After the success of the Collins World Map, Picture Atlas and Map of the United Kingdom and Ireland, I was commissioned to produce a series of 11 posters. This was an open brief, apart from the 'phonics' posters content and quite a challenge.
Collins were very keen on using the 'teal' colour for the background for as many posters as possible to give the feel of them being a series. This colour, a favourite of mine, I introduced as the sea colour in the World Map and map of the UK. I find it a much warmer colour than the cold blue usually used for maps.
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This poster took the most to create. We went from detailed organs to very simple designs. In the end I chose a muted palette and introduced characters to make the poster more friendly for the target audience. The human body can be scary!
I had read about the 'Dippy the Dinosaur Tour' happening around the UK, and this gave me an idea of the skeleton in this poster being a museum exhibit, a very large museum exhibit as it turned out.
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My favourite of all of the posters.
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The infant lettering design I originally produced for the World Map and cover of the Collins Picture Atlas and later to be used throughout the poster series.
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The first brief for the series was to design a border for the 'Alphabet and phonics' posters. A number version was produced for the 'addition' and 'times tables' posters.
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The first of the 11 posters. The poster on the left shows the alphabet border. This was deemed too complicated for the market age (3-8) and was later discarded for a cleaner, more eye catching look. The compartmentalised structure was considered easier on the eye.
I do prefer the original on the left though, with the elements flowing around each other. Creating it was like completing a puzzle. Great fun. Some of the elements were changed for phonic reasons. The 'g' sound of the Giraffe was incorrect for a children's first phonics poster, so was replaced by the more appropriate 'grapes'.
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