Investigating Design Choices
Picture Book
Title: Lost and Found
Author: Oliver Jeffers
Others by author:
Illustrator: Oliver Jeffers
ISBN: 9780007150366
Format: Paperback
Number of pages: 32
Weight: 220g
Dimensions: 265 x 259 x 4mm
Age Range: Baby-Toddler
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Lost and Found is a picture book centred about a lost penguin and a little boy. Like all of Jeffers children’s books, the main character is a child, putting the main audience in the shoes of the character and dealing with emotions, friendship and often humours situations, for both adult and child.
I feel the imagery reflects this also as Jeffers style of illustrations has the same childlike, almost child drawn illustrations and imagery throughout therefore not reflecting real-life humans and animals but reflecting them as a child may try and interpret them. For me the cover is very bright and endearing, however I do always find the facial features to be lacking so the characters never show relatable emotions. However, as the book is for toddlers, this is probably something that would go unnoticed. I also think the choices are quick quirky and the lack of expressions may also be additional humour for the adults reading with a child.
I think the use of bright colours helps draw the attention to the cover, to be eye catching and to entice the reader in. The cover is taken from within the story and I like how the whole image is spread across the front, spine and back portraying a scene that the audience will become familiar with when reading the story. Similarly, the typography choices, the font looks handwritten, making it personal but also perhaps reflecting how a child would write and tell a story they had; writing it by hand and drawing the pictures to go with it. I think the colour choices paired with the font however make the authors name harder to read, it could be debated however that Oliver Jeffers is quite renowned for his books and illustrations now and lots of children will be familiar with the work without having to see the authors name.
These themes carry on inside and give the whole book the feeling of a story being told from a child’s perspective and this can help the child relate to the story. Some of the imagery used inside, for instance like this double page spread captures nature and real life but again makes it more child friendly. The use of bright colour against the dark sky helps to set the scene and reflect the mood of this part in the story and the lurking danger for the characters. The imagery is also quite simple, its not too busy and doesn’t look confusing or overwhelming. I think the typography is a bit small for this age range though, and although this would often be read with an adult, I think anyone trying to learn to read might struggle with the font, size and colour. A wider kerning could be used to make the font choice easier to read. Nevertheless, it could be argued that in this instance the image is telling the story and grabs the attention of the reader.
Similar Books:
The main competition for Lost and Found show lots of similar features; bright colours, childlike images/ illustrations that do not reflect a real like version of an animal for instance. A lot of them often feature animals as well as “make believe”, and their deigns are much simpler and less busy, taking a character or image from the story and making this the cover. I like Jeffers unusual style however and I think it does stand out when looking at it next to the competition.
Selling Place:
To target the audience the use of imagery and design lends itself to be sold in a bookshop where the books can be seen and touched and engage the audience. However often this age range have books purchased as presents from adults so therefore the imagery and bright colours also can be used on adults when purchasing online to appeal to the eye, making it look fun and make adults make connections to their own child, making them want to buy the book.
YA/Teen Fiction
Title: All the Things We Never Said
Author: Yasmin Rahman
Others by author: This is her debut novel
ISBN: 9781471408298
Format: Paper Back
Number of pages: 448
Weight: 326 g
Dimensions: 198 x 129 x 25mm
Age Range: Young Adult 12-18/Teen Fiction
Publisher: Hot Key Books
I like how the cover takes similar elements of adult fiction, the simplistic design, not giving anything away about the story. The lip imagery I think is important on the deign as it appeals to the older end of the YA market, who want to be considered as older readers but gives them topics that are age appreciate. Without doing too much I think the cover also tempts in the audience with the lip images, conjuring up ideas of talking, gossip, relationships and perhaps secrets. Therefore, giving the audience ideas of what the book may be about. The spine is almost a direct copy of the front, with just fewer images, but again even if faced sideways on a bookshelf I think it is still intriguing and bright. However, the typography isn’t as interesting here as there is no use of the lips to display the words, and I think it is less obvious that the yellow images are lips on the spine.
