How Do Children’s Book Designers Work?

Poor children’s book design and drawings will hinder your success—and sales—when self-publishing children’s books, no matter how good your plot and characters are.

Knowing the key building elements of children’s book design can help you self-publish a winner, even if you plan to work with a children’s book designer.

Extensive Research

Visit your local library or bookshop to check out the most recent batch of children’s books focused on the age group of your book, particularly the award winners. That will assist you in recognizing current trends in children’s tale books, such as editorial tone, cover design, page design, and illustration.

Your children’s book must appeal to today’s children. Children’s books from 30 years ago are very different from what children are interested in today. Children nowadays are subjected to so much more and are capable of comprehending deeper subjects and intricate art.

However, some “classics” have been around for a long time and manage to resonate with each new generation of children. What is it about these novels that allow them to last so long?

Also, keep in mind that your children’s picture book must appeal to the parents or guardians who will assist in selecting and reading the book.

Keep The Storyline in Mind

Consider your picture book like a children’s movie. How will you tell the story with graphics that bring the words to life, page after page? Where in the story are the key moments that could benefit from a wider visual treatment, such as a two-page spread?

A storyboard can help with this. It’s a miniature mock-up with rough image drawings of your children’s book’s rough outline. You can cooperate on a storyboard with an illustrator to figure out the rhythm of your story and powerful picture ideas if you’re working with one.

A typical children’s book has 24 or 32 pages, a multiple of 8 or 12. Other page counts that are not divisible by 8 or 12 can be more expensive to print. Instead of binding the book automatically, the printer will have to insert pages manually.

Images and Visual Art

Images (typically artwork) are an essential part of the design of children’s books. You can do illustrations in a variety of ways. The key is to match your subject’s emotional tone with an illustration or visual style that suits your story.

If your book aims at younger children, keep the illustrations simple. If you’re writing a book for older kids, go for more abstract expressionism.

Book designers charge from under $100 to several hundred dollars for each illustration, depending on the degree of competence.

Depending on the visual complexity and the illustrator’s production schedule, the work will likely take 3 to 6 months to complete.

Colors And Layout

Plan to have photos split throughout two pages with text positioned above, below, around, or between images to add variety to your layout. Position the text on a largely uniform dark or light background where it will be legible. Lines of text can be broken up and placed over a full-page illustration.

Make sure that crucial aspects of your images, such as a primary character’s face, don’t get lost in the break between two-page spreads—or get cut off if they reach too close to the page edge. Allow a 14-inch safety margin for nonbleeding graphics and 3/8-inch for writing.

Colour and typography should reflect your subject matter, much as graphics connect better with the story.

What color scheme will best suit your story’s mood? Earthy, warm tones like brown and green can help to create a natural feel. You can use red, orange, and yellow to create a warm mood. Strong hue contrasts, such as red and purple, are used to create an exciting mood.

Every font has a distinct personality or “voice.” What would your book sound like if it could talk? Now choose a font that sounds as good as it looks. You must also evaluate your target audience. Adults and children will both read a children’s picture book. Wherever possible, the typefaces should be inventive, but not to the extent where the text becomes unintelligible.

Understanding The Importance of Cover

People make quick judgments about books based on their covers. It’s the first, and sometimes only, item people notice to choose if they should stop and take a closer look or continue without stopping. It will be difficult to pique curiosity and convert sales without a cover that stands out for the correct reasons. Successful books aren’t created by chance.

They are well-planned visual retail products aimed at a certain target market. The major sales technique to entice such consumers is the package, or in this example, the book cover. You could have the greatest incredible narrative globally, but if it isn’t packaged properly, it will not sell.

Size of Colour

The size of the colour also plays an important part. Decide whether you want the title or the lead character to be the primary focal point on your book cover and make it larger. Smaller items will receive less attention than more significant elements. Equally sized elements could compete with one another.

The contrast of Colours of Cover

Colour is the most straightforward way to create contrast. When duller colors surround you, a brighter object will stand out. On a lighter background, a darker piece will draw more attention. It will stand out more when a complementary color is placed adjacent to its opposite color (on the color wheel).

Keep Images Diagonal

We have been trained to feel most comfortable when our eyes can go diagonally across images from the top left to the lower right for native speakers of English text, where we read top corner to bottom and left to right.

We may even subconsciously reject designs that cause our eyes to travel in the opposite direction. It stresses your eyes and makes processing what you are seeing more challenging for your brain. Preferred Diagonal Scan is taken into account in numerous layout variables.