Gdes2014 Chocolate & Prototypes Session - Student Progress

Below are the short reports from students on the module as to where they believe they are progress-wise in relation to the 'live' brief about children's bushcraft set by client Rob Delahay from UW Lakeside.

Client Rob Feedback:
All look great!

Anna Solcova
Stunning work; love the character in the ‘kids survival kit’ fantastic idea, double page spread with tick off features is brilliant – I can see these being used already..

Especially liked Katie Ledgewood’s design – and incorporating ‘what you will need’ and ‘instructions’ is great as can serve a multi-purpose  when used by children and as training tool for new staff.

Anna Perkova’s ‘make a map’ idea is great, definite and easily seen links to curriculum.

CHARLOTTE BULLOCK

Development blog at: http://charlottebullockgdes2014.blogspot.co.uk 

A. What 3x key findings or examples linked to 'Bushcraft/Children's Outdoor Materials' from your research undertaken for this project have influenced your final set of designs?

I went into the primary school that my mom works at as they have a large amount of books in their library and they have a selection of forest school equipment and activities.

I went to Little Owl Farm Park and they have a nature walk/bushcraft area with a large amount of activities which are in the form of signs.

Internet research and the children’s books that we looked at in the lectures also gave me inspiration.

B.  Explain why you feel that your final design ideas are both suitable for the site at Lakeside, how they link in with the wants of the brief.

I think that my final design concepts are suitable for the brief and the audience of 7 to 11 year olds because it is bright and colourful and it gives instructions on how to do the different activities successfully with appropriate illustrations with them. I think that my eBook and its style fits in with the outdoor style that we are trying to sell to the children.

C. How might you gain basic feedback from people who don’t know the project to feed-in too (some form of user-testing)?

I plan on taking the pages of my eBook to the school that my mom works at in order to get the opinion of the school children and then their teachers in order to see if it is suitable for the audience in question.

I also plan on creating a questionnaire/survey in order to get opinions on my work from loads of different audiences and age groups.

TOM HODGSON
(No up to date imagery)

Development blog at: http://thodgsongdes2014.blogspot.co.uk/

A. What 3x key findings or examples linked to 'Bushcraft/Children's Outdoor Materials' from your research undertaken for this project have influenced your final set of designs?

These three books really inspired the look I wanted to replicate and take forward with my designs. I wanted it to look very hand made and diy. Like something a child themselves would make. I found using different textures like wood and mud really help set them apart and gives the feel like a child has made it. These books have different target age groups and fulfil the hand made feel in different ways, this shows me that there are multiple ways to achieve this look. It also showed me features used to keep the audience visually stimulated and this has been written about in my blog.

B.  Explain why you feel that your final design ideas are both suitable for the site at Lakeside, how they link in with the wants of the brief.

I feel like my design is suitable for the lakeside site, and in general because I believe that appeal to people of the target age range because the stylisation of the overall book is aimed to replicate a book a person of their age would theoretically will be able to put together themselves. With the diy, scrapbook look, I think it replicates a messy and dirty self-assembled book. I think the activities and challenges are appealing to someone of that age and are something they would like to do themselves. I think also the 3d elements also appeal to them.

C. How might you gain basic feedback from people who don’t know the project to feed-in too (some form of user-testing)?

Ideally, a testing session to a tester group of children of mixed gender in the target age group would be a perfect way to test to see if they are engaged with the book itself. A better way to test this would for them to also take the book out to the site, with an adult and physically undergo the activities and use the book to its intended purpose.

Similarly, to do the same test again, however this time with the perspective and feedback from the adult’s opinion would be another good way of gauging whether they feel the child is fully engaged and stimulated by the book.

Other means of testing can be orchestrated through surveys and questionnaires based on the books visual and aesthetics to test to see if they feel the book is appropriate for the age range, and to see if they believe the book is adequate for its purpose.

JACK HUMPHRIES

Development blog at: http://gdes2014bookdesign.tumblr.com

A. What 3x key findings or examples linked to 'Bushcraft/Children's Outdoor Materials' from your research undertaken for this project have influenced your final set of designs?

