Julie Chen Photography

My last post introduced one of the cutest children’s books I have had the joy of designing. I had the honor of working on My Time With Grandma Bible Storybook for Tyndale House Publishers & I thought it would be fun to show some of the behind the scenes of book design. Over the last 17 years of book design I have found that the general public does not at all understand what a book designer “does”… & I have gotten comments such as “don’t you just put it all together like a puzzle?” {ie: they thought I was given the image, typography & color elements & I simply arranged them in Word!} Ha! Not so much … it is a process {SO MUCH FUN!} & starts with a manuscript & blank page in a sketchbook where I can begin to dream.

When designing children’s books specifically one of the first things the designer will do is choose an illustrator. In this case, my art director had already chosen the illustrator, the one and only FABULOUS artist Ela Jarzabek. Ela lives in a village in Poland, so another interesting thing in developing children’s books is working with artists internationally, such as what I did with Jago when I designed The Jesus Storybook Bible. {OH, how I dream of meeting these artists!}

Maybe it’s because I studied illustration in college, or maybe it’s purely because of my love of art, but to me the illustrations carry so much of the success of a children’s book. Sure, you can have a great 32 page story, but without marrying those words to art that compliments the writing style & brings the words to life before a child’s eyes, your book will not shine. It is the ART that makes a picture book come to LIFE! And we were looking for a whimsical artist who could bring these Bible stories to life for children ages 3-6.

The above sketches show my thumbnails of possible cover directions. The product developer wanted to make the grandma & children bears so that they were not limited to race or real age, but rather make an imaginary sweet family to appeal to everyone. Since the book is to be read by a grandma to her grandkids, it also had to appeal to both boys & girls. My thought pattern took me to what would a grandma bear like to do with her grandbears? Obviously they would be outdoors, in a forest, so what activities would both boys & girls take part of?

Some ideas you see include fishing, snuggling in a hammock, sitting on a log enjoying the other animals around them, or laying in the grass reading the bible. I involved my own kids every step of this process {come back another day & I will show you the process of the interior!}

You also will note a variety of fonts {typefaces} I played with, as well as emphasizing “My Time with Grandma” versus “Bible Storybook”. {I personally liked emphasizing “Bible Storybook” as I thought it was a quicker read of the importance of the book, but you will see my opinion did not win out & the publisher felt it was more important to emphasize “My Time with Grandma” to the market.}

The above is the cover direction that won! Grandma reading to her grandbears as the boy playfully lays in the tree while the girl snuggles into grandma after a sweet little picnic. I thumbnail both the cover & back cover so the illustrator can see my vision as well as where typography will interact with the art. I also verbally do a write up to describe anything that is important to me: the squirrel peeking out of the tree, another family of birds, yummy food in the picnic basket, etc… it’s all in my head & my concept. I even reference Ela’s own work to begin to describe the personality of bears she’s done that I want ours to look like, as well as color palette, etc…

The above sketch is what Ela sent back to me… OH MY GOODNESS!!!! There is nothing like seeing your little stick figures & sketches come to life by an artist you admire so much! I think I did the happy dance when I opened my email that morning & downloaded the above sketch!

It is then my turn to place her sketch into my design with typography finalized to present to the publishing committee. {If anyone out there cares, I design books in Adobe InDesign & do any art work in Photoshop} As a team, we discuss any necessary changes & then I give feedback to the artist of what needs to change. In this case, I did not feel like Grandma’s eyes were connecting with the children nor did she look too excited, so I asked Ela to have the grandma make eye contact with her granddaughter. At this stage we also discuss any further color issues if need be.

And, TA-DA!!!! The final cover!!! I could not be happier with this project. Thank you Ela for making my dreams come true. You added more of your heart to this book & went above & beyond in every illustration! I cannot wait to show you all more of the interior process.

So, the next time all of you are book shopping & you think those covers “just happened” … well, think again!

Grace & Peace,

Julie