I think the typography inside the book is really clever and really works for the age range. While it’s a really interesting use of font and words on the page, I think in an adult book it might not work as well, but these small elements look really interesting, reflecting feels and movement but give the book the little innocents and teenage injection to the book, reminding you of the audience. Fonts and sizes are used to create a handwriting effect, reflecting journal entries as well as notes passed- things that would be handwritten be characters. In adult books you can still portray this without having to use different fonts however this breaks the page up for the reader, drawing your attention to it and these words stand out in your mind. I think this is crucial for the message of the book as well, dealing with anxiety and depression.
Another use of typography that I think really works is the size and layout, saying the word “down” and using it to symbolises going down or stairs. Then the word “Volume” gradually getting bigger, these both reflect what is being said, and overall, I think adds to the character and appeal of the book.
Similar Books:
When you look at similar works, you see very similar elements, the focus being on the title, using bring colours and big fonts to draw you in while also using almost vague images that make connections to the story but don’t give much away. However, this book fits into the older end of YA and when comparing this to 12-15 teenage range you see more colourful, descriptive design choices.
Non-Fiction
Title: Sapiens A Brief History of Humankind
Author: Yuval Noah Harari
Others by author:
ISBN: 9780099590088
Format: Paperback
Number of pages: 512
Weight: 469g
Dimensions: 198 x 129 x 36mm
Publisher: Vintage Publishing
I really like the use of the thump print to dot the “I” in the title and repeated on the spine, and that it’s a part of the typography. I think this is cleverly used to sum up a book about humans as our thumbprints give so much away about us as individual, and perhaps this imagery choice reflects how the book will give a great insight into the history of human beings. I don’t particularly like the rest of the front cover as I find, to look at, it almost looks like there’s too much writing and all the different colours and sizes makes it look a little busy. The spine is almost an exact copy of the front cover and again if face sideways on a bookshelf it is a very safe design. However, as a nonfiction book cover, I think the title and overall layout does reflect more of a fiction book set up and perhaps suggest the reading and context is more leisurely and has been written in a more digestible way that can ready more like fiction.
Inside the typography is used to show various timelines, which I think is helpful in nonfiction, to help simplify the information and gives an overview of period of time the book will be taking about. This can be helpful to help understanding for the audience and a clever use of typography. I think however the use of images, while helpful to break up mainly writing, gives the book a feel of a text book and actually inside the intrigue I felt the cover gave is actually disappointing inside and the book is mainly a very simple font with lots of text. However, this does reflect the nature of the majority of adult non-fiction books and how the content is often more important than anything else.
Similar Books:
Other books by the same author have a similar set up and style, reflecting the publisher trying to create a brand and keep these books appealing to similar audiences. However older books by this author don’t keep to this and Sapiens reflects a new direction of more simple covers and letting the title speak for itself.
Comparing this book to other, more recent and popular nonfiction of the same nature, they all do share similar design features. Such as fiction style layouts as well as more simple cover designs, as opposed to older nonfiction where there would be a photograph or image of the topic of the book. Cook books and other nonfiction differ, but with anything relating to humans, history or geography/the world, such as which could be argued seem a bit dated now and even nonfiction seems to need to seem a little bit more edgy and design orientated to have people pick up the book.
Crime/Thriller
Title: Big Little Lies
Author: Liane Moriarty
Others by author:
ISBN: 9781405916363
Format: Paperback
Number of pages: 496
Weight: 336g
Dimensions: 199 x 131 x 30mm
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
I felt the cover design choices for this crime novel were very different to the classic crime/ thriller genre and writers such as Stephen King or Peter May, where the cover looks dark and intense, with big, bold fonts, that highlight the author more than the title or anything else.
The writing inside the book follows a classic novel, using a san serif font, with similar columns and structure inside. The font is fairly small and the book focuses on getting the words on the page without going this in a dramatic way. There are no images inside, so the all typography used is the basic font. While this does no seem exciting, it is the norm for most fiction of any genre, especially older books. The excitement comes from the story that is written. However the design work has been put in to make sure there are no errors, that the texts flows and it is easy to read for its audience.