THE EXAMPLES IN WHICH I RESEARCHED INTO WERE EXSITING PICTURE BOOKS THAT HAVE BEEN PUBLISHED BY COMAPANIES THAT TAKE ON THE SAME BRIEF IN WHICH I AM CURRENTLY UNDERGOING.
101 THINGS FOR KIDS TO DO OUTSIDE – OUTDOOR ADVENTURE – WILD ADVENTURES HAVE INFLUENCED MY ORIGINAL DESIGN CONCEPTS AS IVE LOOKED INTO LAYOUTS, TYPOGRAPHY, ILLUSTRATIONS AND CONCEPT IDEAS HAVE ENCOURAGED ME TO LOOK INTO HOW I CAN MANIPULATE MY OWN WORK INTO CREATING A PROFESSIONAL AND SEEMLESS WORKING DESIGN THAT WILL WORK EFFECTIVLEY. I HAVE ALSO LOOKED INTO WAYS IN WHICH PICTURE BOOKS AND ILLUSTRATIONS HELP GUIDE A VIWER / READER THROUGH THE BOOK AND CREATE A ENCHATING EXPERIENCE GIVING THE MEANS OF LAYERING OF TYPOGRAPHY, POSITIONING AND COMPOSISITION AND EVEN GRID METHODS AND FORMATS

B.  Explain why you feel that your final design ideas are both suitable for the site at Lakeside, how they link in with the wants of the brief.

I FEEL MY FINAL DESIGNS ARE SUITABLE FOR THE MAIN PROJECT AS I WANT TO CONEVY A SENSE OF INDIVIDUALITY AND UNIQUENESS WITH MY WORK, COMBINING PRECISE GRAPHIC DESIGN AND WILD OUTDOOR  NATURE INTO A PROFESSIONALLY EXCECUTED AND WELL THOUGHTOUT PRODUCT IS SOMETHING THAT I FEEL MY DESIGNS ACHIEVE.
CREATING TEXTURES, DEPTH OF PERSEPTION AND DEVELOPMENT WITHIN DESIGN IS SOMETHING I WANT TO ACHIEVE WITH THIS WORK, ENCOURPORATING TEXTURES OF PAINTS AND PATTERNS INTO MY ILLUSTRATIONS WILL PROVIDE MORE READABLITIY AS IT HOPEFULLY ENTICES THE CONSUMERS AND TARGET AUDIENCE TO REALLY DELVE INTO THE BOOK AND EVALUATE AND EXAMINE THE PAGES AND GAIN A PERSONAL ATTATCHMENT TOWARDS THE PRODUCT AS MY ILUSTRATIONS CAN BE COLOURED AND ADAPTED FOR EACH INDIVIDUAL MEMBER OF THE AUDIENCE. MY CHOSEN IDEAS ARE WELL SUITED FOR THE LAKESIDE  RESORT AS I FEEL AS MY IDEAS REPRESENT THE PLACE AS A WHOLE. A FUN ENVIRONMENT WITH EXPLORATION AREAS OF DEVELOPMENT THAT HAS THE CAPABILITY TO ADVANCE THE LEARNING ASPECT OF THE TARGET AUDIENCE REGARDING FUN ACTIVITIES THAT TEACH NEW AND INTERESTING WAYS OF LEARNING THAT BRANCHES OUT FROM THE NORM, I FEEL THAT THIS SUITS MY DESIGNS AS I HAVE TRIED TO PERSUE THIS SIMILAR CONCEPT.

