Design a Childrens Style Book. 

Choose a song.
The lyrics do not have to be appropriate for a child, however you should choose a song whose lyrics and subject matter you will be comfortable presenting as part of your portfolio. You may not choose a song from a television show or movie with existing illustrations. This book should be a completely original creation.

*You must have a title page which gives credit to the artist (you) and the author (music artist.) If you chose to use stock illustrations you must give credit to the original illustrators. See me if you have questions about this.

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For this project we were asked to create a children's book based off of song lyrics. The idea was to illustrate the song lyrics from an artist, but to use the design principles of a children's book. We had to do research based on how children's books are different from other books, and there is many differences in general for the overall design. Some examples, larger typefaces, short phrases, the overall use of the typeface layout, as well as many other attributes considered into making a children's book. We then had to execute the song and create our book, sending it off to blurb and getting it printed with a hard cover. 

I knew from the start that I wanted to create a children's book design and formed around the artist "The Weeknd". He is my one of my favorite musicians and I feel like I could really connect with his style and the way he promotes himself. The hard part of this stage was choosing the  right song for this book because they are pretty much all amazing. I finally chose the song called "In the Night". I decided I really wanted to put a lot of illustration into my book so I began to come up with a story line kind of based off the lyrics, so I created a story about a man seeking out his lover from her occupation, which is stripping. The man would travel across lands to save the one he loves as she is hypnotized into this specific field. As for the way I designed my book I wanted to create it very stylistically with sort of an edgy feel. I created it to be very vivid with a bold color palette on black backgrounds. I wanted to make a statement and pop. I decided to go with a very thin serif to help make the text flow throughout the book as well as not compete to much with my illustrations.  

The process for me was extremely fun. It really showed off my illustration skills paired with typography to create something ascetically beautiful. I really found this project to be extremely fun, even in the early stages. It was something I could create that related to an artist that I loved and enjoyed, it felt like a collaboration  without The Weeknd actually knowing. Creating the book in the beginning I decided to make the girl the focal point through the book because the song revolved around her. So as in the first couple pages you get introduced to the woman dancing in the city. Next I wanted the male to be extremely fashionable so I created him very stylized with a prince jacket and bandana to relate to my own fashion, as well as designing the journey was fun. I created a desert scene, road scene, forest scene, as well as him arriving to the city. This really let me play with my design, continuing to make it flow. I even created a starry night to incorporate into most of my pages to portray the idea of him traveling in the night. I decided to create a dedication page as well to show who the book was relating to as well as a spread with just a design, within the front and the back of the book. I wanted this spread to be very geometric and feel edgy as well.  

As for what I learned I feel like designing this book really helped me with my layout skills. How to layout and design a composition that relates to what the client ask for and how to represent that in a specific style. I feel like designing this book also help me understand the essentials of typography more as well.