Covers For Book: 'Significant People In History'

Cover Analysis

Like my pages my cover was purely created with simplicity in mind and this was more or less the case with the activity books I looked at for references. I tried to include elements form each individual on the covers for example OBE medal back cover (Alan Turing), George Cross back cover (Noor Inayat Khan) and the ship at sea that clearly represents (Captain James Cook). I also chose to include the pastel colours that I originally chose to represent each individual with and to also add a bit of colour to a flat background to make it catch the eye more. My choice of font also changed quite a lot due to the fact I wasn't quite sure whether to go with something formal and boring or go with something different and quirky. So I chose the later option but not before trying to combine both font types together but the outcome couldn't quite gel. With choosing the later option the font I went with was one that aesthetically worked well and looked something like a child had written it and with that in mind I thought a child would find that more appealing because at that age your hand writing isn't the best so seeing it may make the child more comfortable seeing it on the cover. However subconsciously I was thinking my pages are sophisticated in the sense of they require a lot of writing and thinking. So if a child at the high end of KS1 (which I believe my Book is aimed at) would see the cover and be put off by it because it may look to childish for liking.

Early Cover rough. As you scroll up my cover slowly develops over time until you get to the top where the final cover is featured.

Bibliography

Bibliography Resource List:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/timelines/z8bgr82

http://www.softschools.com/facts/scientists/alan_turing_facts/830/

http://www.facts-about.org.uk/famous-people-facts-starting-with-a/alan-turing.htm

http://primaryfacts.com/3062/interesting-alan-turing-facts/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Turing

http://www.bbc.co.uk/timelines/z8bgr82

http://www.biography.com/people/alan-turing-9512017

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Cook

 http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/cook_captain_james.shtml

 http://www.history.com/news/10-things-you-may-not-know-about-captain-james-cook

 http://www.ducksters.com/biography/explorers/captain_james_cook.php

http://historysheroes.e2bn.org/hero/minitimeline/4354

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noor_Inayat_Khan

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/inayat_khan_noor.shtml

www.Twinkl.co.uk

www.primaryresources.co.uk

www.bbc.co.uk/education

http://www.scholastic.com/parents/resources/collection/more-printables/free-printables-all-ages

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=dorling+kindersley&sprefix=Dorlin%2Caps%2CNaN&crid=1NQG9G8ZH9C07

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=scholastic&rh=n%3A266239%2Ck%3Ascholastic

https://clubs-kids.scholastic.co.uk/clubs_assets/224330

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/151574343679131519/

Test Pages on relative KS1

What I found out with testing my pages on my cousin (KS1 aged) is that the coloring and designing of the flags is self explanatory and he got on with those fine. However when it came to the other activities is where he struggled and this is where I got some helpful feedback on some of my activities. For example with the SOE ID Card on the rough I gave him I wrote to "draw yourself", because I thought he would understand that and he would instinctively draw his face. Unfortunately he proceeded to draw a full figure. So when it came to re-writing and designing the final pages I changed the instructions to now read "in the empty box draw a picture of your face" and hopefully that problem is solved. Furthermore the cracking code activity was another instance where he struggling but not because of the difficulty of the task at hand but yet again the clarity of where to write things. Looking at both crack the code activities on the Turing page and the Khan page. The Khan crack the code the activity is more clear and less on top of one another and because of this he completed the activity in its entirety on the other hand with the Turing activity he didn't and I put it down to the clarity. So when it came to redesigning the final pages I was way more clear with where to write things. Finally when it came to writing section near the end of the Noor Inayat Khan pages he found it hard to think of something to write about. Therefore I re-wrote the instructions with some helpful prompts to help the reader when it came to thinking of something.    

Final Pages Noor Inayat Khan

My Noor Inayat Khan pages are probably layout wise the only pages that stick close to the roughs and whether that is a positive or negative thing is debatable because with the Captain Cook rough pages look nothing like the final versions and I really prefer the final versions to the roughs. I added the small illustrations near the bottom right of the page to fill in some empty space but to also allow the reader to visualize where she was going and also where she was based (France) and what the radio operator equipment looked like. I also stayed with the theme of drawing all the significant people by hand because I felt it gave a little personality to the page and would differ from others because I could have simply used an actual photography of them but chose not to instead.

Final Pages Alan Turing

Alan Turing page having its font changed

Looking at my pages I have created I feel that my Alan Turing pages are overall the weakest. I feel that this is the case because they are lacking something on the page just to make them more enticing I think that all my pages looked rather dull in the rough stages but I've added slight changes in the final versions and the Captain James Cook and Noor Inayat Khan pages have really come into their own and have really had a positive effect with the changes I made. So with this thinking I thought I'd add some small illustrations (Computer and Chess pieces), much like I have done with the other two significant people but they really haven't made a difference to the effect of the other two pages but they certainly have made a noticeable difference making it more interesting to look at. Finally I struggled with when it came to finding info on Turing that was suitable and when I did find information it was difficult to understand so if I an adult finds it hard to understand how is a key stage one pupil suppose to understand it and condensing it down to a point where it was understandable was quite a challenge.

When I first started to piece together my Alan Turing pages I went with a basic arial font because I wasn't sure what to go with at the time. However after creating my other pages with the same font I thought it would help with the flow of the pages to go with the same font for all pages. The font I chose first was a bold harsh font preferably more fitting for titles in my opinion but instead I went with a clearer and 'lighter' font and the pages really benefited from this change as it was more easier on the eyes.

Final Pages Captain James Cook

My Captain James Cook pages were at the beginning very dull and boring. So I did away with the borders around all my pages due to the fact that the borders were very restricting and with the borders gone it allowed for more breathing room and gave me more freedom. I added the waves at the bottom of the page with the border gone I had some space to play with so adding the waves it tied in with the fact he is a sea captain but also gelled well with the drawing on the bottom right side with the captain looking out over the waves and the centre drawings I added of the sailing ships. On the subject of subtle changes I added the dotted lines across the page to draw the viewer in and to make the viewer follow the lines around the page but it is how people show movement on maps and with Captain Cook being an expert mapmaker yet again it linked in well with the whole flow of the page. Furthermore I carried on the theme of the dotted line across the page onto the second page because I felt it was just as effective as it was on the first page and fitted in just as well. By just adding these changes I feel really have made a big difference and were really necessary changes.

Coloured Roughs