Main Brief: Rough Concepts

Front Cover, Back Cover & Spine

After research I had many ideas for my rough concept.... initial idea was to call the book "when i'm older" a typical saying said by most kids during their childhood, I want this book to reflect on that but most importantly to teach them to enjoy now by being outside and appreciating the small things. i thought the story would reflect on an ambitious bear who always gets up to adventures. with a caption of "kids these days grow up so quickly join kid the bear on his quest to be a kid and enjoy every minute"

- this is just an inital idea though....

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I want my front cover to feature the character on the front with some bold childish writing for the title and squiggly childish writing for the body text. I want my book to reflect on life lessons… to be about a child being ambitious and wanting to do lots of things when there bigger, but in reality talk about now. Being a child and enjoying it by being outside and appreciating the smaller, non materialistic things in life.

 

Double page spread (1)

would say things like "when I'm older I want to sail the seven seas" with a response such as "but for now i want to jump in a puddle." and asking the child questions like can they see things, this could also be used interactively where the child could touch certain objects in answer to the questions so the child can get involved and it becomes more than just a story.

(2)

Main Brief: Existing Designs

I felt it was important to look at books that were already out there for the same type of audience and topic of "nature" and learning to do things.

there was a wide range, all colourful with extra elements and exciting characters, here are a few that I liked the art styles and designs of, whether it be the overall design, typeface or characters.

Main Brief: Initial thoughts/ideas

 

mind map showing my ideas.

 

early sketch displaying page ideas

The main pointers I gathered from natures base that I took that I wanted to put towards my main brief was to include:

Main Factors taken from Naturesbase:

* LEADERSHIP

* IMAGINATION

*EXPLORATION

*INSPIRATION

* TEAM WORK

Main points that Naturesbase encourages:

* to Express Creativity

* to not be afraid to have an idea/express opinion

* to encourage reusing objects/recycling

* lessons on looking after the world

* exploration and travel

* work in teams/well with others

* being nice to people

Books that inspired me:

Mr Peabodys apples

is one of the books by Madonna. I think the illustration is simply brilliant and like all of Madonnas book it is one that teaches a lesson of morals.

the main point I took from Naturesbase is the fact it teaches kids to be kids, quite often in todays world kids are growing up too fast and often spoilt by material objects

the main points I would like my reader to take is

* to enjoy childhood

* to appreciate small things in life

* to not want to grow up/rush to be an adult

* to explore there surrondings

* to look around and learn from things from a young age

it was then that i came up with a peter pan type figure, but an animal. something along the lines of a bear called "kid"

--> imagination

--> inspire

--> creativity

I think being a big kid is something inside almost everyone and I want my book design to reflect on this.

I began looking at cartoon images of Bears and thought about doing a hand rendered design mixed with collage for my "rough spreads" / books that had bears in them... kind of like a peter pan bear. or a group of bears who were like the lost boys.

Target market
i want to aim for the 5 year old age range, understanding that the importance of creative play in nature for childs development when they are young. and parents will have to read to them.
i'm going to do my double page spreads on A4 size and considering kindle/ interactive formats aswell.

Childrens Learning Techiques Notes

there are many different ways in which children can learn

* Practical

*Auditory

* Visual

*Rhythm

All of which are a process of Understanding.

All children are brutally honest and can come across as quite blunt, feedback from children can be very critical without being intended, this can be challenging to many people.

Babies

* Blank canvas - they sleep alot

* Basic requirements - food, sleep

* Slowing gain skills and techniques, develop persona 

* non nutritive sucking, gain intention 5-12 weeks, with a dummy next to screen/device

* Habulatation - baby/young child, repetitive imagery/loose attention

* visual expectation - such as pavlors dog, music, heat and electricity.

designs such as black and white - Zebra - very basic, for example

children can make connection between senses and music, like hearing music and blowing on a child = reaction, basic interaction.

children can develop communication before speech - baby signs.

pick it up so quickly from a young age.

Taste - using sense to understand things - chewing books for example, sparks interest.

seeing things on tv, communication through visual/hearing.

social convention - comes with age, stimulates learning - senses experience.

By school age most children have developed their prefered method or combination of both.