With Liane Moriarty’s Big Little Lies, and her other crime books I felt they reflected a more classic crime book, where the imagery used does not actually reflect crime, murder or anything sinister, but instead reflects the “calm before the storm” or an idyllic setting, in this case the beach. Or it could echo characters being blissfully unaware of what is to come inside the book. I think therefore, instantly this does not reflect crime fiction to the audience or someone passing this in a bookstore, so may not reflect its genre well, unless you are familiar with the title, author or are aware of classic crime novels and their design elements.
Academic/Education Book
Title: A-Level Mathematics for Edexcel Core 1
Author: CGP
Others by author:
ISBN: 9781847628114
Format: Paperback
Number of pages: 204
Weight: 504g
Dimensions: 255 x 190 x 10mm
Publisher: Coordination Group Publications Ltd (CGP)
Age Range: A-Level Students (Old Curriculum)
This book is something I had on my shelf from my A-Levels and had many of these during my time at school. The design is classic to CGP, who use this layout and font for all of there revision guides. I think this is now dated and does seem fairly old despite the newest CGP book coming out this year. The font used does represent an academic font and the CGP brand is very popular with schools that it is a popular book ,however the design choices such as the dark colours, don’t appeal, however it could be argued that revision and studying can be hard to make appealing, so by making choices that do represent an almost simple but practical cover, it could suggest what you would get from a revision guide and perhaps a guide with more appealing feature may be confusing and be less respected as an educational book. The spine is very thin and along side lots of similar books on the self I do not think this stands out, however it is hard to use the small space to create something eye catching.
Inside however, while dated, I think CGP do use typography well to break up the page and make the words on the page easier to break down and understand, which is critical for revision and learning. I like the use of sticky note style images at the side of the pages to give helpful tips and point out things to remember, which could imitate how a student would make notes when trying to revise. They also use colour and make choices to highlight certain aspects of the text, such as mathematical equations which are important to exams the book is helping readers prepare for, which helps them stand out from the page and expresses their importance. I also think that in revision, font and these techniques are very helpful when trying to make things stick out in your memory so you can use them in exams.
Similar Books
Travel Guide
Title: Lonely Planet California – Travel Guide
Author: Lonely Planet
Others by author:
ISBN: 9781786573483
Format: Large Paperback
Number of pages: 800
Weight: 628 g
Dimensions: 197 x 128 x 30 mm
Publisher: Lonely Planet Global Limited
I’ve had this book on my shelf since I lived in LA and I really enjoy all of Lonely Plants photography choices. Regardless of the city their choices to have high quality photos are really appealing and I feel really make the audience want to experience these views for themselves. The image speaks for itself; it’s inviting and breath-taking, the typography is used well to let the reader know exactly where the image is from, but the rest is down to imagery. I like how the image is displayed on the front, spine and back and the text is places over, but the image is still the main feature that stands out.
Inside there are pages with pictures that do a similar job to the front cover, however the pages are often made up of travel guides, routes, information on the area, where to eat and drink and example budgets. I think the layout of these pages is really helpful, broken up into important sections where is clearly stated in fonts and colours that are easy to ready and jump of the page. However, this is just a lot of text and it can get quite boring for the eyes to read and while important information it doesn’t make for an interesting page. However the pictures added throughout I feel make up for that and people often want to know more about a place before they visit it and this book does it as concisely as it can, making it as clear as possible, and perhaps there isn’t an exciting way to do this.
Similar Books:
While lonely planet is famous there are many other travel guides with these, however when I go to the travel section in bookshops I find the use of the blue and white font and labels on top of the bright images, and making the images the main focus really stands out and makes me look at them over other choices. The choice to also have little writing on the front except the location and the Lonely Planet logo, could suggest simple and easy guide to use and therefore make it more appealing to potential buyers. The DK travel guides for instances have a lot more writing on them which can be distracting and also the image is not taking up the whole cover and for me is the second thing I glance at after the title rather than the first.
