate certain situations, like falling down the rabbit hole or growing to larger/smaller proportions.
Martha's helpful tips start out somewhat unobtrusively and morph into an entity that threatens to overtake Alice in Wonderland. The paper even changes from an offwhite matte stock to glossy, crisp white to emphasize the transformation.
Recipes, crafts, Good Things, and self-promotion are inserted with more frequency as Martha's controlling nature comes out. It's revealed that Martha is the Queen of Hearts pulling strings behind the curtain—as who else would be so neurotic about roses and tarts?
In the end, Alice finds the strength to stand up to the Queen of Hearts and gets her book back.
