This project explored the qualities of the printed book versus a digital book.

For the printed book, the focus was on representing the beautiful qualities of the garden in the children’s novel, The Secret Garden, a book I chose from the public domain. Different physical elements of the book uncover details in the story that portray The Secret Garden as well as introduce the mystery of the novel. The book jacket is cutaway to form a keyhole, as a way to get a sneak peak into the garden, which is represented by the floral fabric used to cover the book. The key to the garden was added as a book marker, and loose-leaf, pressed flowers were added to the colophon page at the end of the book.

The interactive book design was made for the iPad using Adobe’s Digital Publishing Suite. The digital design implemented many of the same elements as the printed book such as using the same headline typeface, and page-turning concept. This version helps the reader visualize a modern version of a mysterious garden. The emphasis was placed on user interaction and strong photography. On every other page in the chapter there is a photograph that the user can tap and zoom in on. There is also a slideshow of garden photographs, and a Contents page that allows the user to jump to a specific section in the book. Other digital elements that the iPad version contains are a movie clip that shows a part of the Secret Garden movie trailer, an animated flower colophon the zooms and rotates, and type on the title page the fades in after the user turns the page.

All photography for this project is original and by taking them in a modern day settings, the reader has the opportunity to experience a relationship to the photographs.