Inspired by my struggles in trying to get my old college roommates into cooking, I created a design for a book that could show millennial novices how cooking could be cheap, easy, and fulfilling. It’s a guide aimed at those of modest means and a limited arsenal of equipment.

Recipes were adapted from thektichn.com, but much of the copy is original writing.

A slight departure from the norm for cookbooks and how-to’s we’re used to seeing, the book is more compact and favors straightforward instruction over “food porn” (which tends to inspire ogling much more than it does actual cooking). My priority was using organization and typography to make the recipes as easy as possible to navigate and reference.

I took some aesthetic cues from IKEA-style assembly guides (which most twenty-somethings are intimately familiar with). This of course includes the black-and-white illustrations of ingredients and equipment. The visuals are designed to highlight and accent, not distract. Even the photography only teases a glimpse of the meal, which the reader is invited to complete with crystal clear instruction.

The book also includes as collateral a series of fold-out instructional posters, visualizing the “construction” of the meals.