Story Seven, “Orbiting The Giant Hairball”, For The “Willoughby Design Lookbook”, Cooper Hewitt National Design Awards
Date
Credits
- Willoughby Design 11 Agency
- Ann Willoughby 12 Design Director
- Michelle Sonderigger 2 Designer
- Gordon Mackenzie 2 Author
- Ann Wylie Editor
- Meg Cundiff 2 Illustrator
- Suzie Vanztos Illustrator
- Ann Willoughby 12 Illustrator
- Wendie Collins Illustrator
- Gordon Mackenzie 2 Illustrator
- Mike Regnier Photographer
Format
- Book 1102
- Illustration 438
- Print 390
- Environmental Graphics 13
Clients
Printers
Typefaces
Techniques
- offset lithography 689
- embossing 19
Dimensions
Printed Pages
Locations Made
- United States 1053
- Kansas City 7
- Kansas
- Missouri 12
Links
“ORBITING THE GIANT HAIRBALL”
The project started when Gordon MacKenzie walked into Ann Willoughby's office carrying over three dozen rejection letters from publishers for his book proposal. A veteran of Hallmark Cards with a 30-year career, Gordon wanted to share the lessons he had learned through light-hearted stories with a serious message. Drawing on their years of friendship and professional history, Willoughby Design was thrilled to collaborate with Gordon to design and help him self-publish his book.
This initiated an extraordinary 17-month creative partnership. As Willoughby Design worked to bring Gordon's "Magnum Opus" to life, the boundaries between illustration, writing, and design merged into a singular vision. Michelle Sonderegger was the lead designer, and Gordon wrote the stories. Meg Cundiff added the delightful illustrations throughout the book, and many of Gordon’s friends at Hallmark illustrated Gordon’s stories. Because the book design was highly customized, including a variety of papers, materials, and binding, we reached out to Stinehour Press in Vermont, one of the last of the fine-art book printers and binderies in the US. (1950-2009)
Gordon was thrilled and had all 5000 of the limited edition, hand assembled books delivered to his home, where they completely filled his living room. The resulting award-winning book, “Orbiting the Giant Hairball”, was a meaningful, once-in-a-lifetime, joyful artistic journey. Gordon MacKenzie passed away in 2000.