Spring 2025 / Senior Capstone Project
Kin Keeping: A Labor of Love
TYPE DESIGN
RESEARCH
PUBLICATION DESIGN
COPYWRITING
GRAPHIC DESIGN
ARTIFACT COLLECTION & CURATION
This project was self-led, with mentorship from my capstone professors at the University of Cincinnati, Adam Little & Grace Saunders.
PROBLEM SPACE
In any family, it is common for one person or multiple people, to carry on traditions, buy gifts for birthdays & holidays, & reach out to everyone when something arises. These “kin keepers” act as the glue holding a family together and provide emotional, financial, & physical support to their kin, often without ample recognition or support from other family members.
Whether connected with chosen or given family, these efforts or lack thereof undoubtedly influence us in our most formative years. Our families make us better or worse, for better or worse.
DESIGN SOLUTION
Kin Keeping: A Labor of Love is a book honoring the people who keep their family connected throughout generations. This book shines a light on the often thankless work of the people that hold us together.
This collection of personal anecdotes and artifacts is a testament to the joy in discovering one’s personal history, and the power & everpresent complexities of family relationships.
TYPE DESIGN
In order to visualize this complex generational connectedness, I designed a custom font modification rooted in a widely practiced art form amongst women & kin keepers worldwide: cross stitch.
In an effort to represent the depth & intricacies of an ever-growing family, I use the stitched X as the framework of the entire visual system. My mother & grandmother’s creative outlet of cross-stitching & sewing inspired the modular typography I created for the design system.
Using LoRes 21 from Emigre, I designed three variations of the font: 1x, 2x, & 3x. 1x is made of all 1:1 stitches, and represents the regular weight of the bunch. 2x incorporates larger asymmetrical stitches to appear light. 3x is both 1x & 2x layered on top of each other, creating a bold face.
PROCESS BOOK
My entire process can be viewed digitally here.