C. How might you gain basic feedback from people who don’t know the project to feed-in too (some form of user-testing)?

IN THE TERMS OF USER TESTING, I WILL BE INTERVIEWING MY TARGET AUDIENCE AFTER THEY HAVE HAD A GENEROUS AMOUNT OF TIME WITH THE DESIGNS AS I WANT A COMPLETELY UN BIASED AND REALISTIC APPROACH TOWARDS MY CRITUQUES AND FEEDBACKS. EXAPNDING INTO ADULTS WHO WOULD POSIBBLY PURCHASE THE PRODUCT FOR A YOUNGER AUDIENCE AS I WANT TO GET THE KNOWLEDGE NEEDED TO BE ABLE TO APPEAL TO PARENTS AND GUARDIANS OF THE YOUUNGER GENERATION.
PRINT OUT DOCUMENTS WITH BOXES FOR ANSWERS AND GUIDANCE WOULD BE SOMEHTHING I WANT TO PRODUCE SO I CAN HAVE A CONSISTANCE SOURCE OF READBALE KNOWLEDGE WHICH THEREFORE ABLES ME TO REFERENCE INTO MY RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT ON MY ONLINE BLOG AND PERSONAL SKETCHBOOK.

KATIE LEDGERWOOD

Development blog at:  http://kledgerwood1.wix.com/gdesmodules


A. What 3x key findings or examples linked to 'Bushcraft/Children's Outdoor Materials' from your research undertaken for this project have influenced your final set of designs?

I took inspiration from the gruffalo activity book as it was similar to what we are doing and I quite liked the style they had used. I was also influenced by my trip to all things wild and I saw a bushcraft area where they had a bug hotels and a bug garden, this gave me an idea of the sort of thing I was designing for. Also seeing exsisting childrens books from my research has influenced me.

B.  Explain why you feel that your final design ideas are both suitable for the site at Lakeside, how they link in with the wants of the brief.

I think my designs fit with brief as they fit in with the age range of 7-11 as my designs are too childlike so I think it is better suited to this age range. I have used a ‘rustic’ style throughout my book, I think this fits in with the ‘outdoorsy’ style. I have also got little bugs scattered around the page which again adds to the rustic style and adds a childlike element.

C. How might you gain basic feedback from people who don’t know the project to feed-in too (some form of user-testing)?

I plan to get feedback by making a survey and then getting a range of people to fill it in so I can get a range of age, gender and get a good variation to make my findings wide ranged. 

I also plan on maybe showing a group of people my work and getting feedback first-hand as well as from the online survey. 

ANNA PESKOVA

Couldn't attend session but has updated her blog at:

https://annapeskovagdes2014.wordpress.com/

NOA RACIC
(No up to date image to show)

Development blog at: https://childrensbookdesignsite.wordpress.com

A. What 3x key findings or examples linked to 'Bushcraft/Children's Outdoor Materials' from your research undertaken for this project have influenced your final set of designs?

My idea was to make a book design for children from age five to seven years old.  The design would include illustrations and collage. The colours would be pastel and light and would include the whole colour spectre. The text would be minimalistic with a playful and big font. The interactive part of the book would include a simple build that would teach children about nature and the importance and taking care of it.

B.  Explain why you feel that your final design ideas are both suitable for the site at Lakeside, how they link in with the wants of the brief.

The design would fit in well because its most important task would be to show children fun and education that nature provides us. It would be light hearted and fun, inviting children to do various tasks in a nature environment while having fun and learning at the same time.

C. How might you gain basic feedback from people who don’t know the project to feed-in too (some form of user-testing)?
For user testing I would choose to print out the designs, that I would take to various schools and playgrounds showing them to children and teachers to hear from first hand their opinions, critics and suggestions.

LENKA SIMAKOVA

Development Blog (presently password-protected) at: http://lenkasimacovablog.wordpress.com

A. What 3x key findings or examples linked to 'Bushcraft/Children's Outdoor Materials' from your research undertaken for this project have influenced your final set of designs?

The idea make it illustrated with infographic aspects came from one poster, which I have on my blog “Make a stick man” and I think, that work quit well and you can see the illustrated background separately from the infographic elements, I mean good contrast between them. I used my own illustrated background, which I colored in Photoshop, because I think, that for children it is more friendly to see something drawing, because they can make it as well, not like photographs. I used typeface “give me some sugar”, which I found on the dafont.com and I used it because of the curls, which look playful.

