Children's Diaries for Peaceable Kingdom
ROLE: Concept sketches, Art direction, final design production.
Peaceable Kingdom had an extensive line of diaries and journals—I was able to work on diaries that ranged in themes from rainbows to zombies, and everything in between. The diaries started out with very simple lined-page interiors, and then evolved over time to include more content. With more detailed themes and added prompts, we could inspire creativity and help guide the journal experience for kids. (And the added content allowed our team to be more creative with their development as well!)
My Gratitude Diary: Handmade artist journals were the inspiration for this diary. The challenge was maintaining a clear visual hierarchy and keeping the content easy for kids to read, while also maintaining an energetic and colorful collage-look that is so appealing.
Illustrations © Allison Cole
Initial concept sketches:
'What's So Funny' Joke Diary: As a kid, I collected joke books, so making this diary was especially fun. Illustrations inspired by the silly jokes, bright colors, and hand-lettering create a fun and energetic design. For design flexibility, our illustrator created a collection of small illustrations that I pulled together into different combinations to design the interior book pages. For added fun, this diary was sold with a black-light pen. Joke punchlines were printed in "invisible ink," and became visible under the pen's light.
Illustrations © Katie Abey
© Peaceable Kingdom; © Mindware
Content is presented solely for self promotion and is copyright the respective owners. Do not reproduce
without the expressed written consent of Marlene Merwarth.
without the expressed written consent of Marlene Merwarth.