Text
-text needs to be clear
-text needs to be readable easily
-text needs to be brief
-text needs to be large
-text needs to be soft/curved to seem warming/friendly
-text needs to be the in a easily noticeable place
Research into Children Friendly Typefaces
Most children learn to read going letter-by-letter, learning which sounds go with which shapes until they can blend the sounds together to form words. This is why new readers proceed slowly and sometimes struggle with pronunciation and syllable stress. The efforts of new readers can be supported by making sure their texts use inviting, easy-to-read typefaces, set in the most readable way.
When selecting a typeface for a children’s text, look for a warm, friendly design with simple, generous letter shapes. The counters should be rounded and open, not angular or rectangular. Avoid non-traditional letterforms.
Either sans or serif designs can be used as long as they avoid any extremes that could impair readability. Don’t use condensed or expanded typefaces, which make character recognition more difficult. Select a book or medium weight; stay away from hairline or very bold weights.
Children learning to read are only familiar with basic letter forms and are taught to read black text on white background.Make sure the typeface you use has the correct letter forms to make it easier to read. Sans serif fonts are more appropriate for children as they are closer to the way we learn to write therefore are easier to recognise the letters. Serif fonts are used in long blocks of text like novels and newspapers as they are designed to aid the flow of your eyes reading from left to right. Children's books have a limited amount of text and are not designed to be read a high speed therefore a serif font is not appropriate.
Keep a lot of white space around the text. It is important that the child is able to concentrate on reading the text without being distracted by graphics or illustrations.
Stick to black text on white background unless you know what you are doing. This is the main way we learn to read so it is easier for a child to switch into reading mode when the text follows this colour combination.
Many teachers, for example, think that sans serif types (with infant characters) are suitable for beginner readers and publishers respond to this by setting books in typefaces such as Helvetica and Frutiger, often with specially designed infant characters.
Crit feedback
what typeface should be used for a children friendly book
'"century gothic" because it has the simple a and g shapes that children are taught.'
'futura'
'If you want to get away from faux handwritten typefaces but want something that looks child (and presumably parent) friendly you could try a softer looking typeface with warm overtones'
'For young kids with picture books I would suggest Comic San Serif 14pt. For young kids in 1-4 grade I would suggest Century Schoolbook 14 and for older kids in 5-8 grade I would suggest Century Schoolbook 12pt. '
'Simple ones are good for beginning readers. For your title page though, try AR Christy. It's pretty fun and decently easy to read when its big.'
'Helvetica or Garamond'
Experiments
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| Uppercase fonts used as this is the first case young reader learn to read, it also taken from research into book covers aimed at the same target audience. Its bolder, less decorative so the text is easier to read and tell the different between letter forms. |
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| lower case experiment to see if this style is easier or harder to read, to compare with the other experiments to find the final case of the typeface that should be use |
Design
After looking at over colour books and children's book cover it was clear that i needed to add colour to the cover some how, this was hard as i need a way to show all the 3 colours over lapping but didn't want to include the colour swatch as felt this would make reading the book pointless as the cover would then explain CMYK without need to open the book. Therefore i thought i would look back at my sketch book to see if there was any other way i could combine the colours without giving away too much detail, the samples form the material experiment i did stood out. These were quick strands of cut cellophane that where over lapped to see how they mixed, these elements then became the bases for the idea for the cover, adding strips of the colours over lapped. It was a unqiue way to add colour to the front page without using un-needed illustrations that wouldn't link to the inside of the book. The cover needed to reflect the book content without any unnecessary details being add taht would make it hard to read the text, as the book was very simple the cover was kept like this also helping with the readabilty of the text for a younger audeince, i will experiment with how many strips to add, what colours and where to place them before i pick the final design.
Colour Shapes Added
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| added to see how they work with the different typeface ideas |
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| arrangement of the strips and the text have been experiment with here over Helvetica, this isn't the final text at the moment but this text makes it the easiest to focus on the colour strip arrangement as its the thinnest i looked ta using. This was the development of the strip order so i needed a type where i looked at the strips only. |
The strips need to be added overlapping the egdes of the book as then they take the ground of the layout and the text is still the figure, this is need for this cover to make the text more legible for a younger audience. Yellow and magenta should be used more on the cover than blue, this is as this blue is darker than the other and makes it hard to read the text over the top. The yellow is the easiest to see the text through therefore this should be used the most. The 3rd image here works best as the text can be read easily as the blue is only around the edges but also as the colour comes over from too opposite sides it balances out the layout. The colours coming from opposite sides makes sure that there is colour added to most of the page but there is as little over laps as can be done, this makes the design similar and easier to look at.
FEEDBACK -
'the colours look cool over lapped but the 4th design seem to have too many element over the top of each other'
'the 2nd looks to plain even though the strips idea is good, maybe add more'
'1 seems too organized, like the edges are too straight and it seem a bit grided with feel more boring, i like 3'
'i don't like the text in the middle and all the overlapping in the middle, it makes it hard to focus on the text'
'as the colours on the first match up the cover seems thought out, if its going to be a random mixture of arrangements make it completely random'
'i think 3 works better, it seem more equally as the colour is on both sides, the space seem more full even thought it does have white space to balance out the colour'
After reading the feedback it is clear that the most popular design is the 3rd one, this is as i have placed the colour strips in different orders and used different sizes for this design, i felt that is the style needed to seem more random like it did in my inspiration (sketch book pages) did it would be better to change around the these elements.In this design the colour strips were added to opposite corners and this has the effect it was created for, the style was use the whole cover could seem as if it was filled but not be too overpowering as it would be equalled out.
The cover is a refreshing style that balances out the harsh lines of the edges with the curved bowls in the text, this will make me look at using a typeface that has more curved aspects that Helvetica as the type needs to contrast more with the design to make it more readable that this currently does.
final cover -
Futura Font Choice
Futura has the curved edges implying a kinder typeface combined with the letter forms which are easily read and simple it used for a wide range of children work, the letter can't be confused with any other in the set with means there will be less difficulty when reading it.While designing Futura, the designer avoided creating any non-essential elements, making use of basic geometric proportions with no serifs or frills making it suitable for a produce where the audience may not have the best reading ability. Its basic and clear with a crisp, clean forms reflect the appearance of efficiency and forwardness even today, helping keep the style of the book modern and up to date. In the research into typeface suitable for children this was highlighted 'counters should be rounded and open, not angular or rectangular. Avoid non-traditional letterforms.' this fits futura style perfectly showing that this typeface is suitable for the target audeince. The text is then alined against the left of the page, this as this is place that all book ect start and how children will have been taught to read, keeping it in the same places make it easier for them as they have learn this way so will be associated with it.
futura's design is aimed around a basic typeface that represent hand written text via the style of a and g, and by the way its lower case and uppercase have different x-heights, the designer created a clear modern typeface that reflect the natural style of writing. The text being based around the natural style of writing will allow children to read it easier as this is how they will learn to read and write, they will be able to see the difference between the lower and uppercases more easier (if i use lower case on the inside pages).Children learning to read are only familiar with basic letter forms and are taught to read black text on white background therefore this design is black text on a white background will small flat colour sections added to make the cover more compelling for the younger audeince. Uppercase letterforms have been picked as they are bolder, less decorative so the text is easier to read as the audeince can tell the different between each letter forms, where as lower case is more likely to be read wrong.
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