B.  Explain why you feel that your final design ideas are both suitable for the site at Lakeside, how they link in with the wants of the brief.

I used forest background, which should symbolize the bushcraft, where they can try to find things, which they will need and try to make for example the fishing rod or whatever from the e-book. I create simple designs, not too much text and images, which shows, what they will need to prepare and how to make it. I think that all these things work well for children. For the cover I used my own illustration as well, it shows activities, which you can find in the book and try to make it, I think, that children chose things mostly because of the look than what they can learn from it, so I wanted to take their attention by using this illustration.

C. How might you gain basic feedback from people who don’t know the project to feed-in too (some form of user-testing)?

Final Q not completed.

ANNA SOLCOVA

Devt blog at: http://annasolcovaa.wix.com/uowblog

(Waiting on other wording)














BEN WHITE

Devt blog at: http://benwhite883.wix.com/photography-blog/


A. What 3x key findings or examples linked to 'Bushcraft/Children's Outdoor Materials' from your research undertaken for this project have influenced your final set of designs?

(Book: Going on a Stick Hunt) This was probably one of the most influential pieces of research I look at because it helped me choose my final working style in which I would layer Photographic images with hand rendered, naïve illustration techniques.
I chose to go with this style as I felt the photography would promote the vibrancy of nature, this combined with my illustration style would work to create a visually interesting environment in which kids could get lost observing the individual stylistic techniques on the page.

(Books: Camping With Kids & The Boy’s Book of Outdoor Survival)
The camping with kid’s book was also a very strong influence with my work; this is because of its simplistic visual components, which influenced
Me to explain the activity process in an info graphic manor.
I choose to illustrate in this style as I felt it would be appropriate for kids with learning disabilities. i.e. dyslexia.

(Camp Jobs USA Booklet)
This was a crucial piece of research towards my final design because on analysis of this image I realised the layout of my current design was boring
And it forced me to be more creative with my current layout. It was also a good piece of research because it influenced me to play with signs and textures within my own work.

It also made me realise that the outdoor sign itself sold outdoor activity and for this reason I chose to include it in my own design.

(Other Q's not answered).

ALEX WILLIAMS

Devt blog at: (None supplied).

A. What 3x key findings or examples linked to 'Bushcraft/Children's Outdoor Materials' from your research undertaken for this project have influenced your final set of designs?

An origami scene first inspired me because I wanted to use this to create my environment then lay the text over the top. This then turned into ‘poly art’ illustration because it was far easier for me to digitally create my work. I then found a book called Rosies Walk, which has a fox in that is hiding on each page. For my final piece I will add a fox on each page to give the illustration more depth.

B.  Explain why you feel that your final design ideas are both suitable for the site at Lakeside, how they link in with the wants of the brief.

My designs are simple for the kids to read and understand, yet detailed enough to capture their attention to the background. I created a ‘world’ illustration so that it would be easy for the children to understand the book and how it flows from one thing to another. The text on the piece will be clear and dyslexia friendly so that it’s easily understandable (ran out of time).

C. How might you gain basic feedback from people who don’t know the project to feed-in too (some form of user-testing)?

I’m going to print out my work and test it with parents & children that I know, to test various ages (especially with my 3D artefact). I will also give out a PDF version to see which is better.

Gdes2014 Student Visit to the London Bookfair 2016

We took our cohort of yr 2 Children's Book Design students to see the latest developments in children's books at the London Bookfair this week.. A fantastic opportunity for students studying the discipline to see the scale of the world's publishing industry as it all gathers together under one roof in London.

Students were asked to look around stalls and undertake a small research task on site linked to 'innovations' in children's books that they'd found. In addition to the latest in Children's Book Developments, students could also sit in on free talks and listen to industry professionals - designers, illustrators, authors etc talk about their own experiences and how they saw the industry developing in future years.

