Awards Book Archive

A Boy and a Ball
  • Longlisted

Designed by
Sarah Mitchell
Category
Best Designed Children's Illustrated Book
Year
2021
Publisher
Scholastic Press an imprint of Scholastic Australia

About the Designer

Sarah is a freelance book designer based in Sydney. She has previously worked in-house for Scholastic Australia on a wide range of children’s titles across their various imprints. Prior to specialising in book design, Sarah freelanced as a graphic designer and illustrator, working with clients in the medical, arts and publishing industries. She has also written and illustrated a picture book, Starry Starry Night, which was shortlisted for the CBCA’s Crichton Award for new illustrators.

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Design Rationale

A Boy and a Ball explores themes of nature and humanity’s fight for survival in the face of man-made destruction and I wanted the design to reflect this juxtaposition. I crafted a loose painterly version of a handwritten font for the title to express the hopeful, playful innocence of the ‘boy’, even when surrounded by danger. Typographic placement was carefully considered to give focus to the dramatic visuals throughout, with staggered line breaks emphasising the text’s poetic phrasing. A wood-free stock was chosen to complement the naturalistic endpaper scene, which is a hopeful depiction of an eventual triumph over evil.

Details
Dimensions
240 x 270 mm
No. pages
32
Special finishes
Matt lamination, spot gloss, wood-free endpapers
Credits
Internal Design
Sarah Mitchell
Illustration
Phil Lesnie
Typesetting
Sarah Mitchell
Printing
R.R. Donnelley
Author
Phil Cummings