In the Netherlands, there are usually minimum requirements for dissertation formats. At Utrecht University, except for the official title page, candidates can have the book cover and layout designed as they see most fitting to the content of the research. 

The front cover of my dissertation features a pressed, etched, and watercolor-painted modern aquilegia (columbine) cultivar. The Aquilegia Blue Barlow has similar characteristics to the columbines with double flowers and vibrant colors that frequently appear in seventeenth-century florilegia, or flower books, which are the subject of my PhD research. The dried specimen, etching (and intaglio printing), and watercolor constitute the three flower representations from the early modern period that I discussed throughout the dissertation. 

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The etching and watercolor were made using historically oriented materials and techniques that are as close to the seventeenth century as possible. Instead of collaging historical images from the flower books and herbaria I studied, making the images and pressing the flower myself also represent the applied research methodology of historical remaking, among other hands-on and performative methods. 

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After making the images, I scanned and digitally arranged them, before playing with color schemes and placements of text, and adding details that are aesthetically pleasing for the back cover. I also created relevant stationaries using the same design elements, including postcards for people who attended the defense to take home with and dinner invitation for friends and colleagues. 

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