Solitary Defiance
This project began with uncertainty—I explored a wide range of garden-related ideas before narrowing in on the cactus. The turning point was realising the book didn’t just need to describe the cactus, it needed to behave like one. This shaped everything from my tone of voice to my grid system and typographic choices.
Real-world production constraints became part of the project’s identity. Working with an independent printer and a bookbinder, I had to adapt quickly when timelines shifted, hand-making inserts and embracing imperfections. These challenges reinforced the core theme: design as survival.
The book uses a minimal, deliberate typographic approach that reflects the cactus’s endurance. A restrained grid structure, limited palette, and poetic copy work together to express survival, stillness, and bloom, values carried through from concept to execution.
I explored the cultural, poetic and symbolic meanings of gardens before selecting cacti.
Weekly critiques and field trips (including a visit to Mt Baw Baw) shaped the book’s tone, moving from silence and survival to the emotional release of bloom.
Weekly critiques and field trips (including a visit to Mt Baw Baw) shaped the book’s tone, moving from silence and survival to the emotional release of bloom.
This was my first time overseeing a fully print-based publication from layout to binding.
I worked with Little Print and Melbourne School of Bookbinding, managing untrimmed print files, post-print assembly, and binding. The final outcome is a hand-finished, high-concept book grounded in materiality.
I worked with Little Print and Melbourne School of Bookbinding, managing untrimmed print files, post-print assembly, and binding. The final outcome is a hand-finished, high-concept book grounded in materiality.
