Colour schemes

When considering colour schemes to use I looked at previous books i had researched along with associated with WW1. I found that these various colours were commonly seen, along with textures such as brown paper bags and worn paper. Sepia tone colours are very popular too. Red was used to stand out and look urgent.

Looking into Typefaces

As the theme is WW1, I have looked into various different typeface ideas for my design ideas. For the main body of text I will need to use a fairly easy to read serif or san serif typeface. However for the title of the book and other headings I want to use a typeface that is suited to the theme of the book.

Army/stencil style fonts. 

Typewriter style

I feel that both the army and typewriter style fonts are suitable however I need to consider what will be suitable for the age range. Due to legibility. I will test the various fonts on my initial design ideas,in order to see what is the most appropriate and effective.

Looking at examples of resource sheets

Using the links provided and others I have found on the internet. I was able to look at various different ways in which you can create interactive learning resource sheets for children. Good examples I have found include...

Design a jam jar lable

Wordsearches

Looking into the great blackberry pick

Children in World War 1

This article is indebted to Helen Murphy of Box School, Eric and Sandra Callaway and Wiltshire Resource Centre
May 2014

The whole village was mobilised for warfare by a fierce propoganda campaign and the vilification of the enemy. Children were encouraged by tales of glory to support the war effort. People contributed money and supplies to finance the war, although it is hard to believe that activities such as blackberry picking served much useful purpose. 
Many children were withdrawn from school to help their mothers with farming needs, and attendance certificates (like that of Edward Callaway, left) were issued to encourage education.

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Box Schools' Logs

BOYS SCHOOL
1914
August 31st 1914 An old boy named Fisher was killed when HMS Amphion was struck by a German mine.[1]
September 7th 1914 Mr Bradfield has enlisted in the Army and has left the school. This leaves only myself and Miss Sweeney to carry on the work. Handiwork must perforce be dropped and copybook lessons will largely take its place.
1915
May 21st 1915 As a result of a collection the sum of 15s was raised to send comforts to the troops.
June 4th 1915 A good week's work has been done. Three boys have left, two for employment in agriculture and one left the village.
June 11th 1915 Two more boys have left to be employed in agriculture.
1916
November 24th 1916 Work has proceeded as usual this week and the attendance has considerably improved. Constant removals of families owing to the War is decreasing the numbers on the REGISTERS.

1917
October 18th 1917 A half holiday was given this afternoon to enable the children to gather blackberries for the troops.
October 19th 1917 Nearly 1½ cwt were gathered jointly yesterday by the boys and girls.
October 11th 1917 Took boys of Standards V, VI, and VII to gather chestnuts.
October 22nd 1917 Another half holiday for blackberrying.
October 23rd 1917 135lb of berries were sent to Chippenham
October 30th 1917 The Headmaster left the school at 11.40 in the morning to assist with a convoy of wounded at Corsham. He was present at the opening of afternoon school.

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1918
September 23rd 1918 Half holiday for blackberrying
September 24th 1918 Another half holiday for blackberrying
October 1st 1918 Half holiday for blackberrying
October 5th 1918 Half holiday for blackberrying
October 15th 1918 Half holiday for blackberrying
October 17th 1918 Half holiday for blackberrying
October 23rd 1918 135lb of berries were sent to Chippenham
October 24th 1918 The temperature today is 46° F.
Instructed CLEANER to light fires. He refused using bad language

Blackberries for the Government Jam Scheme

Did you know that, during the First World War, children picked blackberries for the Government?

In 1918 as a result of the war, food rationing was introduced and a committee was set up to look at the ways of utilising any available natural resource. Throughout the country rural schools were instructed to ‘employ their children in gathering blackberries during school hours’ for the Government jam making scheme.

The children of Willingdon School rose to the challenge and supervised by their teachers groups went out into the fields from 9 September to 23 October; to harvest what was obviously a bumper crop. The School Log records 17 days when the children were taken out blackberry picking. The first afternoon 9th Sept – ‘No school this afternoon, the children gathered 73 lbs of blackberries for jam for the Ford Committee.’

Log book entry 1 blackberries. Image courtesy of Rosalind Hodges.

Log book entry 2 blackberries. Image courtesy of Rosalind Hodges.

Of course the main road didn’t exist at this time and over the playground wall the fields from Willingdon, the area of what is now Willingdon roundabout down to the Triangle, spread out with a large number of bramble bushes. The fruit was packed into specially provided baskets of a regulation size and sent immediately by rail from Hampden Park station to the special factories where it was made into blackberry and apple jam for members of HM Forces. Mr Haylock, headmaster, records the amazing weight of 1,869 lbs 3oz being sent from the school. In return, cheques were sent to the teachers who were authorised to pay the pupils. On 28th October Mr Haylock records receiving a cheque for £23.7.6d in payment, which he SHARED out among the gatherers, the 123 children on the school roll. This was a good sum of money when compared to the average weekly wage of an agricultural worker, in 1918, who was paid just £1.10.6d for a 52-hour week.

Main brief initial background research

To start with I have decided to look at the history into WW1 and cooking around the times. I felt that it was important to look into this initially in order for me to gain the knowledge required on the subject. By doing this I would be able to produce initial design ideas, that I feel would correctly represent the brief.

Firstly I decided to look at the history behind WW1 and rationing.

Rationing and World War One

Rationing was introduced into Britain at the tail end of World War One - in February 1918. Rationing was introduced in response to an effective U-boat campaign and during World War One, the Defence of the Realm Act (DORA) was used to ensure that food shortages never occurred.

One of the primary aims of DORA, when it was first introduced, was to prevent food shortages. At the start of the war, food shortages were self-imposed as the German U-boat campaign had yet to start. However, at the start of the war people went around panic buying food and hoarding it at home. Some shops sold out of food in days in August 1914. However, after the initial panic buying, people settled down into a routine and food was not a problem until the end of 1916.

