What’s Cookin’??

A little before I really got into design book covers, I had the idea to create a family cookbook for my parents for Christmas. But it wasn’t just a regular cookbook. I wanted to be more of a family history, celebrating family with food at the center.

Since this was a gift, I went undercover! I nonchalantly started asking my parents and grandparents about their favorite meals or what a typical dinner looked like at their house. I knew my parents had met essentially over dinner (my grandpa and dad went to law school together) and I wanted to capture all of these little stories and compile them into one space.

It was quite the project but I’m so glad I did it! My parents and grandparents loved it so much that my grandfather had me make a copy for all of the other Aunts and Uncles. It has probably been my best gift to date and I’m not sure I’ll ever top it! So if you’re looking for a gift idea, a family cookbook should be at the top of the list. If you aren’t too design savvy, Canva is a great place to start. You can create a simple template for the stories and recipes (they probably even have some already), turn them into PNG and upload them into a phonebook site of your choosing and voila!

For the printing, I went with Artifact Uprising. The are definitely on the pricier side but since I wanted this to be an heirloom piece, I really wanted the cloth hardback look. I opted for the 8x8” hardback photo book with a full dust jacket. I love the clean look of Artifact Uprising, their beautiful matte pages and quality printing. If you’re willing to pay a bit more, I highly recommend them.