Hi,
My partner and I both work from home so our children regularly ask what it is that we do. They are five and three at the moment and both book mad – hardly surprising with the number of books in our house. I’ve been trying to find a book to explain book design and typography to them. I’ve listed a few I’ve found.
The Serif Fairy by Rene Siegfried and Joel Mann
This is a really lovely book for children interested in type design and layout. Plus it is ideal for my little girl who is fairy mad. It is published by Mark Batty Publisher. The book is about a little fairy who has lost her wing and the book takes us on a journey through landscapes made up of letters from different typefaces. You can use it to help children identify and find different letters as well as explain the different elements of letters. I think this book would be a nice gift, not just for a child, but anyone with an interest in type.
Design Dossier: Graphic Design (for kids) by Michael Bierut (foreward) and Pamela Pease (author)
This is published by Paintbox Press and is probably aimed at a slightly older child but even adults would find it a useful tool. It is a very useful introduction to the world of graphic design. It is very interactive and had big tabs separating out sections covering different elements of the graphic designer’s craft. You can find out about the history of typography, and look at different elements of design including colour, shape and composition. There are wonderful pull-out sections looking at iconic and contemporary designers and a useful timeline showing how design fits into our world.
Bembo’s Zoo by Roberto de Vicq de Cumptich
The subtitle of this book, published by Macmillan is “An Animal ABC Book” but this is no ordinary ABC book. Each letter is demonstrated by an animal made up of the letters in the word. It doesn’t really teach anything about graphic design or typography (unless someone wants to contradict me!) but it is a beautiful and interesting book which gets children to think about words and their meaning. There is also a very cool website to enjoy alongside this one: http://www.bemboszoo.com/.
These are just a few I’ve found. I’d love to hear if anyone else can recommend any. There are obviously many children’s books which have beautiful typography and sometimes that is the best way to demonstrate how wonderful good typography can be, and can be appreciated even at a very young age. I suspect that might be have to be another blog topic fairly soon…
All of the books above here are available from Amazon or follow the links to the publishers. All the pictures are copyright of the author, illustrator or publisher of the books.
Regards,
Sharon
Sharonmcteir's Blog 