Your True Nature Oracle
ORACLE GUIDEBOOK + BOX DESIGN A self-published oracle deck envisioned and written by: Heather Waxman [ www.heatherwaxman.com/ytn ] , with illustrations by: Rita Gould [ www.ritagould.com ] The intention of this project: + a clean and uncluttered design + for users to feel held, loved and seen + their experience with the cards and guidebook is a ritual they can lean into and connect with their true nature.
| GUIDEBOOK DESIGN
Your True Nature Oracle reminds us to remember, honour and come home to our true nature - which is seasonal, cyclical and wild - just like nature herself.
We knew we wanted this guidebook to be different from the majority of what we see on the market. We wanted to design something that creates a continuation of the rich visual experience from the cards to the guidebook - to give readers as immersive an experience when they engage with the deck.
The thought that came up for me as I look at all the images and read through the contents of the guidebook was children’s picture books, where illustrations play a major role in communicating the essence of the stories. When I dive deeper into that thought, children are also the humans who are closest to our true nature - which is the essence of the oracle deck.
I also instinctively felt that there has to be a sense of aliveness in the guidebook, and what better way than to use the illustrations (which are full of life in themselves) to communicate that! In addition, the illustrations are a big reason why people will be drawn to buy the oracle deck. So it feels right that they are included in a way that still quietly shows them off in the background of the pages.
The result is a guidebook intentionally and lusciously decorated with illustrations from the cards.
A peek at some of the pages within the guidebook…
DESIGN DECISIONS FOR A COUPLE OF THE PAGES
1 / “HOW TO USE THIS DECK”
+ I’ve gave “pause” wide spacing between the alphabets to communicate the feel of gently slowing down.
+ “deep” is big and bold to communicate that physical act and sensation of a deep belly breath.
+ the wavy “in and out” mimics the air wave as we breathe and wavy lines also communicates flow. the spacing in “out” is a little more spacious than “in” as we tend to want the out-breath to be longer than the inhale.
+ a ton of white space on this spread, mirroring spaciousness and making space for yourself to connect with your intuition.
+ the top of the page is intentionally left spacious and as ‘empty’ of physical things as possible.
+ the text on the right of the spread finishes lower than the left side to give the impression of calming down and settling and grounding into ourselves
+ as I put the spread together, it occurred to me how it all ties in with the steadfast and grounding nature of trees, and why putting the tree there was a good idea!
+ I placed the shorter tree on the other side to balance the spread out.
2 / “DEDICATION”
I want this page to have a kind of a ‘statement’ feel, given the context from the words - I don’t mean glamorous, loud and the like, but rather a “all-encompassing” feeling. The flower felt right and I then realised it’s from the card “to be fully alive is to feel the full spectrum of my life”.
| BOX DESIGN