This set of original stories for students is meant to be a series of graded readers. These kinds of reading texts are usually categorized by the level of language so teachers can give texts that are a little easier to younger students or students with lower level reading skills. More advanced students get the more advanced texts. This particular series was for students learning English language, so the client used the CEFR system.

The job involved creating a cover template that could be used for each book. We wanted to make sure that any customization or individual features of each title would be easy to change. For this project, I looked at a number of graded readers series from a variety of publishers. I also reread some graphic design books and articles about repetition. I quickly decided that the cover would feature large blocks of colored squares with a large image. This gave room for the title, the levelling info, and the series title.

I decided to make the top shape a bit more interesting than a rectangle, and this also affected placement of the cover images to some extent, making sure nothing important overlapped with that bit that hangs down on the left.

Finally, for the color scheme and fonts I looked at a number of science fiction and fantasy books. I also looked at young adult books. The yellow, bright orange, and bright orange came out of a number of sci-fi YA books. The blocks of color behind the title mostly came from the cover images, but I also ensured there was some consistency across colors, so the palette isn't too jarring.