Let's Grow A Garden

Date

Aug 2025

Programs

Illustrator
Photoshop
Indesign

From seed to screen to print

One of my passions in graphic design is book cover design. I wanted to create a passion project that would also help pay for my schooling. I have always been drawn towards the book market because of my love for reading and the stories that helped shape me as a person. The goal of this project was to create a children’s book written and illustrated by myself that I could publish.

Key Requirements & Goals
• Find a niche in the childrens book market
• Graphics that will work in parallel to the script
• A published book that works as a passion project and helps pay for school
• Create an engaging script that will guide the story with interactive aspects

A family of four sitting inside a fabric tent, reading a book and eating popcorn together.

Tomato plant with ripe red and unripe green tomatoes surrounded by green leaves.

Person wearing green gardening gloves pouring seeds from a packet into another person's open hands outdoors.

Person wearing white gloves and blue jeans kneeling and holding a clump of soil and grass.

A bee collecting nectar on a yellow wildflower surrounded by similar yellow flowers and green leaves.

Rooting through research

The first task was to find a profitable niche that I could capitalize on and that aligned with my interests. When researching for a niche subject for my story, I found that Amazon only had 400 children's storybooks about gardening. Further, I found that even fewer of these books were interactive, influencing my decision to make the book interactive.

From sketches to buds

After researching and applying the concept, it was time to start sketches/storyboarding. The sketches shown below are the first layout of what I imagined the layout to look like. The pages are laid out in a way that would show me the illustrations with the written content, ensuring that the story flowed in unison with the imagery. This layout was helpful when figuring out how to apply the interactivity of the book and how to integrate it into the story without disruption.

Children's book rough layout and design sketches showing page spreads with flower illustrations, a window frame, a door with a doorknob and text notes.

Hand-drawn rough sketches for a children's book layout showing gardening tools, sun with clouds, soil with worms, cleared soil, and planted seeds with accompanying descriptions and script text.

Children’s book rough layout sketches showing garden growth stages: seeds in soil, sprouts watered, plants growing, sun and moon, and blooming sunflowers with script and description notes.

Young girl in a white dress with blue flowers watering plants in a garden bed.

Illustration of four snack packets with icons of a carrot, sunflower seed, and a purple leaf, surrounded by scattered seeds on a light blue background.

Illustration of a bee flying near purple tulips, yellow sunflowers, and red tomatoes with green foliage and a blue sky.

Woman and young boy picking red and green bell peppers in a greenhouse garden.

Tending to the garden

For the design, I wanted to keep the overall look and feel very clean, colourful, and not overly complicated, so I decided that a flat 2D illustration style would suit the story best. I wanted the colours to pop and catch the attention of the targeted audience, being children ages 3-8.

Full bloom, the final look

The chosen design allows children to enjoy the fun illustrations and build important cognitive skills. As this is a children’s book, the story also had to be engaging and exciting.

Children's interactive book titled 'Let's Grow a Garden' showing illustrations of seed packets, a box labeled seeds, and garden vegetables and flowers.

Illustration of a yellow crescent moon and stars in a dark purple night sky with clouds and text reading: 'Shh... plants grow best when they think you are asleep! Close your eyes and imagine them big and bright!'

Open children's book illustration showing soil with small sticks, stones, and worms.

Brown box labeled SEEDS with a beige background and text instructing to drag finger across the box to open it.

Open children's book showing garden tools on left page and a large yellow sun with clouds on right page.

Four seed packets featuring a carrot, tulips, a sunflower, and a tomato with scattered seeds around them and a caption about the seeds.

Illustrations of a carrot labeled 'CARROTS' and a tomato labeled 'TOMATOES' on colored rectangular backgrounds.

Yellow and red tulip with three petals open against a blurred green background.

Close-up of a bumblebee collecting nectar from a tall purple flower spike with blurred purple flowers in the background.

Little seeds, incredible lessons

Most feedback was received from family and friends, saying how much they loved the book and can’t wait for more. Along with the few reviews left by people who had bought and enjoyed the book from Amazon. Overall, the feedback I received was positive and constructive.

Skills strengthened
• Storyboarding and problem solving
• Adaptability
• Communication

I am currently working on a second book that would be part of a series. It’s called, ‘Let’s Bake A Cake.’ I want to approach the typography and story structure differently, the number of pages and overall look and design. I don’t want to change it too much from the first one because it is a series, but enough that it shows I adapted and have learned from my first.

Other Case Studies

Three colorful SuperBelly product boxes labeled Acai Pomegranate, Strawberry Hibiscus, and Lemon Ginger surrounded by fresh strawberries and blackberries.

Blume Packaging

Branding / Package design / Layout

View Project

Art House Cafe

Brand Identity / Brand Visuals / Logo Design

View Project

Two boxed Yahtzee game sets, one blue and one yellow, with the text 'The Fun Game That Makes Thinking Fun!'

Yahtzee Redesign

Logo Design / Brand Identity / Brand Visuals

View Project

Mother with long hair kissing and hugging her smiling young son outdoors with text 'Same Families. Different Stories.' and a drawn smiling sun above.

FAR Campaign

Campaign Design / Layout / Product Design / Asset Creation

View Project

I'd love to hear from you!

If you connect with my work and are looking for someone to help bring your design vision to life, I'm here for it. Let's talk about how we can create something meaningful together.

Let's Chat