Here's a selection of quick photos from the visit:

Graphic design students on the Children's Book Design module look over
one of the vast halls full of the world's publishing industry's stalls.

One of the many free panel discussions with industry professionals - this one
focusing on the role of design and illustration within children's books
and 'is the book dead?' etc. Fascinating listen..

Just one of the many colourful stalls at the bookfair promoting
individual children's publishers.

Some of the many freebies and materials that we
picked up from the exhibition & stalls.

Gdes2014 Lynda Murray, Children's Book Designer/Illustrator Visiting Lecture & Workshop

A huge thanks to award-winning Children's Book Designer and Illustrator Lynda Murray for coming over to talk to students.  Lynda gave both a visiting talk about her own experiences in Children's Publishing, as well as helping to run a feedback workshop on student projects ongoing too..

Students heard Lynda talk about the ways that you an get into the children's publishing industry as well as how she works freelance in various ways too.. A very timely visit as the students are about to go to the London Bookfair at Olympia this week to see new innovations in the industry and meet up with publishers.

Lynda discussing the various publishers that she's worked for and the various
roles that graphic designers are required for in the industry.

Some of the student group listen on as Lynda explains how she now works as
a freelance publishing designer/illustrator.

Lynda very kindly gives extra time to look over and feedback student
work ongoing on their latest e-book project.

Gdes2014 Lakeside Visit & Mobiles and Origami Workshop

We undertook various this week - including a crucial visit to the new UW Lakeside site where we were given a short refresher talk by the facility's manager Rob Delahay and a walk/talk around the key areas of the site. With reference to the "Children's Bushcraft" brief we looked at both the wooded strip of land at the far end of the site where activities are due to take place - as well as the various lakes and wildlife on site. In addition to this we also had a go at creating mobiles and origami shapes - taking 2D paper elements and moving them into 3D - this being part of the assessed brief this year and the eActivity book planned.

Additional ref this week: Project Wild Thing (2013)
A recent film that seeks to examine why we as a society are becoming more and more distanced from the outdoors. Although not entirely the reason for it, the film also makes the point that our children's generation today are the first generation to have a LOWER life expectancy than the previous generation (this also links to childhood obesity, inactivity, diet, sugar, etc, etc).



UW Lakeside pictures:

Rob's quick refresher talk with Q+A.

The strip of woods in which there'll eventually be clearings, campfire sites and
spaces for shelters and tents etc for the anticipated Children's
Bushcraft activities..

Getting an idea of the scale of the site by walking it's periphery. There will
ultimately be various other pitches and running tracks laid out here too.

Some of this week's group of visiting students from the Gdes2010
Graphic Information Design and Gdes2014
Children's Book Design modules.

A pair of Mallards - just some of the various types of wildlife
on and around the site's lakes area.

Students walk through the site's lakes area.

Examples of work and outputs from this week's mobiles and origami workshop:

Students examining their peers' rough work and research to date this week.

Students busy creating mobiles from test sheets.

Suspended natural world mobile. Students could make one of these
as part of this semester's brief and maybe add 'found'
materials as part of a game for children on site.

After about an hour's experimenting these are some of the examples
of ideas coming through from the workshop.

Gdes2014 Early Research, London Bookfair Sign Up & Grids Refresher

We had some good discussions this week around early research done for the 'live' brief linked to children's bushcraft activities at the new UW Lakeside site. In addition, I showed 3 short videos that talked about 'Forest Schools' from the perspective of: the children's Activities, the BBC linking this to academic learning abilities and improvements in concentration and Anna S also found an excellent overview video from Richard Louv - as mentioned in the brief's introduction.

Introduction to 'Forest Schools' (rem this is a brand name for a company that supplies these courses):

 

 Surrey Council's Forest Schools Initiative.

BBC News snippet talking about the importance of children's outdoor learning:

Richard Louv Video


The London Bookfair 2016

 

All students who attended today's session signed-up for their free entry to the 2016 London Bookfair for when we go to London on Apr 13th. the process covers a couple of pages of web forms but once you've completed all required fields (starred 'red' on the form) you should end up at the checkout with '£0.00'.. You will need this to get in to the Bookfair - it's £50 each if you forget to do this and try to get in on the day.

