Evaluation

After reading through all of the project options, I was immediately sure that I wanted to create the cover for a children's book.

Having been read to a lot as a child, and having two younger siblings I felt I was really confident in creating something that would work well.

The additional element of small mammals also excited me as it was the perfect chance to get some primary research and do some photography.

Having selected Beatrix Potter for my main illustration inspiration, I then selected typographer Jessica Hische as my typographer.

With these two amazing, but yet completely different artists in my head I had a clear idea of what I wanted to design.

By mixing traditional illustrations in the style of Beatrix Potter, with Hische's contemporary and highly artistic typeface style I was able to mix the world of old and new and create something really original.

I feel like my design process in this project went really well. As I had such a clear idea I was really inspired to create something I could be proud of.

However, having got too caught up in the traditional side of the designs, my typography for titles was disappointing and boring. Saved by some design development though, I later incorporated some really creative lettering that portrayed the titles and themes of the book in a unique way, and let my inspiration from Hische shine through.

Despite this though, I feel like I could have experimented more throughout the project.

When doing my techniques I wanted to ring true to Beatrix Potter and only use techniques that were somewhat traditional and could be done by hand. Although I love some of the results that came out, I think that by me wanting to keep hands on techniques such as different types of painting rather than modern ones such as foil blocking or vinyl cutting, my results were a little limited.

Despite this, I was really pleased with my final piece, and after having designed my front, back and spine to my book I feel all aspects came together really well.

I love the colours used and think my illustrations are really eye catching, but overall just interesting to look at.

What I have learned most throughout this project is the importance of the design stages, it is only when you look at your design every step of the way that you can see how each little piece can be improved.

Although I love the way it looks, I am most happy about the fact that I achieved what I set out to do. I feel my typography represents the modern and artistic style of Hische and my illustration connotes the classic, long established drawings by Potter.

I feel like I brought the two together well, and created something unique and to be proud of.

Final Designs!

 I was really happy with my final design and I think I managed to achieve everything I wanted to achieve.

I layed out the pages on this part of my book as if you were finding my design in an actual novel which I found quite fun and creative.








After designing the spine, cover, and back cover I feel all three parts of my design came together well and achieved the theme of tradition, whilst still being relevant today and aesthetically pleasing







 I feel my book aid homage to both Potter and Hiche whilst still mainting my own personal touch and would make a great story for any child at bed time.

Techniques!

Initial Design Development!

 After digitilising my designs on photoshop I found that they had become the one thing i didn't want them to be - boring.









I had lost the creativeness that I wanted to encorporate through Jessica Hische, and although I was reall happy with the end result of the illustrations, my typogrophy just wasn't good enough, and would probably send a child to sleep in the middle of the day rather than at bed time.





As a result of this, I then took extra time in creating exciting typefaces that related back to "Portside Pirates" adn the style of Hische in the sense that it incorporated the recurring themes of the book, as well as representing the title.

Initial Design

By sketching my initial designs on brown paper I think it gave my initial designs a really home-made and organic feel that made it clear these were done by hand, similar to how Beatrix Potter's illustrations would have been in the first draft of her stories.

Some sketches were better than others, but I feel like they provided good encouragement for me to go on and further develop them later.

Font experiments/analysis

These two are my favourite pages of my book although it was probably one of the most time consuming.



By printing the fonts that I was thinking about using tracing paper, I was able to show the fonts, whilst allowing the reader to see the floral pattern of plants underneath.

This page allowed me to see the importance of typogrophy in my book, and how although I want to keep a traditional feel, I can still incorporate some modern twists that allow it to be separate from Beatrix Potter and represent my style as a graphic designer, although inspired by her.

Children's Book Analysis

I analysised the children's book: "Portside Pirates" by Debbie Harter.

This book was a really good example of how important text and font is to a book. By encorporating the titles into the pirate ship illustration, the name of the book became as much of the picture as the actual illustration was.

This caused me to think about how I could then use font in a way on my final design so that it becomes out of the ordinary, and represents the story well.

Furthermore, the use of bright colours and strong images cemented the fact to me that I had to make mine as bright as possible, because the last thing I would want my cover to be was boring.

I also added string to link my points to the icture as a way of relating it to the pirate ship theme and just as a way to make it seem more interesting.