Coffee Table Book
Title: Some People Think I’m A Shoe!
Author: Stan Smith
Others by author:
Stan Smith does has other art books, however I thought it was interesting to look at other works by the same publishers as there is a variety of different works. From Oliver Jeffers, who also has book published by Harper Collins for example as well as other more interesting or quirky art books. The publishers do not seem deterred from taking on bold and different cover designs with striking images, in-depth illustrations and also very plain designs for example a cookbook, simply titled “Recipes” which is purely black and white. Often the main components of cookbooks are the tempting images, however using a strong font with the extreme opposite choice are very trendy designs at the moment and it could be argued that publishers like this are the ones boldly deciding to use these designs. Title: Some People Think I’m A Shoe!
ISBN: 9780847862740
Format: Hardback
Number of pages: 208
Dimensions: 22.9 x 4.6 x 32.8cm
Publisher: Rizzoli International Publications
I think the choices made for this book really reflect the bold choices of a designer creating a book. Arguably the most notable design by Stan Smith is the classic shoe, I really love the choice of simply using a worn picture of this shoe on the front can reflect the importance of this shoe on the fashion world, on the importance of wearing the shoe and enjoying it while also the worn aspect representing how the shoe is meant to be loved and worn over and over again, being a staple in ones wardrobe. I love the choice to use a plastic cover for the front, back and flaps and using a simple black pen text. I feel this also fits into the brand but also looks more casual like the shoe and could also come personally from Stan Smith.
The book feels very high quality, glossy and clean despite the old looking shoe on the front, which could also be a fashion message about the shoes, as well as adding to the appeal of the book. The pure white background does make the book feel fresh and new, contrasting the image. I think the plain green spine fits in further as the shoe is famous for being pure white with little elements of green and the spine acts as this, however the font and colour used is quite small and I think harder to see, I feel the text could have been slightly bigger, while still sticking to guidelines or maybe could have been white to compliment the white font used on the shoes.
Each page inside is fairly different, with lots of images used to show the shoes used in famous situations while also looking back over the history of Stan Smiths. As with most art books, these are more for coffee tables and decoration and less about reading the book from, front to back therefore the small fonts used, I feel are good choices, and leaves room for the focus to be on the imagery. However, the size could make it different for people to read the book at all and with certain images context may be required and therefore not being able to read could be costly for the book.
Overall, I think the book captures the nature of a high quality, desirable, coffee table book and the simple choices really work, however I feel so much focus have been placed on the images that not always the right typography choice was made. Therefore when comparing this book to other fashion books, where there are bold fonts, with small passages of writing or short quotes or the book consists of mainly photos such as the Vogue, covers edition, where most pages are entirely devoted to just imagery, I feel sometimes this may appeal to the art book market more and therefore Stan Smith could have made more choices to have images bigger, demanding more attention on the page and shortened the written word down, making it bigger where possible so the eye only focuses on the words for a few seconds rather than taking the attention away from the imagery.
Similar Books:
History Book
Author: DK
Others by Author:
ISBN: 9780241302323
Format: Hardback
Number of pages: 320
Weight: 1923g
Dimensions: 308 x 262 x 26 mm
Publisher: Dorling Kindersley Ltd
I really enjoyed researching this history book, as it had similar elements to a coffee table book; it was large, hardback, glossy, looked a high quality, lots of use of imagery, however the history is the main purpose of an audience looking at the book, so unlike a coffee table book, the words were also important but instead of the history book being very plain and mainly text, I thought this was a beautiful way to show a history book. The audience is clearly a younger audience; however, the book breaks down history from the start of the universe to modern warfare, in a way that is very digestible but also pleasant to look at and using imagery to help learning. As the book uses timelines to talk the audience over various parts of history, I really enjoy the use of a continuous timeline on the cover, carrying on to the back, using images throughout history to take a snapshot inside the book to show the audience what topics will be covered. I think the spine is quite basic in comparison however the timeline and the mass of images does look quite busy so the call for the spine to be much simpler may be beneficial. However, on its side, the spine only shows the title, which I think does not give away exactly what the book is about as well as not demonstrating that it’s a history book.