To book your ticket go to the website and follow the step by step instructions under 'buy your ticket'. Keep saying that you're a student and in education and if you've done it correctly then (as with those in session) it should be free at the end of the process. If not then you'll need to go back through the process and check each point to be sure again.



http://www.londonbookfair.co.uk/

Gdes2014 Wk 4 - 'Live' Client Briefing 2016

 

Client Rob talking through some sample bushcraft resources..

 A huge thanks to client Rob Delahay from UW's new 'Lakeside Campus' (what was the 'Top Barn' site) who came in to talk through the requirements of this semester's 'live' Children's Book Design brief today. 

This semester's brief is linked to the new site's development and specifically the wish of the client to start to develop facilities and content to support the "Children's Bushcraft" facilities on site there. Children's Book Design students will be researching, developing and outputting a set of working concepts for an eActivity book based around Children's Bushcraft activities and learning opportunities on site.

As with previous such projects, the aim will be to utilise one or more of the final student outputs to form the actual eResource used on site. A fantastic opportunity for those students involved and potentially a great 'live' portfolio piece for students to discuss at interviews too.

Download the briefing MP3 Audio (90MB) [here] 

Gdes2014 Final Design Board Submissions

Thanks again to all who presented their design boards on time recently. I'll put a set of quick low res photo refs to the boards below in this post in alphabetical order. Each should eventually have a short summary of the person's aims with their work next to the ref images too.

Quick comments by students at time of work submission:

" ... as an aspiring children’s book illustrator it was great to work on such a project because I have learned a lot about children and how the brain works. I have also learned how important the research and testing is before creating the final design"

" I have really enjoyed working on this brief.."

" I have learned so much... it was definitely worth the time to learn and I will take what I have learned into future projects.."

"I feel that this project has really taught me a lot because before I hadn’t much, if any experience with designing books/e-books for children. I now believe that I can design more items related to children confidently and happily."

"I have also learnt to appreciate what children can and cant understand, which as an adult you don’t always realise, especially when you don’t spend time around children.."

"The children book design greatly expanded my understanding about graphic design itself and about the children book design as a genre of illustration. By studying design I gained visual perception and practical experience about the children as an audience and it is because of really good structured lectures, clear explanation and useful, interesting practical tasks."

Student design boards submitted:
(Click on an image to view it in detail/quickly scroll through the set)

James Campbell

Presently waiting on wording here.

Emily Cato

1) 'The Hungry Caterpillar' by Eric Carle - not only is the book a popular children's favorite, but also the textures used in the book I felt that they would link quite nicely to the interactive element I have implemented in my designs, as you just want to reach out and touch them.

2) I feel that my final designs are effective because they convey the game activities, and also, I believe that having the textured hexagon with the text inside really emphasizes the texts message.

3) Acrylic paints and finger painting techniques in order to replicate the target audience in a possible art class.

Harry Cato

What ‘Key’ research references/findings inspired your final designs & why are these  important/of interest?
 The Charlie and Lola series had to be my most favourite book series as a child, so it was this that I wanted to draw my inspiration from. The mixed media elements are what really stand out to me, this handmade look feel is very distinctive, this is what I aimed to recreate in my page designs.

Why are your final designs for your cover, spreads and 3D element effective?
 I feel that the design and content help to engage the audience, the 3D glasses provided a fun personalized make, so all of the outcomes will be unique.

What considerations with materials have you used and why?
 Because of my influences I decided to go for a sketchbook feel, the biro drawings help contribute to this as they are representation of a doodle often in the back of a child’s sketchbook. 

Kirsty Dea

1. What ‘Key’ research references/findings inspired your final designs & why are these  important/of interest?
The key reference and findings for me with this module was going on Association of illustrators and found a style i liked and adapted to create my own unique way of working. Also the research with the few facts that i found about bees helped me to learn a lot about them and the world.

