The Beach Report is a project by Clare based artist John Lillis, who began sending short stanzas into a radio show - based on the the condition of the swimming spots he went for his early morning swims. The project soon grew legs however, with him having a bank of dozens of these poems and associated images. He came to me for help translating this into a printed format and we came out with the book below.

The format is loosely inspired by retro field report style notebooks, so I opted for a typewriter style font throughout, along with abstract layouts, each spread unique to reflect that no two days at the water were the same for John.

Each poem opens with the state of the tide each visit (high, mid, low), and there is an icon to indicate this tide level with each poem, which gives the reader an instant visual cue and helps ground them within each verse.

John would also sign off each sent poem with the same set of emojis, so to retain this aspect I developed a set of icons with similar imagery.