Children's Book Design

We were recently commisioned to design a children's book for clinical psychologist and author, Dr Elaine Smith. "Worry Rhymes for School Times" consists of a series of short poems which outline many typical school worries. The book is a fantastic tool for anxious children returning to school and is a great resource for parents too. Although the book is primarily aimed at children aged 7-13, there is a supported reading section to encourage parents to work through the book with their children. In the design process we left space for children to write their thoughts and feelings and draw pictures if they wish.

The vision was to have the book looking rather unique by ensuring it reflected a typical school jotter or childrens diary, with lots of doodles and scribbles. Using the art drawn by children at Ratho Primary School and cartoon images drawn by local artist, Thomas Lavery we produced an engaging and fun activity book which is now available for purchase in e-book and print on Amazon.

Just some of the tasks we completed to create this book include:

• Setting the design art boards to the correct dimensions and bleeds for printing

• Finding a series of fonts that would reflect the nature of the book

• Developing a colour palette that would be implemented throughout the book

• Establishing small design themes to include within the book to improve the flow

• Adding sections to encourage children's participation

• Digitally enhancing the children's hand drawn images and placing them in the relvant places in the book

• Creating low opacity backgrounds for the poems

• Adding the cartoon drawings in key places throughout the book

We loved putting this book together and are delighted with the feedback recieved.

If you have a design project that you would like to discuss, you can email me directly at becca@rk-creative.com