Silver Graphics, Illustration and Visual Communication Design · 2022
Frank and the Frog Picture Book for Children
- A' Design Award 2022 Silver Winner in Graphics, Illustration and Visual Communication Design
- Awarded April 15, 2022
- CLIENT: Bence Mészáros
- Estimated Number of Design Views: 31,378
- Verification code 8E8A8251C9 · Verify this award
About Frank and the Frog Picture Book for Children
Frank and the Frog is a children's picture book about loss and remembrance. The story follows Frank, a young boy who wakes up one day and cannot find his grandmother. Frank leaves home to search for her and meets a frog that becomes his friend and helper. At the end of the journey, Frank sees that his grandmother is in a safe and peaceful place, and he says goodbye. The book has twelve illustrated pages that flow from left to right, and facing pages are paired by contrast. Manual linework and textures are composed and colored digitally.
Press Kit
- Unique Properties
- Frank and the Frog is designed to give an escape world to anybody who needs to find peace after losing a beloved one. The book tells the story of a little kid called Frank, who wakes up one day and can't find his Granny. Frank decides to leave his home to find Granny and bring her home. During his journey, he meets a frog, who becomes his friend and helps him through the adventures. In the end, Frank sees Granny is in a safe and peaceful place; he decides to say goodbye and let her go.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- Width 300 mm x Depth 15 mm x Height 300 mm
- Tags
- illustration, picturebook, children, book, bookdesign, childrenbook
- Production Technology
- Mixed media. Manual linework and textures, digitally composed and colourized.
- Design Challenge
- The hardest part was, of course, how to bring the topic of death into the picture book in a kid-friendly way. Another thing I had to consider during the development phase was that even though I always spend a lot of time thinking about death, I never had an intimate experience with it. So I wanted to be respectful with this topic.
- Project Duration
- The project started in June 2021 in Helsinki.
- Operation Flow
- This picturebook has 12 fully illustrated pages. All the pages have a left-to-right flow, leading the eyes of the reader to the next page. The spreadsheets next to each other are designed to pair up based on different contrasts: e.g., on one page, when the composition is complex, then on the next page, the layout is minimal, or when Franks is high up in the sky, on the next page he goes deep under the ocean.
- Research
- RESEARCH ABSTRACT**:
A big part of my research was to find the right mentor for Frank.
I was looking into different mythology characters, symbols, characters from my life, etc. When I find frogs, I immediately fall in love with the idea. I think they are visually exciting; frogs are travellers, and they can travel through lands, through the water. In the shaman culture, frogs as totem animals have the power of transformation and travelling between the human world and the spirit realm. - Inspiration
- My main goal with this picture book was to tell a story and tackle a topic that is not that common in children's literature. A topic that was hard to understand when I was a kid and had me confused for a long time. The subject of death.
I am lucky to have all four of my grandparents alive and know them, but this is a rare phenomenon in my environment. Many people lose their grandparents during their childhood. The base idea comes from my childhood: I was always (and still am) scared of what would happen when my grandparent won't be here anymore. - Image Credits
- Creator Bence Mészáros, Frank and the Frog
- Patents
- Copyright 2022 by Bence Mészáros
Written by Barnabás Csukás, based on an original story by Bence Mészáros