Flora in visible planets

Print / Sci-Fi

March 2018

This book is a new version of the book "Invisible Planets" by Hao Jingfang, in which she describes fictional planets. I imagined the planets and worlds as colourful landscapes. Due to the influence of my hobby to care for plants, I immediately saw the potential to design plants for these planets.

It is the purpose to present the story as an encyclopedia. By doing this, it makes the reader read the book as if the planets existed. To make this look as good as possible, I looked at academic books about flora and elements that often came back. The cover is therefore also green with only the title, and the plants are described with terms from biology.

The information in the book is also translated to a website to make a hybrid publication, which is not a traditional plant encyclopedia design choice. Therefore I have approached different contexts and media in the subject.

I like to convey my message to the reader abstractly and poetically. This way of communication became clear during the process of this book. This book is the origin of my current artistic vision.

The purpose of Flora in Visible Planets is to make the reader read the book as if the planets existed, by presenting it as an encyclopedia. I exhibited the book in a bookcase next to real flora books that are used in science en study of plants. Before you open the book, the other books reinforce the idea that Flora in Visible Planets is an encyclopedia and therefore reality.

Research: I researched botany and books that professionals use to study this topic. During this research, I found what kind of characteristics of plants are describes in plant encyclopedia. When plants are named, we use Latin words that describe aspects of the plant. The plants that weren't named yet also got Latin names. I got a lot of information from a botanist that was also interested in science fiction. He borrowed me his entire flora encyclopedia collection.