The Importance of Visual Components in Infant Books

Infant books such as these are designed to help educate infants in the most basic terms. The book I selected for this exercise was a book about learning how to count. It was made of a thick cardboard-type material, designed so that infants would be able to have a tactile interaction with the book without damaging its pages or contents. I imagine that the material would even be resistant to water, if only to a small degree. Ultimately, it was created to withstand the occasionally rough hand of a child, making it a learning tool that would last from one generation to the next. The first page had a single object, and a flap with the number 1 on it. Lifting up the flap revealed a second, matching object, as well as the number 2. The next page had two objects, a flap with the number 2 on it, and when flipped it revealed a third matching object and the number three. The pattern continued so on and so forth, until about 10. It was through this repetition that infants would learn how to count upwards. Each number relies on that which came before it, and they build on top of each other just as real counting builds upon itself. However, it is not the repetition alone that makes this a book for infants; it also implements many visual components to help educate the child.

Each of the pages had a stark white background, which was effectively used to emphasis the content on each page. Since we’re dealing with numbers, it’s important for the child to be able to count how many objects are on each page, and background images would distract from that purpose. Lacking a background also made colors into a much more distinctive factor, as well as a tool to be used to educate the infant. At first glance, I didn’t think anything of the colors used on each page. It was only after my groupmate pointed it out that I noticed: all of the objects on a page would be the same (or a similar) color, except for the one under the flap. This difference further adds to the polarity of the subject, causing the infant’s eye to be subconsciously drawn to the difference in color. Not only this, but many of the new objects under the flaps would be facing the opposite direction. This was a very subtle difference that I only noticed after I was going back to inspect the pages a second time; on the page with the goldfish, they all seemed to be facing towards the right. It was only upon lifting the flap that you would discover another goldfish, of a reddish color, facing left. This simply serves to compound the movement used, both physical and visual. It would seem as though the creators of this book pulled out all of the stops to make each new object as prominently different as they could, all while making sure that they were still similar to the others on the page. In the case of the apples, of which there were 6 or 7, the ones first seen on the page are all yellow and green. The apple revealed under the flap was red. This way, the seventh apple was fully discernable from the rest, but since there was a slight variance in color between the first few, the red apple would not be confused as something other than an apple just because it was a different color.

All of these features–the color, movement, texture, repetition–culminate to form the ideal baby book. This is definitely the type of book I would like to buy for my child one day, as well as for the kids in my classroom, now that I know what criteria to be searching for.