A book to celebrate a 90th Birthday

Coralie’s vision was to present her mum a book that not only showcased her life, but also reflected her personality. She had chosen a beautiful photo of her mum to use on the front cover. This photo was taken when her mum was a young lady, standing under a blossom tree.  The blossom was used throughout the book as a subtle design feature, and the colour pink was also featured, being her mum’s favourite colour.

Coralie had collected old, printed photos from siblings and other family members. She also had a handwritten letter to include as well as other memorabilia such as certificates. Besides the printed photos, Coralie had curated a selection of digital photos to use in the book.  It was important to Coralie that the photos collected spanned her mum’s life – from early years through to the most recent family celebrations.

I started with a relaxed planning session with Coralie to understand the key chapters of her mum’s life and the tone she was hoping for. From there, I scanned and restored all of the printed photos and paper keepsakes that Coralie had collected, bringing faded images back to life. I worked closely with Coralie to curate, edit and design a comprehensive life story book that wove together photos, captions and storytelling across more than 80 pages.

What made the book particularly special was that each chapter in the book had a written anecdote about Coralie’s mum and each anecdote was written by each of her six children, as well as her sister and one of her grandchildren.

The result was a beautifully designed hardcover book that delved deeply into the life of Coralie’s mum.

Coralie and her siblings absolutely loved presenting this special book to their mum at her 90th birthday celebration. It truly was a special moment and as you can imagine, their mum just loved reading through the book, which gave her the opportunity to reflect on the amazing life she has lead.