I found the imagery inside even more enjoyable. The theme of timelines is continued throughout with each topic getting its own line, however depending on the topic, different images are used to reflect the time period. For instance, the image of palm leaf is used as the background for an Egyptian topic, with fonts being chosen to closely resemble hieroglyphics and then similarly a chalk board was used to talk about the way physics has changed and developed over history. Representing its teachings in classrooms and idea of equations on boards. I think these ideas are really playful and an exciting way of displaying a timeline.
At the start of the book there is a brief Prehistory timeline, which uses much simpler texts and a basic timeline with just added images. This is the style you would expect for the book, but instead it really uses imagination and creativity to come up with different imagery to display the information. I think this will appeal to audiences, especially adults purchasing for children as it could seem more imaging and exciting for a child to open the book and be greeted with interesting ways to express history. However, putting this more basic timeline at the front could be off putting to those flicking through in a bookstore, as this is the first imagery the reader would be greeted with and they would need to keep turning to see the more interesting designs.
When looking at other alternatives for history books, in particular for children, there is always a need for more image heavy books, to break down the words and make the learning easier and more entertaining. However, this was the first book I came across in the history section that did this in such an enjoyable way, that went above and beyond the usual images and text layout you would expect. I feel the book really stands out against the competition. Even on online stores, the inside content is shown, meaning that purchases don’t have to be made in store to highlight the books stimulating imagery.
Series
Title: The Chronicle of Narnia
Author: C.S. Lewis
Others by author:
ISBN: 9780007640218
Format: Hardback
Number of pages: 766
Weight: 3800 g
Dimensions: 21.6 x 14.2 x 6.4 cm
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
I have had this book since I was in primary school and used to read it all the time. I had old copies from the 50s/60s from my Mum and Dad, but I really enjoyed get my own copy with all the books in one giant book. I used to love looking at the map of Narnia on the front, so I think this is a really nice choice made to put the parts of the imaginary world into context on a map. I think the map is drawn beautifully and represents a style of an old map, relating to the time the book is set. I think however this is something that could have been spread out across the front and back of the book to allow more detail but to also make the back cover more exciting. However, as the book contains lots of books it is important to break down the contents, so the reader knows what’s inside. The hard cover is cloth-bound, however there is a plastic cover with the map and title etc on. I feel, although costly, with an edition such as this, it would have suited being all cloth-bound with the map embossed onto the hard front and back covers. Overtime my plastic cover has been ripped, especially at the top and I also think it just doesn’t look as special this way. However, because of the age range for the book, having a plastic cover over may be important to keep the book clean and to act as protection.
I feel the typography on the front reflects an adventurous story, and the genre of the books, with the words on the map, reflecting hand written words, that may have been expected at the period of time the book was written, which adds to the feel of the book and sets the scene.
I like how the spine also displays the different stories within so you can still see what’s inside even on a bookshelf. However, I think the block colour on the spine and back look a bit dated and also a little dull next to the images on the front cover. Generally, I don’t think the ideas flow together.
While the original books were for children, they were set up in chapters for an older audience with few or no pictures. This edition has pictures within the words to maybe reach a young audience but while also making the edition of the book feel more special, it adds a different element to the book. The book is so much about imagination and therefore adding pictures really does help bring the story to life. The font size is a little bigger than expected, however it does make it easier to read for young readers. A serif font is used which matches the original versions of the books. Overall, I think the typesetting throughout matches the genre and style of book well as making it easy to read for the audience.
Similar Books:
Often with a series or box set of books, you will get each individual book with different covers, with this book however, you just get the one large book. While, I loved this book as a child, it is heavy to read when you want to only read one book at a time and I do feel you lose the cover images of each individual book, however you do gain various images for the story throughout. Therefore, for the audience age, perhaps individual books might be more appealing making this copy less attractive, however as a collectible piece or a book that is read together, I think having the story all in one place really brings the whole chronicle of Narnia together.
Publishing 'Hows' 