2. Why are your final designs for your cover, spreads and 3D element effective?
I think that these designs are element effective because the designs are child friendly and playful at the same time which i think would attract the children's attention. The design is also simple but different from your everyday pieces of work which i think children would be fascinated to look and say, 'WOW this drawing is amazing' is a comment i got from a 10yr old i know so i think it would have a good impact.

3. What considerations with materials have you used and why?
I took into consideration a few of the materials and artist research trying to combine the two together to create something neither of them have done before. Children i know liked my work and wanted me to do more.

Liam Fitzgerald

1. The main points for me were other children's books, specifically books like Peter Rabbit because of how the animals looked human like and I wanted to try and portray this in bees too. Also when considering the board game idea, I found an old snail race board game to be inspirational because I played it myself in the past and found it very engaging.

2. They are effective because they are bright and colourful whilst maintaining some subtlety and a uniform look throughout. The story is easy to understand and combines story telling with factual elements. The board game has a high level of interactivity with cut out pieces and dice.

3. I printed all the sheets onto A4 to simulate a common book size and I combined hand drawn imagery with digital imagery for a contrasted look. Everything is made form paper like the board game and the dice to allow for less use of materials and easy to find tools to build the elements of the 3D artefact. 

Ieva Gudonyte

1. What 'Key' research references/findings inspired your final design and why are these important/of interest?

My ' Key' research for the final project was my.. not endless curiosity to know more about the natural world as it took from the subject matter of the project itself.  I just know that the life time is to short and there is so a lot unknown, might be 'bad' do not be on time with the wold's progress :). Most important inspiration came from my big interest in the science, especially in the medicine and  from my personal experience using very 'smart' product Royal Jelly what it helped me a lot and till know it might be useful for people  recovering after hard illness, operations and/or to boost immunity system. There is first 'inspiration'. Second, might be my inspirations from looking at particular designers/illustrators, who used design elements, how they arranged balance and harmony to find narrative voice and a personal style.(Wildsmith, Wihnoutka, Jack Tackler, Lithuanian Lina Zutaute).

2. Why are you final designs for your cover, spreads and 3D element effective?

I have chosen to combine my own personal statement with computer graphic programmes and it is was effective in way that I have 'refreshed' my old AdobeInDesing 8 version skills till 22 version, what has got the University of Worcester :). I would say it is good start to develop graphic design skill with narrative illustrative voice as it gets more opportunity  in the professional  developement.    

3. What considerations with materials have you used and why?

I have used for the first steps paintings, but it not well with the project because of it details, then I swaped to line drawing and watercolours pencils what I have used. And then I saw that the board game is very diffficutl tu make by these ttechneques. Then it come AdobeIndesing programe using, where was not so strong, but it gave me a good 'kick' and a lot nice ideas for the future..

Connor Hourihane

Presently waiting on wording.

Loraine Mallon

1. The key research references that influenced my final designs came from children's illustrated books, such as 'We're on a Bear Hunt' by Helen Oxenbury and 'Dogger' by Shirley Hughes.  I like illustrated, hand drawn images and my final designs reflect this style.  I am also interested in hand lettering and I have used this throughout my final design.

2. My final designs together with the 3D element are effective because they follow a theme and are consistent.  They are informative, colourful, fun and would appeal to the younger children studying Key Stage Two.

3. Because I wanted to convey a hand rendered illustrated style, I used ink, watercolour and pan pastels to achieve this effect.  I also used some collage elements to add interest and flexibility to the design.

Paulina Mazelik

1. In my designs I incorporated a lot of bright and pastels colours because I have researched that colours can  increase memory power and enhance academic performance. I wanted the children to have fun while they learn this is why I made the bees in a cartoonish style and gave them funny expressions and personalities.

2. I think that my designs could be effective because as I mentioned above the colours are very important to children and can affect their learning and mood. I used energizing colours like yellow or colours that are found in nature like green and blue. Mixed all together they could be very pleasant to the eye and have a positive effect on health and the brain.

