Spring Awakening
A Wednesday Call, A Thursday Show, A Friday Deadline
In 2008, a design firm we knew reached out on a Wednesday: they were working on the official companion book for Spring Awakening — the Broadway musical that had just won eight Tony Awards including Best Musical — and needed a collaborator to help complete it. We said yes, saw the show on Thursday, and delivered libretto designs on Friday. The book was published by Melcher Media and runs 176 pages.
Two Halves, One Book
The companion divided into two sections: the story of the making of the musical, handled by the other firm, and the full libretto, designed by us. Both teams established common visual elements from the start — period-appropriate etchings, shared type and color treatments, consistent folio and border details throughout. The hand-drawn type we developed together became the connective thread: loose, rebellious letterforms set deliberately against the musical's late 19th century setting. The dissonance was the point.
Designing a Libretto
A libretto has to be readable above all else. We used a consistent two-column treatment throughout, but broke the rhythm with full-page and full-spread imagery that followed the arc of the story — giving readers visual breathing room between scenes. The result was a libretto that could be read as a script and experienced as a book.
