Visual Identity in Modern Society Publicity bombardment • Average supermarket offer more than 1000 brands • People can recognize 100 brands = we have more information than we can receive per day • Brands bombardment is permanent and constant • Hits adults and kids = but we choose only some brands • In choice help us:

• brand itself • originality of design • recognition of those brands

Why do we talk about supermarket case? • We live in a consumer society • Educational book as a brand = if we want children's attention we have to make books:

• more colorful • more interesting • as recognizable as brands children live every day

• In the times of internet, television and other new media we have text books which have nothing to do with reality of children's lives.

• Role of designer is: • to educate children in visual sense • to build recognizable identity of a publishing house

How it applies on educational literature? Reading vs. listening & watching vs. internet • In Serbia concentration is still on text books:

• the majority of schools still don't have don't have computers • the majority of children learn how to use them at home:

• playing games • creating IDs and communicating through the Face book

• educational material that can be used on the computer are rare • Limited number of text books with additional multimedia material on CD • Kreativni centar has produced audio disk that comes together with the text book for music subject. One of those books was awarded by EEPG in 2007

How Kreativni centar started? New format • A big change in design right from the start • Started with lower grades of elementary school • We changed the usual format (A4) into a new one, 23.5 x 22 cm:

• change from picture books to text books is not drastic • change should be gentle

• Examples show us that visual identity is important to children: • they are able to recognize it

• By difference in visual identity of books children develop their visual language

What is important in text book design for us? Creative learning • Designing for children is much different than designing for adults:

• straight text • golden section design • no colors / or not to much • importance of readability and legibility • strong cover design

• Designing educational books is big responsibility • Designing for children we influence their lives • Through our books and through children we can change the world

Some things that play the main role in design of our text books: Organization by color • Contemporary text books have to be colorful:

• color bring different kind of emotions • used for good structural organizations

• through book • through text

• Old schools – old rules: • e.g. usage of red is not recommendable • attention and danger • in schools it is used to mark mistakes = it is not motivating color for pupils

• In all our books we treat parts of the book with color: • boxes in different color • children can find what they are looking for

• With color we have: • levels / good organization • part of identity

Typefaces & Cyrillic • Choice of typefaces in Cyrillic is a difficult thing:

• there is not so many good typeface designers • government didn't pay so much attention on that problem

• Two years ago Secretariat for Culture of Belgrade City Council started to support a project of free distribution of typefaces for books • Free to download are:

• Resavska BG (author Olivera Stojadinovic) • Adamant BG (author Vedran Erakovic) • soon Neoplanta BG (author Stjepan Fileki)

• Kreativni centar in its books uses typeface Resavska: • provides recognition in visual identity of books • even when it is free for download it is stated for Kreativni centar

• Resavska is good for usage of complex texts because: • it has its serif and sans serif versions in several weights

• it makes thing easier in typography • has all readability and legibility needed for text books

• For more relaxed parts of the book we use typefaces that were created by students at the Faculty of Applied Arts in Belgrade:

• supporting student works • giving to books spirit of youth • e.g. Grancla typeface (author Marica Bucek)

Resavska

Adamant

Grancla

Illustrations • Illustrations play very important role in our text books • Illustrator are chosen by editor and designer:

• concerning material • concerning needed sensibility

• In production illustrators have to work closely with authors and editors: • because illustrations have to be:

• functional • accurate

Illustrations

• With text books illustrators have difficult task: • paying attention on demands connected with the approval system, defined by the Ministry of education

• Kreativni centar managed to preserve: • illustrators identity and style • strong link between illustrations and content

• Our visual identity remained present although we had to make significant changes when we start working on text books

Illustrations: Dusan Pavlic

Illustrations: Sasa Mihajlovic

Illustrations: Andrej Vojkovic

Symbols

• In our text books besides colors we use different kind of symbols: • for structuring information • that lead pupils through book

• Symbols are illustrated icons easy to understand

• The task of our editorial team is to find symbols which work the best with: • children • teacher • parents

• Not easy task concerning fast development of information = meaning

Design

• Designers design for consumers = pupils • For editors and publishers consumers are teachers and parents • Good design should be suitable for all of them • We are making books where learning should be:

• creative • interesting

• The aim of designer is to join all previously mentioned things: • all parts in one functional whole:

• enough attractive • enough interesting • creative • recognizable • built in a strong identity

Text book catalogue

How we see our future? Easy to dream

• In Serbia exists difference between visual identities of text books

• Children recognize it easily • Even that pupils are not left to choose, they make choices = that is where we are judged • Existing of different visual identities develop their visual culture:

• train their creativity • train their creative thinking

• We make books from which we would like to learn, or our kids would, or kids of our friends. We make our books for us.