Work without a brief

Client projects come with a brief, a deadline and a brand to follow. These don’t. They’re where I try a new technique, a stricter constraint or a format I haven’t printed before, and most of what I learn here ends up in client work later: in illustration systems, editorial layouts and print-ready files.

My role: concept, research, illustration, typography, layout and print preparation, from the first sketch to the printed object.

Botanical Almanac: one letter, many plants

The idea. A small almanac about a single Polish letter: ą. Every plant in it has an “ą” somewhere in its Polish name, for example dąb szypułkowy (pedunculate oak) and jarząb pospolity (rowan). The rule started as a game and became the editorial structure of the whole book: a botanical guide, and a quiet love letter to a letter most of the world can’t type.

Research and selection. I collected Polish plant names containing “ą”, checked them against their Latin names and picked species that were both recognisable and visually rich: distinct leaves, fruit and branching that would work as illustrations.

Illustration. Each plant got its own numbered plate. I drew them as flat vector illustrations in Adobe Illustrator, keeping a limited palette of deep ultramarine and warm gold. The numbers sit behind the plants as large typographic shapes, so every page also works as a poster on its own.

Typography and layout. The almanac is set in two typefaces from the Warszawskie Kroje collection, Olimpic and Lombard. They give it a distinctly Polish, slightly retro voice, and they handle Polish diacritics, which a book about “ą” can’t do without. Each spread pairs the illustration with the Polish and Latin names, laid out in Adobe InDesign.

Outcome. A printed booklet and a series of standalone posters, such as 05 — Jarząb pospolity. Made during a design course in Wrocław.

Tools: Adobe Illustrator, Adobe InDesign. Typefaces: Olimpic, Lombard (Warszawskie Kroje).

What this brings to client work

Illustration systems built on strict rules, so they scale across many assets.

Typography that respects local language and diacritics.

Files designed with print in mind from the first sketch.