The Little Mermaid booklet cover

Typography · Web Design · 2024

Little Mermaid
Retold

A typographic retelling of The Little Mermaid using two texts: Hans Christian Andersen's original story and the Disney screenplay, placed side by side to show what gets remembered and what gets lost.

Role

Solo designer

Context

Typography 2 Class · 2024

Deliverables

Print booklet · Web prototype

Tools

Adobe InDesign · Figma

The project

Two versions of the same story, and what gets lost between them.

Little Mermaid Retold is a class project that pairs two texts: Hans Christian Andersen's original 1837 story and the Disney screenplay. The concept came from thinking about how easy it is to know the newest version of something while completely forgetting where it came from. Most people know the Disney movie. Far fewer know that Andersen's version is darker, more violent, and ends very differently.

The goal was to use typography to make that tension visible. Throughout the booklet, both texts appear together so the reader can see the similarities and differences between them at the same time. The typefaces, spacing, and layout were all chosen to reflect the mood of each version and highlight where they diverge.

Web prototype

The Disney version is right there. You have to find the other one.

The website takes the same concept and adds an extra layer of interaction. The Disney version is immediately visible and easy to read. The Andersen text is hidden, and you have to hover to reveal it, almost like unearthing something that was always there but wasn't shown to you. It's a small interaction, but it's the whole point of the project.

Next project

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