Blending Style and Story
The goal from the outset was to create a book that both honors Theresa King’s legacy and complements Justin O’Brien’s The Art of Fulfilling Your Nature.
While distinct in tone and purpose, these two books offer parallel perspectives on a shared life devoted to yoga, wisdom, and community. Justin’s writing explores lofty ideas and philosophy, while Theresa’s blog entries bring the story closer to earth, focusing on relationships, memories, and the personal moments that shaped their journey. My goal was to weave these differences into a design that is at once cohesive with Nature yet distinctly reflective of Theresa’s softer, more personal voice.
Reflections
From the outset, it was clear that Sacred Rivers needed its own flair. The design echoes The Art of Fulfilling Your Nature in its size, fonts, and general composition, but it embraces a gentler aesthetic. The dust jacket of Sacred Rivers draws inspiration from the colors of Theresa’s poetry collection, Child of Dawn, Mother of Twilight—the source of the Sacred River title—and features flowing patterns in calming greens and blues that evoke the imagery of a river. This design choice contrasts beautifully with Nature’s warm reds, oranges, and geometric precision, highlighting the books’ complementary yet individual personalities. They feel like two halves of a greater whole—two different windows into a shared world.
With three dozen photos woven into Sacred Rivers, the design process brought its own challenges and opportunities. I carefully retouched photos as needed, preserving Theresa’s history and creating a visual tribute for her many friends and followers. While Nature used section divider graphics to guide readers through its chapters, Sacred Rivers incorporates these photos, offering an intimate glimpse into Theresa’s life and the people who filled it. It reflects her voice—welcoming, tender, and deeply human.
Having Nature as a foundation made certain stylistic decisions more straightforward, allowing me to focus on the unique elements that bring Sacred Rivers to life. The result is a book that doesn’t just sit beside its companion—it stands as a vibrant counterpart, radiating its own sense of warmth, connection, and quiet joy. Crafting these two pieces to align while maintaining their distinct identities has been a creative journey I’m incredibly proud to have taken part in.
