Book Cover for
The Botanical Explorers
Designed by Bree Reetz
The 1994 Original
The Botanist and Her Muleskinner: Lilla Irvin Leach and John Roy Leach. Pioneer Botanists in the Siskiyou Mountains.
Book by Golda Kirkpatrick, Charlene Holzwarth, and Linda Mullens. Leach Garden Friends: Portland, OR: 1994. 150 pp.
The story of a couple who were early botanists in the wilderness area of SW Oregon. Inside readers will be delighted by regional maps, numerous botanical illustrations and photos of the Naturalists, and an eight-page, classified table of all the plant species growing in the region, listing scientific and common names, habitat and bloom period.
The Problem
It’s no secret that everyone judges a book by its cover. Historical books, in particular, are at risk of being forgotten if their covers don’t appeal to modern readers.
When I saw this book for sale in its original 1994 design at the Leach Botanical Garden I saw potential. In fact, I love the idea of revitalizing interest in stories from the past with eye-catching design.
I set out to reimagine the book:
I took the creative liberty to update the title to something more succinct and easy to interpret.
I created custom illustrations and collaged them together with the photo used in the original design Lilla Leach at Horsesign Butte, May 1931.
I used a dark background inspired by leading botanical books available today, but chose a warm color scheme overall to help it stand out from it’s neighbors in that section.
