The Context
9: Lessons from the Universe is a book by Samie Al-Achrafi, a conscious leadership advocate TEDx speaker, and founder of the first B Corporation in the Middle East. The book uses science and the cosmos as a mirror for nine life lessons, weaving together philosophy, Eastern wisdom, and astrophysics. It serves as a prequel to his bestselling #Time4Humanity. Samie needed the book to feel as contemplative as the ideas inside it: a physical object that slows you down and invites you to sit with each lesson.
The Approach
We designed the full editorial layout and created more than 20 original watercolor illustrations for the book. Each illustration responds to its chapter, translating abstract ideas about existence, interconnection, and scale into images that sit between science and poetry. The watercolor medium was deliberate: soft, organic, never clinical, matching a book that treats the universe with wonder rather than distance.
The Impact
The book has been praised by readers consistently for its illustrations as much as its ideas, with many describing the visuals as inseparable from the reading experience. It's available worldwide and serves as a companion to Samie's speaking and consulting work across six continents.
Next Project
Solvable