ARTIST IN RESIDENCE
During the last week of January, I had the delight of hosting Greg Traverso, Mildly Scenic’s graphic designer and overall layout extraordinaire for some marathon-style days of design work. With a little in-law guest house in our backyard, the honored guest brought along his desktop monitor, special pencil bag, industrial-strength pencil sharpener and got to work.
During the mornings, the two of us worked side-by-side (okay I was hovering over his shoulder). During the afternoons and evenings, I would occasionally jet through the backdoor, abandoning my parental duties to check on the progress while Greg ground out the long hours.
The work began by cracking open the first draft, completed in May 2023. Since most of the book was written a year ago, there were some changes to a few of the recommended beach spots (such as the one that got dredged for spawning habitat in Chapter 18) and added a few trails (such as the ones around Paradise Beach, Chapter 3).
But the biggest lift for us was taking the maps, designed by the Sac State Geography students in the Fall 2023 Data Acquisition and Management class and putting them onto the pages. What did that entail? Well, a few stylistic decisions such as:
The map legend: making decisions about trail and levee lines (i.e. dotted/dashed/solid, thick/thin, colors, etc.)
Carving up the river into 20 chapter maps, enough to give context, but not overwhelm or appear redundant to the next chapter.
Reviewing the surface streets surrounding the parkway and showing consistency with the Getting There directions.
Noting discrepancies in the river features based on a combination of Apple Maps, Google Maps, Strava maps, Sac County maps, the Sac State drafts, and personal knowledge. Are there islands that aren’t showing up? How to show the river as a recognizable waterway with all of its unique bends.
Being in the same working environment together, in our own makeshift studio session — huddled around the screens and the maps and the whiteboard — allowed us to flush out some of the design ideas together and elevate the Mildly Scenic project to the next level. Now that Greg has returned to his natural habitat (home), we will manage the edits from afar and try to get a finished product in the coming weeks. From there, we begin the printer/press edits!
Release date is still forthcoming, but I’m aiming for April 2024.
