A Fever of Rays
This book was designed and made as part of my Final Major Project at university.
The focus of this project was celebrating rays as a species. There is not a lot of research on the majority of the 500+ species of ray and a clear lack of accessible information. I decided to focus on a few specific rays in order to showcase them and some of the interesting characteristics they have to bring more attention to the species.
Through this module, I researched thoroughly, exploring every aspect of rays from their biology to their migration patterns. This allowed me to find studies focusing on individual rays and their distinctive features - one example of this is Cownose Rays and their precise migration patterns from Chesapeake Bay to Florida. I decided to include these studies within my book but in a more digestible way. I wanted to make the information accessible to as many people as possible. Through my research, I found that there is very few books focusing on rays. I already have a love for editorial design and book making so thought that it was the perfect fit for the outcome of this project.
I wanted to visually display different elements of each ray as well as their distribution around the world. To do this, I used acetate sections throughout my book. The distribution map for each species is printed on acetate and runs all the way through the book in the bottom right corner. Each chapter is opened with a fact file style page, along either an acetate image of the ray species. Running throughout the book are individual illustrations of each type of ray. These were hand drawn by me specifically for these chapters.
Each page was made using two printed pages with an acetate layer in between. I used a Cricut to cut out all the acetate sections in my printed pages. The book was then perfectly bound.
