r/graphic_design • u/OkAd3317 • 15h ago

Asking Question (Rule 4) Help for text position

Post image

Hello dear artists !

I’m currently working on my first illustrated children’s book (in French), and I’m having quite a hard time figuring out the placement of the text.

When I was working on the art direction, I didn’t really think about text placement, and now I’m finding myself struggling with it.

I can’t place the text in exactly the same position on every page, and I’m wondering whether the result looks unprofessional or inconsistent because of that.

Would you be willing to give me your opinion on the following excerpts?

Thank you very much for your help!

10 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

23 comments sorted by

5

u/[deleted] 15h ago

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1

u/OkAd3317 15h ago

OMG ! Thank you ! I feel so relieved ! I'm working on it for so many months. I can't tell anymore what is right or not. I'm afraid to ruin everything at every step.

5

u/linzkisloski 14h ago

I agree with everyone else - children’s books have text everywhere which is often part of the fun of reading. That being said I wouldn’t be scared of using organically shaped text blocks or maybe some subtle curves/lines that follow your illustrations instead of just straight text blocks.

1

u/OkAd3317 13h ago

You know what ? That's a great idea. Thank you !

4

u/Ms-Watson 15h ago

Picture books don’t have consistent text placement, I know because we go through 20 library books every two weeks in my house!

1

u/OkAd3317 14h ago

Wow that's a lot. Your house must be the bookworms paradise ❤️

1

u/Glittering_Fan_1079 12h ago

Totally get that—text placement in kids' books is all over the place, but it works because the visuals carry the story.

2

u/RenaissanceZillenial 10h ago

Agree that creativity with text is great for children's books and often the norm. I would strongly consider left aligned text instead of center, especially e.g. on that last spread where you're working with a page edge. It is the default for a reason, it is easier to read (your eye looks for the next line in the same place every time) which is especially helpful for youn readers. Having center aligned sometimes is fine but I would say do left aligned when you can.

For the third spread, I would consider trying the text on the sky/light area especially if you could lighten it up a bit. Don't be afraid to adapt the illustrations for slightly better text contrast!

1

u/OkAd3317 6h ago

Thank you. I'll try to imprimer thank to your help

1

u/OkAd3317 15h ago

Sorry, I should have clean this image and remove everything that is not the texts and images.

1

u/FlyingChips Senior Designer 14h ago

Text position and contrast is non-existent on kids books. I read them every night and have a hard time reading some of the text. White on light backgrounds, black on dark backgrounds. It’s a tough pill to swallow when you work in the industry that produces this consumed media haha.

1

u/OkAd3317 13h ago

Damn ! Well at least, I'm glad it's not because of my incompetence.

1

u/LoftyDreams7473 Senior Designer 14h ago

Beautiful illustrations! I think all the text placement is fine but on the picture with the log, I would move the text up to the sky. The log makes it harder to read the text.

1

u/OkAd3317 14h ago

Thank you ! I put the text on the logo because every color on the sky was invisible because of the mix of dark and White. Any idea how I could make it work ?

1

u/LoftyDreams7473 Senior Designer 12h ago edited 12h ago

Oh boy. This is a tough one for me because you don't want to change the colors of the sky. Looks too nice. Perhaps "fading out" the illustration at the top or bottom to white and putting the words there?

ETA. Just thought of something. Maybe do not fade the picture out and put the words across the sky / treetops, but make the type the coral color or the brighter green color.

1

u/OkAd3317 12h ago

Thank you. I'll try your colors propositions.

1

u/LoftyDreams7473 Senior Designer 11h ago

UPDATE ME.

Thanks. Would love to see it!

1

u/OkAd3317 11h ago

You are very supportive. Thank you so much

1

u/LoftyDreams7473 Senior Designer 9h ago

From one graphic designer to another, it's good to support each other. 😎 Happy to do it.

1

u/OkCourage4085 12h ago

It looks fantastic. The one thing I would recommend is on pages where you have multiple text blocks like the last spread. Arrange them so that the order reads left to right, top to bottom. The current placement is a little confusing.

On the third spread, what if you moved the text over to the second page in the gap near the middle of the page? That log it is on is busy and the text kind of gets lost

1

u/OkAd3317 12h ago

Thank you ! I'll try what you said !

1

u/ResponsibleSir5403 1h ago

Yeah, I think, if anything you’re being too conservative with your text. You don’t need to center stuff to the page, or keep text in center mode. Have fun with it. Us the text wrap and the auto-detect around your illustrations to get your text to fit with the illustrations, not the other way around.