Print

GDES2014 – Children’s Book Design

London Book fair – 2015

As part of this module we were offered a trip to London to see visit the book fair. This was an opportunity not to be missed, particularly as this task represents children’s literature which was well represented at the show.

The show was massive, with an overwhelming number of exhibitors, but I took along my camera to take snaps of some of the more interesting or innovative developments within the industry as a whole as well as in children’s book design.

We were set the task of finding 3 innovations in children’s book design, which was easy as there was so much to choose from. I will talk a little about some of the things I found below:

The first innovation that caught my eye was this series of “shine a light” books. The books are designed so that when certain pages are held up to the light, they allow light to shine through in various areas, revealing an otherwise hidden image. You can see this demonstrated below, and how it works on the following page.

Shine a light books

When the light is behind the page the worms show through

This is the opposite pages and demonstrates how the high contrast print determines where the light passes and what is visible on the other side

Another innovation I was drawn to (partly due to my love of all things Star Wars) was these books and more specifically the special editions that came with really cool cases/displays. There are 3 books in the series so far – Jedi, Sith & Bounty Hunter, each with it’s own display case. They are motorised and with sound effects. They do however make the books rather expensive and so would only really appeal to serious collectors, cool none the less.

The display case is motorised and with light and sound effects. When it’s closed you press the button and it opens to reveal the book.

Other popular franchises, such as Transformers were also included.

Make your own Tie Fighter

These pictures show another two books I found interesting. The first features glow in the dark print so that the illustrations and words glow when the lights are turned down. Being black an white, it’s very high contrast and so is easily read in the light too… very effective. The second book features tabs throughout the book that you can lift to get a glimpse into the past, both informative and fun.

Glow in the dark children’s book

Lift the flap to reveal how things looked in tester-year compared to now

I got talking to a guy who ran a publishing print company. After explaining to him that I was studying graphic design and had a real passion for all things print, he went on to show me all manner of wonderful printing methods. The opportunities to create something wonderful are endless, although unfortunately only possible on large print jobs due to the cost involved in setting up the machinery.

Die cut cover

Heated embossing on textured vinyl cover

Software is used to create colour and texture on the edges of each page to create the image whhen the pages are together

Soft touch matt cover with spot uv

Foiled and embossed cover

Clear dust jacket adds layered text/image

The Imperial War Museum were there and had a nice little display of some of their books relating to World War 1 & 2. I got chatting with the lady who was able to show me the prototype of a Churchill recipe book that is in development, very interesting to see. There were also a few books there that were beautiful, not to mention the old style typewriter.

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Simple but effective patterned cover. Iconic poppies

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The cover is based on a famous WW1 poster

It features beautiful typography throughput

The bi-plane from the cover art was used to create the pattern on the end papers

Pre-ress mockup of a recipe book

There was so much to see and so much to take inspiration from. A great day out and a good opportunity to get a little insight into the industry and see all of the top publishers under one roof.

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Clear dust jacket adds layered text/image

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GDES2012 – Graphic Information Design

Concept development – Leaflet

Part of the brief was to update and simplify the existing tour leaflet. My idea’s are based around the nature & wildlife of the region, as well as the organic nature of the regions cider production.

The criteria suggested that the leaflet should use an A3 page, but that the format could be determined by ourselves. I spent some time looking at various different folding options on the internet as well as trying a few out myself that I thought might suit design.

I tried a variety of different folding techniques to determine the format and style of my design

The original was folded in half then half again, effectively creating 4 individual pages (cover, rear cover & 2 inner pages) which resulted in an A5 sized leaflet.

The outer pages of the original leaflet (folds to A5 format)

The map spread of the original tour leaflet

The pages of the original flyer were very information heavy and so I have simplified this by only including necessary information, placing more emphasis on family activity, walks & cycle routes.

I narrowed down my selection based on the audience requirements and it’s purpose and the content. Some of the formats were a little too fussy or resulted in the pages being to small, so I incorporated user testing to find out how potential readers would handle the format. I handed a few of the folded mock ups to friends and family and observed how they unfolded then and how they viewed it. I found that with the 6 page format that all users unfolded the way I intended and liked the slight smaller format, some commenting that it felt like a CD cover which they liked. I therefore that my flyer would fold smaller than the original, creating 6 pages with the inside being a gatefold of the map & the featured towns.

This is the format I selected after user testing, it creates 6 outer pages with one large gatefold centre page

The inner gatefold. Another consideration was that there are 5 towns on the trail, as well as the map which neatly distributes into the 6 sections and so looks neat when unfolded.

The elements that make up the design of my finalised flyer are as follows:

Colour Scheme

The main colour scheme is taken from cider apples (red & green)
A subtle background pattern is based on the star shape that the seeds leave when an apple is cut in half sideways
Each town is colour coded and this is also reflected on the map with individual location markers

Covers

Photograph of the Teme Valley, with Elgar’s portrait overlaid to imply his significance to the region
Typography modern in style
Typeface (Panton) customised to create a valley shape between the V & the A
Rear cover features Malvern District Council contact details
Large web address
Apple image due to regional cider production

Inner pages

Typeface Avenir throughout as readability & legibility is good, plus it offers versatility with it’s numerous weights
Typeface Panton used for all headings
Background llustrations used to create visual interest
Wildlife page added to engage readers both young & old and to encourage them to look out for the nature & wildlife in the area
Photography of areas of interest throughout the tour

Gatefold

The 6 page folding method means that the 5 towns + the map could be placed symmetrically
Colour coding to identify each town
QR codes & instruction on how to use it
Key for colour coded Walks & cycle routes
Time Valley Tour logo as visual identifier, used to create a visual system

The following pictures show the development of my sketchbook ideas into illustrator.