senior show

[jamieland]

I am a senior graphic design major and have my senior show in december. I am illustrating a children's book and I also am promoting the book with a bookmark and a poster. Do you guys have any more ideas? Do you think its strange that I am doing this for my show? Any feedback would be great!

Jamie :p

[cornfed]

I've always wanted to do a project that involved those old manilla library cards that used to be in the back of library books and on the front of it I wanted to stamp "Check It Out" and on the inside I would put a promo card for the book. That's what I always wanted to do but in all my years of graphic design I have yet to get the opportunity. Show us your book and collateral materials if you can. It seems to me that since it's a show and you don't really have to produce all this stuff in mass form then there's a ton of other stuff you could do. Off the top of my head comes a mock publishing company, an accompanying coloring book, puzzles, etc. I did a childrens cd cover this past year and they actually went as far as including entire lesson plans for children in the classroom and posted it on a site for teachers to download (all they had to do was buy a copy of the cd!!).

I don't think it's strange that you're doing it for your show as long as you have other stuff like logos, campaigns, etc.

[budafist]

I did an illstrated children's book for my final exhibition as well :)

Bookmark are pretty standard issue promo items. What is your story about? Is there something in there a character or an object that can be used as promotional items?

IE if your story was about the adventures of a green balloon, you might use green balloons!

[Neuro]

If your direction is Illustration then I don't think it's an odd thing to do at all. Just try to think of your target audience when you think of your marketing ideas. Mostly children but more directly parents. You want to make the child happy with something but ultimately the parent would be the one buying the product so you need to appeal to them.

Budafist's idea about the balloons is a good example. Maybe if you share more about the project we can help you out more.

[shellebelle]

I find it somewhat interesting that you only have to prepare one piece of work for your show. Is this a graduation thing or just a show that you do during your senior year?

Definently pull out some part of the book that you can create some unique leavebehind. For example, for my school's portfolio show/graduation I produced little toy crabs based off of my logo. They were definently a hit and everyone knew who I was because it was different. One of the guys I graduated with produced a little mini newspaper where the headline read "GRAPHIC DESIGNER SEEKS EMPLOYMENT". It was fantastic, but I think he blundered a bit by greeking in the text instead of taking the opportunity to sell himself. These are examples of fun things you can do, and are memorable.

Here's a shot of the crabs, by the way:
http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/7455/crabta5.jpg

You can't see it, but there's a jingle bell shell on the backside.

I think you might find taking a trip to the library helpful. Scour though the books, see how the place is organized, and talk to the librarians. IME librarians are some of the sweetest souls on Earth and they love to talk about what they do. I think the manilla card idea is fantastic. You might also consider producing a little book with highlights of your main book. Make it interactive--have it fold funny ways to complement the twists in the storyline, use diecuts, and whatever you think will make your piece stand out.

[budafist]

shellebelle! your crab is adorable :)

My end of year show I only had to exhibit one piece. Mind you a 30 page children's book is not a small body of work. You know how many hours go into EACH illustration? I also had my web portfolio displayed next to my book on a computer. I think 1 piece is enough - If you're graduating with 80+ others like I did, anymore would be overwhelming for an audience.

So Jamie, let us know how your book is going. Oh and tip for the show, print more business cards than you need. I ran out of busi cards several times over on opening night of our end of year show. I wish I'd printed more, but by then it was too late.

[PrintDriver]

We had shows all the time, no 'senior' show. The end of year show was a sort of contest to see how many pieces done during the year you could get into the show. All the professors from the Art and Art History departments adjudicated. It was more party than serious art show though.

Graphic design majors had to do a full portfolio/marketing package separate from the shows as well as a final project similar to your book project.

As for the book project, why don't you design some ads for the book. Both newspaper and magazine. Maybe a website? If you aren't doing web design, at least design a layout of what you'd like to do. Maybe something interactive for kids...?

[Samakimoto Graphics]

I did a children's book for my final show too.

I had concepts (unfortunately due to budgetary constraints I could not actualise) for a promo for my book. Mine though, was for an actual local publishing house for a book in KiSwahili. And I re-did their layout for them as a proposal - which was a plus point for me.

- I had an idea for promoting the book at the local book fair using a free standing fold out of the main characters, sort of like you have at the movie premiers.
- A free gift of a mini rubber stamp and tiny coloured ink pad.

But generally, like has been suggested above, your promo will be guided by the content and target age of your book. For instance, Shellebelle's soft toy idea could apeal to both sexes of kids aged below 6, but may apeal less to boys aged 8 and above...

Like Neuro mentioned, and I'm sure you know, parents are the ones who purchase books for kids, so thinks about what would make a parent pick the book off the shelf for their child.

All the best!

[jamieland]

I would love to hear more about those of you who did a book! I am totally going blind into this and need direction. The book is called Morte Webble and The Case of the Missing Socks. (my brother wrote it) So i could definetly use socks in some way. I was thinking of hanging some from the cieling or having some thrown around my exhibit. I LOVE the idea of the coloring book because it would be easy to print off a version of the book with just line drawings and let the child make their own colors in the story. Oh yeah- WHAT ABOUT BINDING? I appreciate all your help so very very much!

Jamie

[cornfed]

Well, the obvious thing that comes to my mind is sock puppets!!!

You could even make one with multiple personalities - use those socks that have a little space for each toe!!
http://www.ziso.cn/images/Toe%20socks/ZSS-2032-1.jpg

[budafist]

Sounds like a cute book!

You could give out packets of socks with a pack of stick on eyes and bits of wool so that people could make their own socks puppets?

[Samakimoto Graphics]

Sounds like a book for 2-5 year old kids.

It should definately be a glossy hard-back, as kids this age like to "dissect" books, or read while having their porridge...
Perfect bound.

LOL @ CF: Nice idea for sock puppets. I have a pair of those multiple toes socks, very cosy.