Wildwood - Typography

My heart and soul was put into this project. If you know me well, you know how much I Loveeee!! Laika Studios. Wildwood will be their new upcoming stop motion movie adaptation. I thought the physical moving picture could be an interesting twist into the typography. The enchanting world of Wildwood, is rich with adventure, humour, danger and an engaging exploration of morality and choice. Prue and Curtis encounter an array of challenges which builds a complex narrative that can be dissected in many different routes for the typography. Although, I’ll never be able to top the original cover. I loved making this.

I had several propositions in mind for the nature and ivy theme. I wanted each letter in the type face to be reconstructed into something that coils like the tendrils of an ivy plant for this every ending of the shape needed to have that curly effect. After this I considered creating something that looked more like a vine stalk climbing up, so I added this stitched effect to the type face which ultimately ended up being my favourite.

I wanted to bring a physical element to wildwood due to its upcoming stop motion film with Laika studios. So, I decided I would embroider the typeface. It portrays the unruliness of the ivy plants tendrils. There's a sort of restless nature present within its characteristic.

Ivy has many semiotic connotations and symbolic meanings in literature. One big theme in the book is the ivy plant, as it aims to destroy every living thing in Wildwood. The ivy also represents symbolisms of greed and power, in its own semiotic connotation its known as a mighty and invasive plant that can climb several feet high. Almost like it has a parasitical nature within its own characteristic. Ivy tends to grow where it wants to and latch itself onto anything it can find no matter the surface. Similarly, the dowager wants to overtake Wildwood and kill every living thing within the forest. The ivy brings a sense of danger and dystopia as it threatens a perfect utopian world where animals and humans can coexist in harmony.

Carson Ellises illustrations from the “Wildwood” novel are used in this piece for my university module. They are not my own paintings! Carson Ellis is the author and illustrator of several bestselling picture books including “Wildwood”. Initially, when I was deciding to make a product that accompanies my chosen novel. I conceptualised how I could pay homage to Carson's illustrations.  They unveil the magic that lies deep within the forest and brings the enchanting world of wildwood in its own entity. To include Carson’s aquarelle stylisation makes the game board unique and without a doubt full of exploration for younger audiences.

“Ivy & Ladders” idea (traditionally known as “Snakes and Ladders”). The reason I chose this physical outcome was because of its ability to commence you into the journey Prue follows through the forest.  In a way it’s an interactive piece in which a virtual world is brought to life. This is also a fundamental correlation to their new upcoming stop motion movie with Laika studios. One big theme in the book is the ivy plant, as it aims to destroy every living thing in Wildwood, I thought this was a nice parallel to the snakes in the game that could be replaced with my ivy illustrations from the book cover. The ivy also represents symbolisms of greed and power, in its own semiotic connotation its known as a mighty and invasive plant that can climb several feet high. Almost like it has a parasitical nature within its own characteristic. Ivy tends to grow where it wants to and latch itself onto anything it can find no matter the surface. Similarly, the dowager wants to overtake Wildwood and kill every living thing within the forest. The ivy brings sense of danger and dystopia as it threatens a perfect utopian world where animals and humans can coexist in harmony.

I wanted to explore what my audience would want to see as an addition to the book. If creating a product, I wanted it to be something they would actually buy. The audience genre for this book is young adult - age group; so, a game is the perfect product to accompany that. The infamous snakes and ladders game can be twisted into a story telling game as it follows a path that Prue could travel down while revisiting characters in the book or certain times of danger. Interestingly enough, the game was created in India during the 13th century as a tool for teaching children about morality and the consequences of their actions. The game is played on a board that depicts a path leading from the bottom to the top. Progression up the board represented a life journey. Ladders symbolised good deeds like “kindness, faith and humility” while snakes stood for bad deeds like “anger, murder and theft”. On one side Alexandra is a complex antagonist which juxtaposes your own moral compass; beneath her cold exterior lies a tragic backstory filled with loss and a series of unfortunate events. Her fall from grace fuels her vengeful actions, these actions also reflect “anger, murder and theft” as she tries to awaken the forest through the sacrifice of Prue’s baby brother Mac.

Discovering the parallels between the board game and the novel; I find they have numerous overlapping themes. The goal of the game was to reach the top of the board, which represented the attainment of enlightenment. In the original Hindu game, snakes outnumbered ladders, signifying that a moral path is more difficult to traverse than a life of bad deeds. that salvation is attainable through righteous deeds, while evil deeds lead to rebirth in lower forms of life. Similarly, this highlights Alexandra’s (The Governess) need to try and lead an army of coyotes in an aim to rebirth wildwood to its original state of ubiquity of overgrown ivy, which is why in my perspective the ivy is a perfect mirror to the snakes and a great test of morality for children as they will question ‘what is the honourable thing to do?’ when taken along on the quest.