Researching into children's books and figuring out a target audience - 20/02/2023

Researching into children's books and figuring out a target audience

Daisy Jackson / 20/02/2023

Today I decided to research into various children's books to gain inspiration for my final piece for this colour project. I looked into mix and match flip books as well as books about colour in general. This allowed me to see how other artists approached the topic for children. It will also help me figure out an age range for my own book.

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? - Eric Carle

Target audience: Children aged 3-5 years old

Eric Carle's 'Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?' is an illustrative book about colour. The way the book is laid out is very interesting as it takes the child through a story about an adventure where the characters see different coloured animals. This allows children to learn about colour in an interesting way. The style itself is very playful and child like. Eric Carle uses mixtures of acrylic paint and tissue paper as well as card for his work. This is very eyecatching and helps to deliver the messages in a powerful and unique way.

The colour monster - Anna Llenas

Target audience: Children aged 3-5 years old

This book by Anna Llenas illustrates a monster that goes through each colour and tells the reader what it symbolises. Llenas associates colour with emotions and this allows the child to understand the meaning of different colours and what they can represent. An example of this is red representing anger and blue representing sadness. This helps the child make associations and allows them to understand colours in more detail. Rather than just looking at the colour for what it is, they can understand how they feel about it - colour associations. Similar to Eric Carle, the artwork is quite childlike and messy. This is more visually appealing to the child as it is more stimulating for them to look at. It almost looks as though a child has drawn the pictures themselves which allows them to feel like they can relate to the illustrations more.

The Runaway Pea - Alex Willmore

Target audience - Children aged 4-8 years old

'The Runaway Pea' illustrated by Alex Willmore tells a story about a pea that falls into unique situations. I chose this book as the colour use is very vibrant and eye catching - this allows the child to make colour associations which is very important within the child's development stage. The illustrations are also quite messy and childlike once again - a common theme which I will look into for my own work for this project. Personifying objects that usually have no life is also interesting for a child as it allows them to think more creatively about the world and builds their imagination.

Farm Animals 'A Mix-and-Match Book' - Sophie Corrigan

Target audience: Children aged 3+ years old

These are my own photos taken from a previous project of Sophie Corrigan's mix-and-match book called 'Farm Animals'. I love this book. As a 21 year old it even interested me. I loved the interactiveness of it when you change the names of the animals and make weird looking ones. I think it is a great educational book for a child as not only are illustrations of the animals present, but also the name and facts surrounding it. So this book is both education and fun for the child and parent. The illustrations are less childlike as the previous books I have looked at but there is still a childlike presentation surrounding them. The colour scheme is also very bright and helps create colour associations.

Flip Fashion - Lucille Clerc

Target audience: Children aged 12-17 years old

'Flip Fashion' by Lucille Clerc is an educational flip book which is fun and interactive for the child. You can mix and match outfits while also learning about colour associations as well as word associations relating to the colours used and the outfit. The illustrations are less childlike this time, however I believe this is due to the target audience being 12-17 years old. At this age, the child is not really interested in bright colours that are messily drawn.

Flip Flap Farm - Axel Scheffler

Target audience: Children aged 2-3 years old

Similar to 'Farm Animals', Axel Scheffler's 'Flip Flap Farm' uses vibrant colours which allow for colour associtations as well as dumbed down facts and illustrations - easier for the child to read and understand. The aliteration in the title is also more fun for the child as it has more of a rhythm to it. Often in children's books, there are rhymes and aliteration as this helps the child learn and make associations. The illustrations themselves are goofy and cute, allowing the facts and imagery to stick longer in the child's head. 

After analysing all these books, I have decided to base my target market group ages 3-5 years old. I will use blocky straight forward colours that are more childlike in presentation.