London book fair 2016
Three men: an editor, a photographer, and a journalist stumbled upon a lamp. As they rub the lamp a genie appears and says “Normally I would grant you three wishes, but since there are three of you, I will grant you each one wish.”
The photographer went first. “I would like to spend the rest of my life living in a huge house in St. Thomas with no money worries.” The genie granted him his wish and sent him on off to St. Thomas.
The journalist went next. “I would like to spend the rest of my life living on a huge yacht cruising the Mediterranean, with no money worries.” The genie granted him his wish and sent him off.
Last, but not least, it was the editor’s turn. “And what would your wish be?” asked the genie.
“I want them both back after lunch,” replied the editor, “the deadline for tomorrow’s newspaper is in ten hours.
On 13th April, we were blessed to go to London to see to London Book Fair 2016 which took place in an enormous Olympia. It was one of a kind event, everyone from publishing world couldn't miss this opportunity to see all the beautiful new books that coming out very soon, innovations, talks and much more. It was my first time that I saw Olympia and my first thought was " It's massive and it's full of books - wow" and I was right. There were not just UK publishers, there were publishers from all over the world. Each of them was "fighting" to make a deal for their books so the atmosphere was more formal (at least I had that feeling). But even though I was the silent observer, I have found so much inspiration for my work in this place.
If I have learnt something from my Digital Photography Module I had in the first semester, it was definitely taking candid pictures on my phone. So please bear it in mind.
I have to say I have had an amazing time there. Truth to be told is I was shy to confidently go and speak to the people as I felt like "dummy" compare to them. But we did speak to one gentleman. From him we have found out that very popular are coloring books for adults. He was talking only about coloring books for adults to be fair.
Since we talked to this gentleman, I literally became a silent observer. I have found so many books that were designed similarly to mine idea and just made me sure I am heading to the right direction. There were many books design in "flat vector" look - which mine bushcraft book is as well.
One book cover I have found wasn't really for kids audience but I still like how simple and effective it is. It is a book called Faceless and you can see it in picture no.3. Another example of a very nice book cover - this time appropriate to this subject, was a book called The Earth Book. I was very curious how does it look inside- however it was just maquette of the book. Nevertheless, I would say its design is very eye-catching and very good. It has a special feature such as cut out letters filled with different texture. Inspiring, isn't it?
Other publishers had more like "cheap look style" books. I do not want to offend someone - this is based just on my opinion. There were books that in my opinion were chic and were designing with "Less is more" rule in mind, on the other hand there were books which were little bit too much. Too much blink, too much pink, too much glitter/feathers/ God know what else.
but there was ONE PUBLISHER I felt in love with...
These books were something I was looking for. Their designer did very good job according my opinion and from all these books I have seen this got stuck on my mind. I haven't find this publisher among the children publishers in their "special corner" - I came across to it by an accident on my way out of Olympia. But these illustrations just grabbed my attentions and I had to stop and have a peek inside the book.I have to admit that it is not "typical kids style" maybe that was the reason why they were "outside the kids area" but I really really like it. They publishing normal, adults novels and these classic fairy tales. It is so "simply", innocent ... just beautiful.
I have to admit that I had to take their catalogue (didn't steal it - just borrowed it) because I wanted to have some "artefact" with this artwork. When I have opened the catalogue, I have found such a huge inspiration for my project.
This is the style that I like. It is "flat/plain vector" but it the depth is added by texture. I am definitely tempting to try this technique for my little character as well . Also the kid's age range is exactly the same as the one I am designing for. They also have books with special features such as cut outs which looks super-cool.
Where I have definitely found an inspiration was in their activity books.They having games such as puzzle, mix & match but also something like "LUDO". And that was the moment when I got my light bulb because I still wasn't sure what I will do as an activity page. Having a game inside the book I think it is such a great idea. If I come back- the adults coloring books using the same scheme - fun inside the book. Maybe that's why the gentleman said that they are very popular.
what else have i seen?
V&A museum - place full of gold dust
This book caught my eye immediately in V&A Museum. I really like how illustrated this book is and a little bit looks like the one I have produced (sharp edges, plain vector style, main character). I would say this book might be for even younger audience. This book is by Madeleine Rogers with some special features such as pop-outs.
This was another book I have found in V&A Museum Gift Shop. I was very suprised how many appropriate books they had. Again I fall in love with the book cover of this lovely book by Yuval Zommer.
This book would be great as a present for our tutor Andy Stevenson. Absolutely gorgeous map encouraging kids to create their own maps. I have included it as a possible inspiration for my activity page and also as a connection with my other life brief about wayfinding system.
Last but not least book I have found in V&A Museum was A River book.This book caught my attention mostly because of front cover - yes I know "don't judge book by its cover". This book is full of illustrations and flowy text ( some similarity from Charlie and Lola books just little bit "darker" color scheme)
