Research into the Creation of Cover Designs for Elementary School Textbooks in Taiwan, Using an Upper Grade Version as an Example

• Main Authors: Lee, Po-Sheng, 李博勝
• Other Authors: Hsu, Ho-Chieh
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/nbu438

碩士 === 國立臺灣師範大學 === 設計學系 === 106 === Abstract Textbooks are not only the most traditional definition and core of the curriculum, they are also the critical learning materials for students in the school and the base of teaching for teachers. The content of a textbook is the media for students to learn knowledge while the visual and functional design of a textbook is an important factor that attracts students to open the textbook. The purpose of this research is to explore as well as compare the cover, design features and functions of the textbooks of various editions for the upper grades of elementary school. In the research, the cover design components, the image application and design style, the book's title and font, the layout, color application and different functions of the textbooks for the upper grades of elementary school published by various publishing companies in Taiwan were discussed. The research explored the preference level of the students in elementary school for the cover, design representation and style of a textbook. A textbook is the media through which a teacher in elementary school passes on knowledge to the students while the cover is the first impression that the students have when they contacted the textbook. Therefore, how to design the cover of a textbook that can attract students to open it and further, like it would be critical for the art designer of textbooks; on the other hand, the preference level of the students could be the reference for creation. Based on the research results mentioned above, we then conducted the innovative design for the cover of the textbooks used by upper grades in elementary school, in hopes of this innovative research being able to provide the reference for the textbooks' covers designers, the teachers, and the reviewing authority. The research had the literature review as the theoretical basis and then proceeded to analyze the font of textbooks' covers, images, colors, editing layouts, and functions by the case study. The case study is in Taiwanese, Japanese, and Korean textbooks for the academic year of 2016 ~ 2017, and the five areas of national language, mathematics, nature, and art were analyzed. We have also compiled the design elements and various editing layouts. The results showed that the fonts are mostly MingLiU, boldface letters, and art words, while the illustrations are mostly with styles of childlike interests and fantasy, and the colors tend to be high color saturation and brightness. It was also found that most of the textbooks' covers do not have the functions for teaching and interactive operation. Regarding the editing layout, centered with horizontal and vertical segmentation as well as the surrounding forms are normally applied on the layout planning. To be in line with present mechanism of submitting the textbook for review, the research had the sampling from the textbooks' covers by three publishers in Taiwan, and then proceeded to the curriculum-based innovative designing by the analyzed and summarized results. The thematic designs have two directions, namely "Creative imagination - paper and space" and "Interactive exploration - subject operation"; and openwork as well as dual covers were designed to attract the students to explore and interact with the textbook in order to enhance their learning interest. The results of this research and the creation have provided the recommendations to the designers for textbooks' covers, reviewing authority, teachers, and the following researchers as the references for the editing and design in the textbooks' covers for elementary school in the 12-year compulsory education.