Jeannie Baker’s Mirror is a story that relies heavily on design. The story is presented in a dual manner where the two sides actually reflect each other, just like a mirror. It is impossible to discuss design without acknowledging the premise of the story: “two volumes that tell two contrasting stories, but ultimately the same story: families living vastly different lifestyles but with similar needs and desires” (Dretzke). The book’s cover is very strong as it needs to hold up and bring together two books. The book is literally titled Mirror. Inside the book, there are two narratives, one of a family in Australia and one in Morocco, that tell how each family lives their day to day lives. The spread out length of the book’s cover makes it clear that the book was designed to be held by two individuals, clearly cementing it as a book that parents and a child may read together. This type of book is referred to as a “French Door” (Alaca 61). The physical book itself is a testament to intentional design.

The spread depicted in the image shows the mirrored families shopping for carpets. The design elements in the spread made out of collage, partially with fabrics, are related to the idea of a mirror. On both sides, the two scenes are made out of two different pages photoshopped together. On each side of the book the scenes are literally reflected. For example, the reader sees both families arriving at the store, the vehicles the families used to travel there, and the families shopping for carpets inside the store. The physicality of the images, as they are made out of 3-D materials such as fabric, is clear since the photos in the book have a depth to them that only the medium of the art and how it was preserved can achieve. The physicality of the literal book and of the art inside shows how expert design can function.

Word Count: 326

Works Cited:

Alaca, Ilgim Veryeri. The Routledge Companion to Picturebooks. Edited by Bettina Kümmerling-Meibauer, Routledge, 2018, pp. 59-68. EBSCOhost, https://ezproxy.simmons.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=1554377&site=ehost-live&scope=site&ebv=EB&ppid=pp_61. Accessed 17 October 2021.

Baker, Jeannie. Mirror. Candlewick, 2010.

Dretzke, Alexa. “Mirror: Jeannie Baker.” Readings, 4th August 2010, https://www.readings.com.au/review/mirror-jeannie-baker. Accessed 17 October 2021.