Paper Boat Booksellers
West Seattle’s beloved bookshop, Paper Boat, was moving into a bigger location in the Alaska Junction. To commemorate the milestone, the owners were looking for a redesigned giveaway bookmark for customers to take home with their new purchases. The shop had cultivated a distinctive personality over the years, so the new design had to retain the brand feeling of being warm and imaginative and slightly whimsical without coming across as too childlike. It had to encapsulate the familiar feeling of escaping into a great read.
Concept Development
After a few conversations with Eric and Desirae about tone and style, I began sketching concepts. I organized the initial drawings into three categories, with each focusing on a different interpretation of the feeling of escape.
Initial sketches
Digitally refining the layout
The chosen direction depicts a small paper boat at sail by night on a sea of imagination. I iterated on the layout to include additional elements that represent the Pacific Northwest: trees and mountains in the foreground, ocean in the background.
Color Exploration
After exploring a variety of background colors, we eventually agreed on the visually intriguing combination of the line drawing layered on top of a watercolor texture. I made a series of watercolor background options, and when Eric & Desirae couldn’t choose between their two favorites, they decided to print both!
We printed bookmarks in two contrasting color palettes, Midnight and Twilight.