Doing a bit of research in looking for examples of existing book cover designs by publishing house, Penguin, in the documented cover books, 'Seven Hundred Penguins' and 'Penguin By Design: A Cover Story: 1935-2005', looking for inspiration for generating my own cover designs, and what may suit the existing multitude of publications. However, as I am looking at publishing under 'Puffin' (the same publishing house, but targeted at a slightly younger target market), this is an important factor to take into consideration when creating my designs, and the visual communication that will be most appropriate.
Considering my aspirations to work with monochrome laser cut, illustrative designs (which would then go on to be scanned into my designs), it was really interesting to see the bold, vector- like style used on a lot of the covers, as well as the cameo- like silhouette that I am particularly aiming to achieve myself. Also interesting to see how commonly repeat pattern design has been used- certainly something to consider with my own designs, and seeing what effect can be achieved within my design and product range.
http://elsita.typepad.com/
Whilst doing my research for presentation boards on Tuesday, I came across the gorgeous paper craft work of designer, Elsa Mora, whose unique, hand rendered designs really capture the magic and creativity that I want to portray in my own laser cut designs, with a real playfulness and whimsy that I think would be wonderfully suited to my target audience of 9-11 year old children to really help capture their imaginations and sense of creativity.
In order to get my book design printed, ideally, I need to have EVERYTHING finished by next weekend, giving me around a week to produce all of my designs- a lot of pressure, but something I really hope to achieve, with a little focus and determination. For my design development, see my Design Practice blog.
http://www.lovereading4kids.co.uk/genre/ess/Bookshelf-Essentials.html
http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/browse/9-11-years
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Classics-Ages-9-11-Childrens-Books/s?ie=UTF8&rh=n%3A291745%2Cp_n_feature_two_browse-bin%3A486612011&page=1
Beginning to research, and look into popular books and literature choices for 9-11 year old children, my specified target market for my design outcomes for my '200 books for 200 schools' promotional campaign concept.
Looking through the list helped me to determine the mixture of classic literature that is still commonly read, along with more contemporary authors. Also really interesting to see the mixture of illustrative cover design- some, really minimal and crisp (usually found in the classic versions- with repeat pattern design commonly found) or very illustrative, eye-catching designs.
Below, a list of themes to inspire me, which seem to reoccur within the books shown here (sourced through screenshots on various web links, see above) along with popular authors of whom I could potentially take inspiration from in my own designs.
GENRES/THEMES
- Adventure
- Mystery
- Tween romance
- Fun
- Magic
AUTHORS
Jacqueline Wilson
Stephanie Meyer
Terry Prachett
J.M Barie
Roald Dahl
Frances Hodgson Burnett
http://blog.schoollibraryjournal.com/afuse8production/2010/04/13/the-top-100-childrens-novels-poll-1-100/
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/3670596/100-books-every-child-should-read-Pt-2.html
http://www.toptenz.net/top-10-classic-childrens-books.php
As part of my new proposal for the Product/Range/Distribution brief within the Design Practice II module, I have decided to propose that a range of 12 books (1 per month) will be distributed as part of the '200 books for 200 schools' campaign within the United Kingdom.
In order to define the list of books that will be distributed within the scheme, I have researched classic children's stories, and have generated a survey to see which are the most popular (see my Design Practice blog!). As part of the survey, I created a condensed list of the stories which appeared to be most reoccurring in the list found online.
CHILDREN'S CLASSICS
//
Charlotte's Web, E.B White
The Lion, Witch & The Wardrobe, C.S. Lewis
The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
Matilda, Roald Dahl
Charlie & The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
Alice In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
James & The Giant Peach, Roald Dahl
The Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum
The Wind In The Willows, Kenneth Grahame
Ballet Shoes, Noah Streatfield
George's Marvellous Medicine, Roald Dahl
Peter Pan, J. M Barie
The Railway Children, E Nesbit
The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint- Exupery
Quick blog post- remembered today about an author that my sister loved whilst at Secondary school- Robin McKinley, who particularly wrote contemporary fairy tales- most notably 'Beauty' and 'Spindle's End' which really play on some of the darker themes of the stories for an older, contemporary audience.
The target audience is older than the one which I hope to aim my designs at, though a good course of inspiration in terms of the consistency and range of the cover designs (simple silhouettes) nevertheless.
http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2C2XnB/:1Fbr.hMvs:DWXKVoS!/drinkify.org/
Yesterday evening, I came across the website 'Drinkify'- a great concept in which you type in the music you're listening to, and recommended a drink to accompany the music.
Brilliant idea, really fun and playful, and I love the simple graphic illustrations too.
