Between Blessing and Chaos is a poetic memoir brought to life through intimate storytelling, hand-drawn illustrations, and a deeply personal visual language.
Written under my pen name S. Kaashi , this book explores the emotional landscape of adoption, girlhood, grief, and the quiet resilience that grows in the spaces no one sees.
Written under my pen name S. Kaashi , this book explores the emotional landscape of adoption, girlhood, grief, and the quiet resilience that grows in the spaces no one sees.
From the first line — “This story was never meant to be told, but silence has done enough damage,” (Page 2) — the book invites the reader into a world built from fragments, whispered memories, and the soft ache of belonging.
Across poems, sketches, and visual metaphors, it traces a journey familiar to many who’ve lived between identities, expectations, and unspoken truths.
Design Approach
My goal as a designer was to create a visual narrative that felt as raw and honest as the writing itself.
The illustrations draw from pencil-sketch realism: vulnerable, unfinished, and human. The typography echoes handwritten thoughts, mirroring the diary-like voice seen throughout pages such as “My Diaries Held the Storm” (Page 13). Each spread balances silence and emotion, allowing the whitespace to breathe while the words carry weight.
The illustrations draw from pencil-sketch realism: vulnerable, unfinished, and human. The typography echoes handwritten thoughts, mirroring the diary-like voice seen throughout pages such as “My Diaries Held the Storm” (Page 13). Each spread balances silence and emotion, allowing the whitespace to breathe while the words carry weight.
Themes That Shape the Book
Adoption as both a gift and a ghost (Page 5)
Girlhood in a world that confuses silence with shyness
Family built by love, not blood (Author’s Note, Page 3)
Grief that arrives without warning and leaves slowly (Pages 21–23)
The quiet courage of a daughter learning to become her own shelter
What This Project Represents
Between Blessing and Chaos is not just a writing project, it’s a deeply crafted design experience.
Every illustration, line break, texture, and visual pause was intentionally shaped to honour the vulnerability of the story. It is a book for anyone who has ever felt misplaced, unseen, or “too much,” and still chose softness over surrender.
Every illustration, line break, texture, and visual pause was intentionally shaped to honour the vulnerability of the story. It is a book for anyone who has ever felt misplaced, unseen, or “too much,” and still chose softness over surrender.
This Behance presentation showcases the full creative process, from concept notes to moodboards, illustration studies, page layouts, cover design, and final print mockups.
