Field Notes
A seasonal journal that records a garden the way a naturalist would — dated, observed, and in colour.
Self-initiated concept study — not client work. Photography from Unsplash, used illustratively.
The challenge
Garden publications swing between gift-shop sentiment and dry plant catalogues. This journal needed the rigour of a field record and the warmth of a walk on a clear morning.
The strategy
Dated observations
Every entry carries a date, a bed number, and the weather, like a page from a naturalist's notebook.
Specimen layouts
Plants are set like pressed specimens: one subject, generous white space, a precise caption beneath.
The season sets the palette
Each issue takes its colours from what is in flower — poppy orange and open sky for early summer.
The identity
A naturalist's roman — quiet, legible, dated.
- Open sky#4AA2D6
- Poppy#F29A1A
- Stem#5B7B47
- Notebook#F6F1E5
- Display
- Instrument Serif
- Text
- Archivo
A naturalist's serif for headings; a clear grotesque for dates and captions.
In application
Early summer, bed 14.
What we made
- Journal masthead
- Seasonal cover system
- Specimen and entry templates
- Caption and dating conventions
- Web edition design
A self-initiated study, made to test an idea end to end. There is no client, launch, or result behind it — if it sounds like a problem you have, tell us about it.