Project overview
The goal of this project was to graphically interpreting a haiku through an eight page zine. The poem I chose to represent was “O snail” by Kobayashi Issa.
O snail
Climb Mount Fuji,
But slowly, slowly
The interpretation I wished to emphasize through my composition was the idea that everyone’s journey is different, the snail representing how we can still accomplish great things and overcome hurdles even if we are small or if it takes longer than it may take others.
Sketches
My main idea was to use line to both symbolically represent the different paths we take as well as to visually reference the trail of slime a snail leaves behind.
Primary iteration
My initial digital iteration was much too literal, and I felt like the symbolic story of journeys and different pathways was not as clear as it should be.
Simplified Iterations
I went back to the basics and represented the snail using only a dot, which lent much more nicely to the symbolic interpretation I was aiming to express.
Typography Experimentation
After applying color, I began adding text. I struggled with the text on the final page for a bit. I wanted the word “slowly” to feel slow and heavy, however not in a negative way. I experimented with ways to express the word in a way that still felt slow, but also carried a sense of accomplishment.
