Children's Book: Design Development - Type Placing

Inspired by the variety of type approaches from explored children's books, the design experimented with various ways to best present the narrative through type. 

Type placement is a strong tool in aiding the young readers to visualise the story by depicting movement, excitement and momentum, as well as simply setting the scene. Hence, the placement of text in children's publications is key in successfully communicating tone, and in maintaining reader engagement. Thus, the type layout wanted to be fun with strong pictographic qualities. 

The relevant verbs and adverbs to translate through type:

- Falling

- Singing

- Climbing

- Dancing

- Celebrating 

- Hurrying

Design decisions:

• 17 pt type
• Futura Medium 

France

Egypt

Russia

India

China

Japan

Madagascar

Some pages were a lot easier to type place than others, due to the varying amount of text to fit onto each page, as well as the various negative space left from the illustrations. The design wanted to keep 17pt through, and managed to do this with the type solution of curving and weaving. Nonetheless, the type placement had a clear art direction, making it efficiently applicable to the design output, and visually coherent throughout. 

This method of design, whereby the illustrator and designer worked side-by-side and on digital software (illustrator), allowed for both the imagery and type to progress together. The use of layers on Illustrator, together with the designs organisation and planning, meant the movement of aspects and alteration processes was efficient, as parts were easily transferrable across the spreads. The design also ensured many files were saved as the process developed, clearly named and dated, so that development could keep on top of the various necessary outputs (10 different spreads).