OUGD503 - Emil and The Detective - Presentation Boards

Here are my final presentation boards.

OUGD503 - Emil and The Detective - Final Outcome

This is probably my favourite of the three final outcomes that I created. 

This is one that I think would work best for a children's book. It works well for a child and an adult as the bowler hut is very subtle and not something you notice at first.

I also think the speech marks and the thought bubbles are simple for children to understand. I also think the positioning of the text "After him! After him!" is at the start of the front cover showing that they are after this thief which starts off dramatically inviting you in to read the drama.

Again a very simplistic design that shows the dot to dot working well with the back cover that also has dot to dot illustrations of shoe imprints and more.  Although I think there could more space used in this design, I feel as if everything is too tight on the back page whilst the front page is more minimal. 

Here is a design that a lot of my peers thought was my best design. I personally really like this design. I like how the characters are set in a Berlin style, with very simplistic exaggerated poses. I have outlined the thief with a red circle around. 

FEEDBACK SHEET. 

OUGD503 - Emil and The Detective - Further Development

I find it useful to go on dafonts.com and search for some childish playful typefaces. Here is a selection of typeface that I had played around with. I decided to choose DK Crayon Crumble because when I think of children inspectors I think of myself when I was younger playing with crayons and doing puzzles.  

I decided to use the same colour background against a black typeface as these two colour contrast each other and come across as childish which is the concept that I am going for.

For the brief it says the front cover should be able to work on it's own. I wanted to make sure that the following designs were eye catching and iconic. I personally got very good feedback on my designs from a lot of my peers. 

Playing around with the positioning of the text. I got mixed feedback between this image and the image below. I personally got too confused with the text being in the middle and felt a bit out of place. I went further with the text being at the top. 











Second image. 

Here I made the two characters almost have two sides which is divided by the positioning of the text. I think it really works here and shows who the two main characters of the story/plot are. 

I kept the positioning of this front cover very simple and let the illustrations speak for what this book is about. I really wanted to exaggerate the illustration and make it subtle to understand for both children and adults. 

OUGD503 - Emil and The Detective - Development

Tracing over characters that would represent a Berlin theme matching the book theme.  Highlighting the child who lost his money in black as well as the thief who has a bowler hat on. The child is also illustrated to be looking above towards the man. 

This matches the quiz's that are seen on the back of cereal box's. The theme here is spot the difference using a subtle difference between a circle and a bowler hat (Thief's description).

Dot to dot. Making it visibile enough to understand what the dot to dot is. After placing numbers around the dots it lost the image. It made you focus more on the numbers rather than the fact that it is the first clue of how the thief could be imagined. 

Using the same characters used in my first idea. I am now using the spot the 'bowler hat' character. Almost like a 'Guess Who' game where you have to look for the right attributes of the plot to see who the 'thief' is. I have used a red crayon brush to cross out the people who do not fit the right plot criteria. The children are scattered around looking for this man with a bowler hat.

Quick speach bubbles almost as if a discussion is happening. I wanted to make it a bit more quirky and more interactive for the children.

OUGD503 - Emil and The Detective - Research

Research is very important when coming to design a children' book. It is important to not forget that you are designing for a child. What you design has to be clever and easy for a child to understand. After going to a local library I had a look at a few books and chose books that were either; the same colour choice as Emil and the Detective, had a similar target audience or made me want to pick it up.

I find it important to look back at previous designs that have been created on the same book that I have created. 

A simplistic design showing the streets, to what I can presume is Berlin. It's important for the reader to know what scene it is set as it could affect the story behind. I admire the illustrations behind this book cover. In the brief it says it is important for the front cover to work on its own and in this situation I believe it has. It consists of a man walking away with a bowler hat whilst two boys behind pillars are watching his moves. They are aware that a man with a bowler hat had taken their money and they are now in search of this man who is illustrated in green. The typeface chosen is playful and 'detective' like. I like the simplicity of the front cover as well as the colour choice. 

This is a front cover that I myself am not too fond off. It doesn't really explain the plot of the story. The yellow colour chosen here doesn't blend well with the grotesque colour of the word Emil. This doesn't seem much like a children's book and doesn't have that element of fun in it. When you pick up a children's book you want something that is going to be eye catching and imaginative for a child to pick up.  

Again, this front cover is quite dull and uses a variety of colours. The front cover feels quite dated and although it has identical illustrations it almost feels as if they are two different children's books. I myself am a fan of monochrome colours but in this cover they look dull and quite intimidating for a child. In my opinions children's books need to have colour. It's what children desire when they are younger. When I was younger I would love to take different colours and colour them in the most vibrant colours.  The words Emil and Detectives are two different colours and questions me whether Emil is a detective or not. The typeface is also very serious with a slab serif format which again in my opinion shouldn't exist with a children's book. 

