We rarely notice how much life we live in a year — the quiet moments between photographs, the small gestures that never make it to social feeds. Laughs, texts, journeys, surprises and losses drift past us until we take time to look back. A commissioned illustrated storybook can bring those moments back. It acts as a time capsule — slow, sentimental, honest.
Step 1: Gather Your Year
Spend a day collecting the pieces that made your year yours. A handful of photos you love, screenshots of meaningful messages, a small memory from each season. You don’t need to document everything — just the moments that still make you feel something when you recall them.
Step 2: Choose the Emotion
Every year has a tone: growth, love, healing, adventure, new beginnings. Think about the emotion you want your illustrated story to carry. This tone guides the colour palette, the narrative flow and the rhythm of the drawings.
Step 3: Commission the Story
Share your collection and your tone with HOPE Studio. Our artists will listen, ask questions, and then weave these fragments into a single illustrated narrative. Each page will be drawn with intentionality, connecting your year’s highs and lows into a cohesive story you can revisit for decades.
If This Story Resonates…
Ready to turn your year into a story you can hold? Commission a Story to begin, or explore our illustrated keepsakes to see how we honour life’s seasons.
