N-O-S-T-A-L-G-I-A

If you were a weirdo introverted bookworm child like myself, you’re probably familiar with the Phantom Tollbooth. It’s a story about a young boy that mysteriously finds himself in a literary-themed fantasy world, full of very punny characters and events.

As a kid, I was especially fascinated with a scene that takes place in Dictionopolis, a made up city based around letters, words, and language. Milo finds himself at a market, where instead of traditional food items, they’re selling letters and words to eat. The Spelling Bee, the mascot of this whole event, tells Milo that he get get a “do-it-yourself” alphabet kit, so he can make his own words and see how different each letter tastes. I was OBSESSED.

So to bring this project to life, I brought in a similar color palette from my well worn copy, and added hand-drawn flourishes that matched the style of the original illustrations. Of course the Spelling Bee is also the mascot of the cookies, spelling out Y-U-M, as is his way.

The interior features a map of The Lands Beyond, alphabet tissue paper, and a simplified Dictionopolis insignia that I drew from the original crest.

The back features playful illustrations of the cookies within.

There are two variations, The Vowel Collection, and The Punctuation Collection. I drew colors out of the original packaging to develop a complimentary color story throughout the whole system.

And of course, we needed some swag. What do bookworms like almost as much as books? Totes and pins my friend. Totes and pins.