Tracey Shiffman, Alexandra Balahoutis, andThe Strange Invisible Perfume team
Printing by Typecraft
Binding by
The idea that our usual scent is not just made of florals, spices, wood barks, and fermented ingredients—it goes deeper than that. Through exploring the history of our favorite scents and the reasons why people wear perfumes, I learned that people now associate certain scents with norms or concepts. Scents and perfumes don't just play with the character of fragrance—they control what the mind perceives.
I created Beyond the Scent to take you beyond what you know. It explores, defines, and critically breaks down the layers of scent that create an impression.
The keywords for this book were;
Romantic, Apothecary, Personal
The Brief
I wanted to build a book around perfume and all the layers that go into making the final product—not just the scent itself, but everything underneath it. The idea was to engage readers with facts and infographics while really digging into what perfume does to us now, today, and the issues we don't always talk about. There's this whole world of psychology, chemistry, marketing, and even controversy that people don't see when they're just spraying something on their wrist.
I broke it into segments that felt natural to how we actually experience and think about fragrance: starting with the origins—where does this even come from?—then moving into the reason, like why do we even wear perfume, what's it doing for us emotionally and socially, and finally, what has it changed in the world? Because perfume isn't neutral. It's shifted industries, influenced culture, created entire economies, and honestly caused some real problems too. I wanted readers to finish the book and realize they'd never look at a bottle the same way again.
Typography Choices
Through careful consideration, the type choice in this book plays a role in delivering the right look and feel we give to the book. In addition to choosing a right and traditional serif, I wanted the book to deliver its 'apothecary' feel with a handwritten font in the book. Each header of the chapters in the book will have the handwritten look to it, helping the reader to know when the book ends and starts a new chapter.
The Brand Elements
The origin of the shape comes from the way we spray our perfumes. These particles takes inspiration from the spray we use from our perfumes.
The denser or closer the particles are, the richer the perfume is or what we know as Eau de Parfum and The lighter more refined detail means its Eau de Toilette. The measurements on this book uses gallons per acre.
Exclusive Interview – Strange Invisible Perfume
I got the oppurtunity to interview a well-known perfumist and the owner of Strange Invisible Perfume, Alexandra Balahoutis.
The interview talks more about the other side of perfumery besides the user, where I dove deep into how a perfumist creates a scent and wants to connect them to certain memory. She explains how the scent she makes isn’t just what smells great after you buy, it’s also what you choose people to remember you by.
Marketing Materials – Poster
The posters show a glimpse of the book that viewers can see what will be told beyond what they see from the titles.
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