AUDITORY - hearing, being told/explained

VISUAL - pictures to take in 'concepts' phrases that reflect on this (maps, colours etc)

KINESTHETIC - physical - touch/movement, figiting and doodling.

there are two different types of learning dependences that are :

* genetics and environment

it is also possible to be a combination of both

* visually minded

* mathematical 

 

Task 03: Sample Double page spread

Task Three

Sample Double Page Spread:
50 Things to do Before You’re 11 ¾ - National Trust

The National Trust have came up with a campaign to encourage children to get outside and start enjoying the natural world and have came up with 50 activities they can participate in, for this task we had to choose one of those tasks and design a double page spread based on one of the activities.

I decided to a page spread aimed at 5 year olds, a younger approach to the campaign, I used illustrator to create an outline with an interesting visual Typeface that was quite babyish. I feel this is best for this age range as it shows wide range of colour and will give the child something to look at and follow even if they don't understand the words.

Naturesbase: Initial Research and Brief

I began by looking at Naturesbase and viewing what type of organisation it was and how I could take certain elements of it and incorporate it within my mainbrief.

Naturebase is an activity camp based near Aberaeron, Wales where it appears its aim is to bring children back to basics. introducing them to the great outdoors allowing them to develop skills practically. Children are encouraged to work in teams, whilst also experiencing life in the middle of nature... by doing simple tasks and all pitching in together. 

Naturesbase  has a wide range of different activities to participate in from telling stories and singing songs around a campfire to becoming apprentice farmers by collecting eggs and feeding pigs. The activities are all done with the aim of developing skills, such as team building when setting up a camp and making shelter, to tidying up to give a sense of responsibility and respect.

I came up with a couple of brainstorms from looking at the website and watching the video link of Giles. these were my ideas to see what I could come up with

Questions to ask Giles:

1. Is the book to reflect values/lessons that are taught at Naturesbase? is it to work alongside/be used with... such as being read by the campfire, using sustainable materials, appreciating the "finer things" in life and embracing childhood?

2. In order to represent Naturesbase the book would have to touch on certain factors such as Leadership, teamwork - caring for others, being responsible - life lessons, making the most of what you have... would you agree?

In Class Book Analysis task

To help us research for the main brief Myself and Adam began looking at books with extra elements added, we analysed these and found out how we could take the design from these two books and perhaps incorporate them in our own idea:

Calm Down Boris

 * 3D and textured book, with an added feature of a puppet (of Boris) through cut out holes in the pages. 

*Will create a family reading experience; adults can use the puppet to interact with the books and read the narrative together. It adds an extra fun element. 

* Brightly coloured that will easily catch the eye, especially for children of a young age (perhaps up to pre-school)

*Kinesthetic learners will like this book due to watching the puppet (or using the puppet themselves) to learn the narrative of the story. It build on visual senses, along with sight and feel. Verbal communication can be added through parents speaking the narrative.

*With all of the additional features, it becomes more than just a story which can be taken on in our designs for further development when it comes to the main brief.

*We think it is appropriate because it is 'different'. It has used a creative method to communicate with it's target user which we have estimated to be up until the age of 5. It could easily become a child's favourite book due to the added features and family experience it creates.

The Curious Mind of Young Darwin

*This book is a lot more advanced, with lots of text (and claims the audience is 8 to 80+). We think that it is still very visual (through quite detailed, hand rendered illustrations that are easy to follow and relate too) with chunks of text.

*It used graphic information design, simplifying some complex information into smaller chunks.

*It is interesting because it's based on letters from Charles Darwin (at a young age) so it is at quite a high intellectual level.

*The book would suite visual learners due to the amount of imagery and text to look at. It probably wouldn't be spoken aloud, so would be a book a child would engage in themselves.

*The book is age appropriate as it builds on the fact that children want to explore at that age (about 8+).

*This book aso fits in with the brief with the emphasis on adventure and getting outdoors and features some ideas that could be used for reference.

I really liked the extra elements added in both of these books and felt that was something I wanted to incorporate into my book design. by having these extra elements in the book it makes it so much more than a story at allows the child to interact and feel a part of the story as it is being told. I also decided that I wanted to aim my book at 5-7 year olds and make it a book that would be used for parent and child engagement where they could learn about morals/values of life together.

pop up books
pop up books are a great idea for children to get interacted with a story, i think they look really nice especially this book of the lion, witch and the war