The Little Free Library Reseda in the morning light.

The Little Free Library Reseda is shown above. It’s not that building in the background. It’s just the thing that looks like a big mailbox full of books to borrow, and the bench. That’s what Little Free Libraries are - grassroots community book exchange gathering places where neighbors share their favorite literature and stories. (You can go to http://littlefreelibrary.org/ for more information about Little Free Libraries.)

Stewart and Heather

Heather and Stewart began their Little Free Library when a dog water bowl that they had set out in front of their house turned into a meeting place for neighbors. Stewart (email) is an excellent carpenter, so he built a bench for dog walkers to rest with a carabiner for them to attach their dogs’ leashes.

The carabiner Stewart attached to his bench to welcome dog owners.

Heather is an accomplished educator, which provided the impetus to get involved in the national Little Free Library movement. Stewart built the Library box and decorated it with the interests of their two young girls in mind.

Stewart constructed his library with flowered window-boxes!

They stocked the library with a variety of books, with the help of donations.

Now Stewart and Heather were ready to get the word out about their library! They set up a dedicated phone line, facebook page, and Goodreads registry. They set a goal of getting everything ready in time for the “Thanks, Reseda” community event in their city.

That’s where I came in. Heather liked the style of a poster I had made for her at another business previously:

First draft of the logo, with revisions.

We joked about the adult's long neck.

After that logo was approved, I moved on to the banner that would grace the show booth at events. Fortunately, Stewart and Heather loved my first idea, which featured a girl and her dog at the Little Free Library.

Maurice Sendak didn't draw many females. This is one of his typical representations.

The dog is based on Sendak’s beloved Sealyham terrier, Jenny, who starred in his book Higglety Pigglety Pop.

Maurice Sendak's illustration of his beloved dog, Jenny

However, the Sealyham breed is nearly extinct today, replaced by the currently fashionable Westhams.

A Sealyham terrier. I almost think this one is stuffed.

I made the dog a Westie instead because it is easier to see their facial expressions.

This dog is more of a Westie than a Sealyham.

Other things we like about the banner design are the dark sky with lights which could be interpreted as fairies, stars, or the lights that Stewart installed to make it safe at night.

The area is nicely lit at night.

There’s also the fact that you can’t tell if the dog is giving or taking the book. It is a reflection on the Little Free Library’s “Take a Book, Return a Book” motto.

The ten-foot banner design for the Little Free Library Reseda

The only revisions we needed to make on the banner involved resizing it to fit the pop-up tent and some fine-tuning of the text to make it appear deconstructed, yet legible.

The printer made the banner exactly as specified!

The banner has been printed and now the booth is ready for the event!

Next, I designed the bookmark front and back.

The hardest part of this was finding a speedy printer to make custom bookmarks at an economical price.  We wanted glossy, laminated bookmarks with ribbons an tassels, but they would have been so expensive that they would have had to charge people for them!

Expensive bookmarks with tassels

Heather was going to sell cookies at the event to offset the cost, but we came up with a compromise. We got the bookmarks printed without rounded corners or holes punched for tassels, or even lamination, to save money.

I designed the bookmarks so they will look fine as they are, but there is an area where Heather and Stewart can punch their own hole to string them with their ribbons if they feel so inclined.

The top of the bookmark features a yellow bellflower, 

marking where a hole can be punched for a ribbon.

I suggested we take the information that was on the booth banner, and add a map so that people could refer to it when returning books.  

To make the map fit on the bookmark and also match its style, I started by pulling up the library’s address on MapQuest. By zooming in and out and taking screenshots for reference, I could see what freeways, roads, and cross-streets would be relevant to someone who was trying to find their library. I laid these all out in Photoshop, with labels.

The first draft of the map.

Once Stewart and Heather approved the map layout, I made it match the hand-drawn style of the rest of my work.

The design for the back of the bookmark

Tree of Life by William Morris

It is a stylized reference to the Tree of Knowledge. William Morris added birds of his native England to the tree.

I added birds and animals of Reseda instead.

Tree of Reseda, with Eastern red squirrel, raccoon, and cat.

I wanted to put a wise old man on the Library bench, but during the Arts & Crafts era, men were usually depicted as knights or prophets. It would have seemed incongruous. So I rolled out Sendak’s dog, Jenny, again.

I look forward to designing the brochures for the Little Free Library Reseda. In the meantime, Stewart and Heather are selling promo items to offset the costs of their labors. If you are interested in purchasing any of these items, please contact them using the links below. And thank you for supporting a good cause.

A canvas bag available from the Little Free Library Reseda. 100% of the profits go towards supporting the Library!

Little Free Library Reseda

Contact info has been removed. See note below.

A group of mothers and children gathers to read at the Library.

*[Editor’s Note: This Little Free Library has closed. Stewart and Heather moved their family to Alabama. He still works with carpentry and I have continued work with him on his new business branding, which will be covered in another post.]