Initial Ideas

My initial ideas include:
- A map on the back page- the map would be simplified and only indicating the main sections of the park which the kids will need to go to. For instance, they wouldn't need to go to the university lecture rooms, hence why that wouldn't be on the map.

- From the options that we could choose from, I have an idea that I could have a page with how to make a bug hotel and on the opposite page of the double page spread, I would have a box/section with all of the bugs that they could possibly find in the woodlands and then underneath, there would be a empty box maybe with a black and white drawing of a bug garden with the instructions for the child to draw the bugs that they have found in the woods in the box.

Front Cover Idea:
My idea for the front cover and the name of the activity book is that it is called '100 Things To Do Outside'. It would include 100 activities for children to do outside. I am not sure as of yet what I would include on the front cover but in this diagram, I have included an outline of a woodland tree which would host greens and browns which I said were woodland colours.

Front Cover Idea:
This front cover idea would include a green background and it would host a box/section which would say 'This Book Belongs To.....'. The child would be able to fill in the section with their name meaning that the activity book would be a lot more personal to them which could mean that they would be more willing to take part in the activities if they are difficult.

Lakeside Brief- Initial Research

The main aim of this brief is to get children out into the woodland and experience wildlife and getting muddy again. This activity book needs to be informational but at the same time present the idea that being outdoors is actually still as fun as playing inside on games consoles. Bright colours should be used, in my opinion as it is for kids but I think that there needs to be a great deal of colours which relate to the woodland such as brown, greens, blues (for streams/lakes).

I am going to begin my research by looking at the following areas in children's book design:
- Outdoor books for children
- Outdoor Activity books for children
- Activity books for children
- Woodland themes
- Woodland themed books (children or adult)

Outdoor Books:




The above book covers and double page spread all have a theme, although they aren't actually activity books, they are all books which look at the outdoors, whether it is an information book or its a story book. As the activity book that we need to produce is for both boys and girls and also as a learning resource, it would need to be relatively neutral in the colour schemes. The above examples tend to swing one way or the other and aren't really suitable for both genders.

Outdoor Activity Books:





The book covers above tend to be all suitable for children and adults as the adults will probably be the ones helping the children to complete the different tasks.The front covers all have some kind of illustrations on them, whether it is cartoon style, photorealistic images or line drawings of cartoon and photorealistic images. It is a difficult one to decide on as kids like cartoon images and it makes them less daunting but if they are overly whimsical then they children may not see or understand the cartoon in relation to the real life object.

Activity Books (in general):







 
Above shows some images from the inside of activity books for children. I like the idea of having the map outline, I plan on incorporating that into my map which would be on the back page of my activity book.

Woodland Books (Adult and Children):








The above book covers range from being suitable for adults and for children, I wanted to look at a range of book covers for different aged audiences in order to see the different techniques that have been used.


3D Cutout/Print outs:





I have focused on bookmarks as I think this will also encourage the children to read more.


Other Inspiration:

"I Can Cook"Cookbook Brief

I completed some research on current children's cook books that are on the market:






From the research that I have conducted above, I have come to the conclusion that there is a half and half split to the cartoon illustrated cookbooks and the photo realistic illustrations. The positive point about the photo realistic books is that the children can see exactly what the final piece of food is going to be where as in the cartoon section is a bit more vague to the final outcome. There are a large amount of pastel colours which would probably be described as pretty.

The main sections within the double spread of these cookbooks are the title stating the name of the recipe, the ingredients section, the equipment, the instructions/method and then any alternatives which would include options to swap certain foods for other food.

I chose to do the sticky chocolate cake recipe. Below are some sketches of concepts that I have come up with.

Below is the final outcome that I have created for this brief:

Art Styles and Audiences

Information/ Reference Titles- aimed at 9-11 year old's:

- A photo realistic style is used throughout the majority of information/reference titles.
- Information books usually tend to have brightly coloured and interesting cover pages, by having interestingly designed outer pages, it could draw in the audience's attention as the kids may be put off from reading it if they know that it is an information book. So by making the cover interesting and colourful, it makes it more welcoming.
- There are lots of illustrations present that are merged with text, the images usually back up or emphasise the wording on the page.
- The images are used to break up the text as it can be quite daunting, despite these books being for a much older audience.
- The large amount of text will put off a younger audience.
- Columns and grids are usually present in these types of books as there is more of a focus on structure of the book and the text in it.
- I think that the photorealism found in the images in information books is really important as they act as references so if they were abstract, it wouldn't be easy to link the images in the book with real life images.
- Elements:
        - Real life/ photo-realistic images
        - Bright colours
        - Text present but it is backed up with images





Babies/ Toddlers- First Object Books:

- The pictures in these picture books are realistic as they are in theory references for the baby as they could link together the images in the picture book to real life objects. They would be able to notice and recognise the different objects in the book from the images to what they have seen in real life.
- Books which show the alphabet in upper-case and lower-case tend to be in cartoon format as the emphasis is on the alphabet letters (A, B, C) and not the images (Apple, Bird, Cat). These cartoons could be seen as being whimsical as they perhaps want children to use their imaginations more rather than having it laid down for them.
- There are no narrative to these first object books. The only wording present is the titles and the words underneath the objects which states what they are.
- I believe that this is an appropriate art style for children's first object books because the objects should be able to be recognised  in real life as this acts as a learning aid.
- Elements:
        - Photo realistic images in order to make recognition
        - Bright Primary Colours




Picture Books- Aimed for 3-6 year old's:

- There is a whimsical cartoon look to the majority of picture books as they are for small children with good imaginations.
- The main difference between picture books and first object books is the amount of text present.
- Picture books actually tell a story with both the text and the images.
- The wording is often illustrated so that its acts as an image in order for it not to be daunting for the children.
- There is very little, if any, examples of children's picture books with photo realistic images.
- I think that this art style is appropriate for this type of book/genre/age range to take more from cartoon images as they enhance the fact that it is actually a story and not real life. I think the fact that it is designed with cartoons acts as a type of detachment from real life.
- Elements:
       - Lots of bright primary colours
       - Wording is often used creatively to act like an illustration.


















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