This is not completely true—they’re just smaller up here, not fewer. Even if I wasn’t getting away from them, they would at least be harder to see, right? Then along came the Insect World series to design. And so, here I am learning more about them and looking at super-enlarged images of the insects and arachnids I live with everyday. GREAT. Ever seen a micrograph of an eyelash mite?

Here’s the Insect World series. There are seven of these books, for a fourth/fifth-grade market. Good for adults, too, if you like to read about the life cycles of insects at an elementary level. Sandra Markle writes a lot of books for us, and luckily I get to design most of them. Sandra’s books are always interesting projects to work on.

I did the logo first for this design, then went on to the rest. The hexagon throughout is to represent the insects, not the hive in this one book. Six legs, six sides….

This series did well in the market, so we did a spin-off series: Arachnid World. I sent those six books to my mom in Southern Illinois so she could read about the arachnids in her backyard at an elementary level. They’re that informative, really. And easy to read. Arachnid World Looks much the same as Insect World with certain details changed. The color, the logo hieroglyph, and the hexagon. That turned into an octagon. Eight legs, eight sides…