A Study of Cover Design for Children's Picture Books

摘要

The purpose of this research is to investigate the basic elements which compose a cover of children's picture books. By adopting the experimental design and analysis, this chapter tries to find the best way to design a cover of children's picture books to make children fall in love with it. This chapter has found the following conclusions useful when composing picture books for children: (1) Warm colors on the book cover are more effective than cool and pure black and white, while pure black and white is more acceptable than cool colors. (2) Computer fonts are better than hand-sketched art, irrespective of the color of drawings on the book covers. (3) Horizontal character configuration is more effective than vertical one, irrespective of the color of book covers: warm, cool, or pure black and white. (4) Ordered by reading preference, three most favored drawings are all composed of warm colors; three least favored ones are all of cool colors. (5) The combination of "warm color, horizontal configuration, and computer fonts" (as independent variables) are children's favorite.