Project Deliverables:

• 60 page cookbook organized from appetizers, main dishes, to desserts, etc.

• Multiple categories of different recipes, ranging from savory to dessert 

• Cover, table of contents and back cover

• Food photography elements for at least 15 of the recipes, at least one photo in each category

Project Objectives:

• To independently research, design, and produce a 60 page cookbook including photos, typeset along with creative aspects 

• To identify my recipes, their grouping and organize them in the cookbook 

• To do thorough research and add accurate facts about the recipes

• To maintain the family style identity of the cookbook throughout the design process

• To take critique from my classmates as well as professors and apply them to my design properly

• To look back on my process and continue a consistency throughout the entire project

Design Profile:

To begin my project, the first thing was to decide what I even wanted to do for my project. I most likely went through 500 different ideas that I thought about doing. I thought thoroughly about things I could do and why it would be a meaningful and powerful project. In my family, we had a wonderful family member named Aunt June. She was an amazing cook and created lots of delicious recipes that have been passed around in my family for many years. A few years prior my mom talked about making a cookbook about my Aunt June to give out to my family and keep her legacy going. I thought this would be the best option for my senior project as it would be a project that would keep me motivated and that I will not start to burn out working on something I'm really motivated about.

Moving into the project in a more detailed way, I looked at all of the recipes we had collected over time and had saved in a document. I realized that I definitely did not have enough recipes to make an entire cookbook which prompted me to evolve my project into a family cookbook. I started collecting all of my favorite recipes from around my family and recipes that are a “big deal” in my family. Over time, I was able to organize all of my recipes into a document and start to put together my cookbook.

Next started the research part of my project; I made sure to look into food photography as well as research to start the layout of my book. I used different websites and resources to start creating ideas and begin the process of the book. Once I began the book I found my printing company and used their template to continue my process. The final book includes photography, typography as well as being bound by a professional printing company to give me my final hardcover book that contains 72 pages, images, and a front and back cover.

Target Audience:

As explained in my proposal this project’s target audience is men and women aged 25-40, more specifically fathers and mothers or family oriented people. I hope this cookbook can help increase the amount of family dinners a week. The audience is specifically families as the cookbook is mainly based on my family so I would like it to resonate further with families. I feel that I chose my target audience based on looking at the entirety of the project and who I feel like this project resonated most and the group of people that would be most interested by. I designed with families in mind as well as family oriented people.

Process Narrative:

Starting with this project, I had to think about what feel and mood I wanted to create with my cookbook. I wanted to keep the cookbook related to my family but I wanted to modernize the book itself in order to allow the cookbook to hold to the times and stay relevant multiple years later. I wanted to create a feeling of nostalgia with my photography by making the recipes look home-made while still being modern.

First, I wanted to create the layout in order to make everything easier. I laid out all of my information in a google doc before creating layout ideas in InDesign. I presented my ideas and found the perfect layout. I started designing the book and integrating the photos into my layouts. After most of the book was properly laid out I started creating my photos. 

I either made the recipes or found copies of recipes at the store to photograph. I took time to think about my background and props that would work alongside my items. Using all of this I put everything together and made sure things looked perfect, taking time to reshoot photos that needed to be taken again.

Research Synopsis:

Beginning with basic research, I sat down and opened Pinterest and looked through different cookbooks, layouts and food photography and other cookbook inspiration that could be found on there. I started taking notes of things I liked about the cookbooks I saw and things I did not like. I made sure to sketch out my ideas and present them to my classmates in order to get feedback for my ideas that I created myself from doing my research. Once I started getting an idea of basic layouts I started looking at inspiration and fonts, making mood-boards which included colors, images and fonts in order to make my design choices become more clear and come together.

Next, I did deeper research on photos and once again used Pinterest. I looked at different food photography photos in order to get inspiration on things I could do and props I could use. I tried to use the same props in order to reflect a household as well as the same table prop. I was given a food photography book by one of my professors and I read through it and it helped me get ideas for what I wanted to do. By doing this research both my project layout and my photos turned out very good and created a wonderful cookbook.