3. The process of making my designs involved sketching everything traditionally with pencils. Then scanning it in onto the computer and colouring it in in Photoshop.

Kassie Nordstromm

1. For visual references, I was inspired by illustrated bee-themed book covers, especially the ones that used a mix of photography and other media.  For example, I was looking at "Honey bees: Letters from the Hive" by Stephen Buchmann.  I also noticed in a lot of the books I was looking at, there was a single design aspect that was carried out throughout the book, and I thought this was a great way to make the work cohesive.

2. I think my final designs are effective because it's very cohesive throughout the project.  It's also simple, yet bold, so it stands out.  The information is easy to read for the age group, yet informative.

 

3. I used photos and artwork in Adobe programs for the final design.  I wanted to branch out a bit and strengthen my skills with digital media.  It took a lot more time than drawing would have taken me, but I think it was worth it in the end.  I usually get disappointed how my hand-drawn work looks on screen, so I figured this would be a good alternative.  Photographs that are used in collage are easily recognised, so that helps the reader interpret the work a bit faster.

Liz Page

1) My key influences were children’s working books such as CGP books and Bitesize as well as the illustration style of Beatrix Potter and Eric Carle for detailed animal study and bright colours on plain backgrounds.

2) I feel my final designs are effective because it’s visually striking with bright colours on white backgrounds, informative and relatively easy to read and follow.

3) My 3D object is an origami bee. For this I created a yellow square on the page to be printed out but it would be fine to print on standard printer paper to make it easier to fold as compared to card, which would be too stiff.

Margarett Passos

1. What ‘Key’ research references/findings inspired your final designs & why are these  important/of interest?
A: The main points that influenced my final designs were the ways that children learn. I incorporated tasks that suit their needs, and the amount of text in every page is balanced with the the rest of the composition.

2. Why are your final designs for your cover, spreads and 3D element effective?
A: Both elements were made with the audience in mind. The "types of bees" has a stamp based designed with basic colors and the "queen bee" design has a friendly character that is approachable.

3. What considerations with materials have you used and why?
In my design I used stamping because I remember doing it when I was younger and by talking with my peers and lecturer, we all agreed it was something that always appeals to children and the illustration style is different from what is usually use, so I believed it would be a good challenge.

April Warr

1. What ‘Key’ research references/findings inspired your final designs & why are these  important/of interest?
The work that I produced was inspired by the artist Oliver Jeffers. Majority of his work is inbetween realistic and cartoon, but not of the obvious sort as they have some human relevance.

Also with his use of bold, saturated colours he is able to capture the depth in a scene without it being overly detailed.

2. Why are your final designs for your cover, spreads and 3D element effective?
The out the cover, spreads and the activity sheet I was able to keep a simple theme running through out by using the same characters and colour scheme to tie it in the spring and summer vibe.

Another theme I stuck with was the use of the outside as bees are all workers and work between two different seasons, by keeping this theme through out I was able to provide the right information in an illustrative manner.

3. What considerations with materials have you used and why?
The main materials I have use in my final pieces are watercolour on thick cartridge paper, this meant I was able to create in depth illustrations, meaning I was able to produce high quality scans to put into photoshop and in design without losing an detail or colour.

Grace Wyld

1) Eric Carle was a huge inspiration for me during this project. I have always found his work fascinating & thought this would be a brilliant chance to take inspiration from him.
Collage has played a huge role in my work & I feel it has really given it something extra than simply being block colour. I chose collage not only because of the inspiration from Carle but also because I felt that it was something which children could really relate to.

2) I feel they are effective as I have used bright, bold colours which attracts the eye. I also feel that it is easy to read so it makes it obvious what the e-book will be about.

3) When creating my 3D aspect I needed to come up with an idea which could be printed on normal printer paper as some people don’t have other types paper at home. With this in mind I decided to make a “Beekeepers Hive money box” as for that I could simple use a box net which didn’t require thicker paper.