for the Young and the Longing is a self-published collection of intimate notes for self-exploration. Essays, poetry, and fragments that invite readers to reflect and emerge. Genevieve is a writer interested in sensitivity, based in North London. She made this book without a publisher, on her own terms. And it needed a home that felt the same way.
Format
Web Design
UX/UI Design
Role
Web Designer
In a Nutshell
Genvieve, a writer based on North London, needed a website where it houses the spirit of her first book, for the Young and the Longing.
Not a storefront, not a press kit. Something personal, unhurried, and considered. The challenge was building something that felt as intentional as the book itself, without tipping into the kind of commercial polish that would betray everything the book stood for. For a self-published writer who rejects gatekeepers by design, the site itself needed to feel like an extension of that belief.
Intent: A Book That Wants to Be Held
Genevieve's world is analogue, organic, and expansive. Closer to earth and handwriting than to screens. Her writing carries a touch of quirkiness, warmth, and deliberate imperfection. The design needed to carry that too. Not imitate it, but genuinely feel like it came from the same place.
Tilted text is used throughout the layout, echoing the way handwriting naturally drifts on paper, never perfectly aligned. This subtle imperfection reinforces the writer’s authenticity and her resistance to overly refined, commercial aesthetics.
The yellow palette is drawn from her book—an optimistic hue that suggests possibility, warmth, and spaciousness. It reflects the hopeful, expansive quality that defines her writing.
The index page is intentionally shaped like a bookmark, an intimate object often carrying traces of its owner. A small detail that makes the whole thing feel a little more like hers.
Intent: Room to Breathe
The website is intentionally unhurried. Clean sections, readable fonts, and generous space let the writing land quietly. Book photos sit flat and simple. The author's words introduce themselves without fuss.
Outcome: An Invitation, Not a Pitch
The final site feels less like a product page and more like a soft opening. Into a book, into a point of view, into the idea that you don't need permission to make something and share it with the world. For a book seeded in that exact belief, the site becomes part of the work itself.
Index
©2026 Shannon Liu