This is a book cover that I have used for my inspiration. It tells you the plot of Emil and his friend detectives looking for this man who reminds me of an old cartoon Inspector Gadget who was also a detective in the 2000's. Here we see children hiding and looking around the word Emil as if they have already began their detective story. The children are also looking at this man as if they are suspicious. This cover to me explains the plot of the book very well and is well illustrated clearly showing who are the good and bad guys in the book. 
I also think it is important to almost paint an image of how the 'bad' guy might look throughout the book. It gives the children reading some imagination and thought as they read the book.  

Again, in my opinion a cover that hasn't worked. The book around is using a vibrant yellow whilst the image of the detective and the children are done in monochrome. This makes me feel as if the book is dated and doesn't explain the story well. 










I decided to visit a local library to see some books that caught my attention and why they might have caught my attention.  Here are a few of my results. 

Back cover.  
Simple and easy to read. I'm not too sure about the pyramid writing and the meaning behind that ... 










The simplicity of the bird made me want to pick this book up. I also really liked the choice of yellow as it was vibrant and stood out to me when I walked in. I don't like to overcomplicate designs because it then confuses the reader. This book has a very simplistic layout with legible writing. I would only question why the writing is written in a pyramid shape leaving orphans and widows. The title and author is very bold and I think its important to have it bold and easily recognisable. I personally believe that illustrators and designers should be mentioned on most book designs as we can get very little credit for making a book stand out and making you want to buy it. 

This is a book that could even work for Emil and the Detective. You can instantly tell from the basics of the book that it is about a thief/detective. I also like the simplicity of black working on white. It keeps it minimalistic and iconic. It is a penguin book so I will keep in mind the idea of having my book done professionally whilst keeping it simple and recognisable. 








The back cover is very different to the front cover. I question why the change of colour when black on white works very well on the front cover. I would personally have kept it consistent as it feels as if i've picked up two different books. The writing isn't legible and is quite hard to read. I am dyslexic and reading that plot wasn't easy on the eye. I don't really understand why the back is orange with black writing as well as keeping the writing fairly small in the top right hand side corner. 

Although the colour attracted me to the book I think the illustrations are very simple and again, easy to read. I also like the print chosen on the writing 'Bret Easton Ellis'. The writing was made in gloss and as a designer it made me want to buy the book. The only think I would question would be why the child in the illustration has writing over his eyes. I don't think it does the information on it very well.  

The back cover I have mixed feeling about. I'm glad the colour was consistent throughout the book, it makes the book look neat and more valuable. The orange words are meant to be recognisable and easily noticeable. On the other hand blue reminds me of the NHS and an illustration on the back would have made this book cover more appealing. However, I like the simplicity of the book. 

Although there are all books for dummies this is one book stand that made me want to go towards it. For my Emil and the Detective book I intend to keep the book cover the same colour as the other Emil book with the children leaning on the wall. 

OUGD503 - Emil and The Detective - Initial ideas

A small mind map to help me expand my knowledge of what I could relate to Emil and the Detectives. 

Trying out some hand written writing. I tried to use varied sizes of different pens, colouring pencils, felt tips and many more to try match the child like feel towards the book. 

My concept is using gaming ideas that I or my friends have used in the past. When I was younger I used to love doing the back of the cereal puzzles. I remember there was always a childish game on the back on each cereal such as Frosties or Nesquik. The concept is going to children based covers with an adult twist on it. Therefore I want it to suit both children and adults. 

Childish style games. Treasure chest map idea.  

A few quick sketches of ideas that I would like to take forward. 

(Numbers going from Top right to Right)

1: Detective in magnifying glass.

2: Using the shadow of the bowler hat to create the thiefs shadow. 

3: Circles all around with one circle having a bowler hat. 

4: Spot the difference

5: Maze map

6: Tic Tac Toe with money, bowler hats etc. 

The theme of the story is set in Berlin. I wanted to set a Berlin theme with people walking around and the child looking inbetween adults legs to find clues around. When I was younger I remember running in between peoples legs to try find my parents because I was so small.  

Child looking for a bowler hat with a shadow behind of the thief. 

Dot to dot theme where the children can match the numbers together to form a bowler hat which could give the child the first clue. 

OUGD503 - Emil and The Detective - Brief

For this brief I chose to redesign a children's book 'Emil and the Detective'.

We have to design a new cover for the book Emil and the Detective by Erich Kästner. We have to come up with a concept that will bring children and parents to picking up the book and wanting to buy it. We have to take into consideration that it is a book for children and to not over complicate it. 

"We are looking for a striking cover design that is well executed, has an imaginative concept and clearly places the book for its market. The cover should encourage children to pick the book up and buy it for themselves and should also engage adults to want to buy it for them." 

I want to create a book that will make a child think about why they are picking up that book. I also want to involve the adult into making the same decision by making the design minimalistic and not making the child overthink any design. Typography is something that will have to be looked at deeply, maybe something more playful and childish? I want this book to stand out if it was to be marketed by using strong typography and having a set colour throughout my designs.