Britain continued to import food during the war. The main exporters to Britain were America and Canada. This meant that merchant ships had to cross the Atlantic Ocean. Up to 1916, these merchant ships could travel in relative safety. However, in 1917, the Germans introduced unrestricted submarine warfare and merchant ships were sunk with great frequency. This had a drastic impact on Britain's food supply and with great losses in the Atlantic, food had to be rationed so that no-one starved in Britain. In April 1916, Britain only had six weeks of wheat left and bread was a staple part of most diets. 1916 was a bleak year for families - with the news from the Battle of the Somme and with food in short supply, suddenly the war was brought home to most families. Food prices rose and by October 1916, coal was in such short supply that it was rationed by the number of rooms a family had in its house.

The restrictions introduced by DORA failed and the government then tried to introduce a voluntary code of rationing whereby people limited themselves to what they should eat. The standard was set by the Royal Family. However, this did not work. Those who worked in the munitions factories did not have enough food while anyone with money could get more than enough food on the black market. Any area that could grow food was converted to do so - gardens were turned into allotments and chickens etc. were kept in back gardens.

The powers introduced by DORA empowered the government to take over land when it felt that it was necessary to do so. In 1917, the government took over 2.5 million acres of land for farming. By the end of the war, Britain had an extra three million acres of farming land. Those who would have usually worked the land - young men - had been called up, so the work was done by the Women's Land Army. Conscientious objectors also worked on the land.

Despite the importance of the work done by the Women's Land Army, the government still felt that it was appropriate to warn them about the standards expected of them and their approach must have seemed very old fashioned to some:

Despite the work by the WLA, the impact of the German U-boat campaign made food shortages a serious problem by 1918. Malnutrition was seen in poor communities and as a result the government introduced rationing in 1918. Food products were added to the list as the year progressed. In January 1918, sugar was rationed and by the end of April meat, butter, cheese and margarine were added to the list of rationed food. Ration cards were issued and everyone had to register with a butcher and grocer. Rationing was a clear indication to the British public that all was not well, but it did work. The malnutrition that had been identified in the poorer communities disappeared and as in World War Two, no one actually starved in Britain during the war.
Ration books

A ratio book

This bread, known as K-Brot, was highly unpopular, as it increasingly contained such ingredients as dried potatoes, oats, barley and even pulverised straw. 

Food queue in Reading during the First World War. The need to queue was lessened when rationing was introduced during 1918. Rationing also ensured equality of food distribution

Examples of posters used about rationing

All of the posters show various ways in which rationing effected the people of Britain, with ways in which they can help save food, and make food go further. 

Looking into exisiting recipe books/cards both from the war (early 1900's) to today. 

From the research i can see a common theme in the recipe pages, in the colour schemes and the typefaces used. I need to make sure that I keep my designs fairly similar in both to be inkeeping with the era. However, the recipe books found are fairly boring and are full of information. Which for children is useful but not very interesting on the eye. 

Typography research...

Typography...

Terms of typography –

The image below shows a overview of the terms used when describing typography styles. There are certain aspects of type that help it easier for children to read and understand as suppose to using type that is more suitable to a advance reading audience such as teens and adults.

How to create a variation using text...

using different materials  – using a variety of materials weather they are scanned or the texture is used, gives a variation in style and visuals. Maybe it looks like certain objects in the story e.g. wooden in a forest story, soft fur or fluff if its about animals.

Concrete poems – words take the shape of something maybe either a object or an animal which help to describe the story a bit more, could act as part of a object or could also help to illustrate mood or feelings such as wind, wet, sad etc 

Limited colour can be effective – Sometimes only trying to use limited can be effective but it has to be used in the correct way, especially in a children’s book as colour is normally a key element of design for younger children otherwise it gets repetitive.

 Alignment...

range left – what is typically used in newspapers books and large amounts of text, as it is easier for the eye as it knows where the start of the next sentence is every time

range right – 

can be used for small amount of text and information and is also sometimes used to add descriptions and side annotations to images

centered-

centered is also used for the same as range right, however normally makes the eyes work more as it is un known as to where the next line will start

justified –  ( makes clean reading) often used in newspaper to fill up columns and sections in newspapers sometimes forms ‘rivers’ int he text which also make it harder to read ( see below)

styles...

Serif- more traditional classic look, lots of text helps with to support images, is the more familiar typeface

San Serif – modern and contemporary, Small parts of blogs

Infantised version of text – Sassoon primary , infant gill sans, One story a’s and g’s, longer ascender, rounded open counter, medium weight, larger x height, mixture of upper and lower cas

Visual hierarchy- viewing things in a specific order, title or big images first, then sub headings, and then finally the type/text last

 Typography with food...

When researching food and typography together I came across various interesting designs that combined the two together to create food type. This would be a very creative way of making titles and headings in a children's cookbook as it is clever and fun at the same time. This would appeal to the target audience well and would help encourage children to get involved and learn. 

Understanding the brief

After being given the brief, I went through it to enable me to understand all aspects that the brief required including design, research and final product. The age specified in the brief is for children in primary schools  and so it would be helpful to look at other books in this area, I also want to have a look and develop some additional aspects of the book to give a little bit of a different take, looking at how to make an adult like topic more child friendly and to make children more interested in the topic.

I also want to have a look at different ways that existing cookery books are laid out and presented, how the different types of art styles help to depict certain feels and themes throughout the book.When using the recipes given to me on the recipe cards, i can consider the different activities which could additionally get the children involved in WW1 based things. The use of characters could also allow the children to have a familiarity throughout the book, this is something i will look into further.