Role

Design Lead

Illustration
Cover Design
Coloring and Retouching

CKLA Book Cover Concepts

This fast-paced project provided an opportunity for designers on our team to develop concepts for a series of book covers for the third edition of CKLA, a Kindergarten–grade 5 core literacy program within Amplify’s literacy suite. In total, 84 covers needed a complete revamp, for which I presented the concept called "Open Windows."

A Glimpse Into Knowledge

The Open Windows concept builds on the idea of offering students a glimpse into the book's rich content. By juxtaposing illustrations, photos, watercolor paintings, historical paintings, and more, I aimed to create an engaging view into the world of knowledge. These elements are framed by a "window" that unifies the visual language across units and grades. Additionally, tertiary elements help maintain visual continuity throughout the series.

Open Windows

Supporting terciary Elements

Supporting Terciary Elements

To meet the quick turnaround time, we developed three units as proofs of concept: Astronomy for Grade 1, The American Revolution for Grade 4, and Poetry for Grade 5.

These initial explorations led to various iterations incorporating different window designs for the hero visuals. Additionally, wayfinding elements, such as grade, unit number, and component type, were incorporated and adjusted in these explorations.

Grid Frames

Organic Forms

Novel Studies

Alongside the science and history units, the language portion of the curriculum includes novel studies. For the covers, I explored an illustrated approach based on element repetition. While these are rough concepts that didn't make the final cut, they are also part of that major overhaul of the covers.