Nonsense Songs by Edward Leer is an illustrated book containing short stories written in different styles which are songs, stories, poems as well as illustrations of made up plants. Due to the wide variety of writing styles contained in this book, designing the layout proved to be quite challenging.
I wanted the redesign of Nonsense Songs to reflect its age as well as appeal to a modern audience. The cover and interior of the book was designed with this in mind as well as the context it would be read in and its target audience.
Messy handwritten titles and simple illustrations which give the viewer a glimpse of what they can find inside have been used to create a busy and eye-catching design. To fill out the rest of the cover and continue the playful style, simple hand-drawn motifs have been added.
Physical book design - Cover and interior
Ideally, although it would depend on the budget, the book would be hard-cover and covered with a textured material with the graphics embellished in silver. This would make the book special in appearance, while also giving it a classical look. The serious, stylish and classy appearance of the cover design is in juxtaposition with what the book is about, adding to the notion of nonsense that the book’s contents already portray.
The inside pages of the book have been designed using the same concept and style as the cover; a sophisticated, traditional appearance but with a playful twist. The use of the border details from the front cover helps to tie the book together, while also conveying an old, traditional style. Each of the sections of the book are formatted differently. As the content of the sections is different, the formatting changes to maximise readability. On occasion, there is a difference to the formatting of the text, to show that the book is not all that it seems. This makes the text more interesting to read.
Digital book design - computer, tablet and mobile
Mockup credits: www.freepik.com
This project was created in 2017 by Laura Collins
Thank you!
