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Multidisciplinary designer emphasizing in motion design, illustration, and storytelling.

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Flower Tales

🌸 Motion Book Advertisement

Animated ad series for the book “Flower Tales” by Nobuko Yoshiya (1919-1924). The project aims to reflect her influence on women’s literature, showcasing the themes of yearning and unrequited love, emphasizing young women’s romantic relationships in a patriarchal society.

The advertisements are meant to capture a single moment from the selected stories, with focus on capturing the various ephemeral yet unforgettable romantic emotions between the characters. This project integrates both typography and illustration, both of which were influenced by Japan’s Taisho era.

Story 1: Yellow Rose

Original Story: Yoshiya Nobuko
Creative Direction: Devin Dailey, Jonathan Torres
Design, Illustration & Audio Engineering: Kasia Herh
Narration: Mion Hananomoto
English Translation: Sarah Frederick, PhD

The short story “Yellow Rose” is about Katsuragi Misao, a twenty-two-year-old college graduate who accepts a teaching post at an all-girls prefectural academy “a thousand miles distant from Tokyo” to avoid getting married. On the train departing from Tokyo she meets Urakami Reiko, who happens to be a student entering her final year at Katsuragi’s school. Reiko is running late; and, clutching a bouquet of yellow roses, she dashes across the platform to catch the train, just barely making it.

Story 2: Evening Primrose

Original Story: Yoshiya Nobuko
Creative Direction: Tanya Cummings
Design, Illustration & Audio Engineering: Kasia Herh
Narration: Mion Hananomoto
English Translation: wonderousish

"Evening Primrose" tells a tale of yearning as seen through the eyes of Shizue, a young woman from the Nagasaki dance school. For seven years, she danced alongside her friend Oyu before Oyu followed her mother's path in pursuit of the "harbor lights." Now, Shizue is left alone, with nothing but memories of her cherished friend Oyu—a keepsake hairpin gifted before her departure and the evening primroses that blossom under the moon.

@Kasia Herh 2024