"Virtually Me: Your manifesto for online life" is a book for young people aged 10 – 14 years designed to help them construct their own personal policy for social media and their time online. I was commissioned to design and illustrate it in 2014, and then again, to redesign it in 2025 when the book was republished. It was a great opportunity to update the visual identity in conjunction with new content to address changes in technology.
It's an interactive workbook, with activities to prompt the user to analyse their digital lives and create their own 'manifesto' about how to cope with social media, the internet and now, AI. The author wanted this book to address the myriad of issues without talking down or preaching to the reader.
The initial brief was for an anarchic style, where I used graphics with a Soviet edge; these were replaced with a cleaner visual, taking inspiration from YA fiction. The main propaganda-inspired hand motif was retained to convey the sentiment of users taking control and power back over their digital lives.
Typesetting, layout, cover design and illustration.
