Early Harvest - Type as Image

To accompany our most fantastic book title Unboring Exploring (now available to pre-order here), the next step in the editorial process was to decide how to translate the graphic aesthetic of ‘adventure’ throughout our book!

Designer Reg Abos joined the editorial team online to lead an activity that introduced our young editors to what graphic design is all about. It was based around a concept called Type As Image - in a nutshell, that means creating words from objects. 

For this exercise, each editor chose a word that described an experience in the book, and then illustrated that idea with a sketched-out type as image!

It was a fantastic learning opportunity for us, especially when it came time to refine our cover design. Illustrator Kate Moon's initial sketch had our title spelled out in the clouds, but the editors wanted the Type As Image to be even more exciting. 

In their words, "clouds are a little boring, and we want Unboring Exploring to be spelled out in an unboring way." So the editors hit on the idea of a dragon breathing out fiery letters instead! Kate was all too happy to oblige. 

We also refined the silhouetted "hero(ine) figure" for the cover. Initially the person was wielding a sword, but the editors asked Kate to switch that for a bow and arrow to make it feel a little different. There were also initially two figures, but our dog-obsessed editors asked if we could sub one out for a trusty canine companion. 

We're so happy with our final cover: it's the perfect teaser for what's inside: heroes of all shapes and sizes, perilous danger, explosive action, vast and beautiful landscapes, and lots and lots of dogs. 

Early Harvest is a dynamic program for upper-primary students that gives them an in-depth experience of the publishing process. Under the program, we bring together an editorial board of Year 5 and 6 students who publish an annual fiction publication written by their peers. 

Click here to pre-order your copy of ‘Unboring Exploring’ today!