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Essay / The Importance of Visual Components in Infant Books
Infant books like these are designed to help educate infants in the most basic terms. The book I chose for this exercise was a book about learning to count. It was made of a thick cardboard-like material, designed so that infants could have tactile interaction with the book without damaging its pages or contents. I imagine the material would even be water resistant, if only to a small extent. Ultimately, it was created to withstand the sometimes rough hand of a child, making it a learning tool that will endure from one generation to the next. The first page contained a single object and a flap with the number 1 on it. Lifting the flap revealed a second matching object, along with the number 2. The next page contained two objects, a flap with the number 2 on it, and when flipped revealed a third matching object and the number three . The pattern continued like this until about 10 o'clock. It is through this repetition that infants would learn to count upwards. Each number builds on the one that preceded it, and they overlap one another, just as actual 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. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essayEach of the pages had a very clean white background, which was used effectively to highlight the content on each page. Since it involves numbers, it is important that the child be able to count the number of objects on each page, and background images would distract from this goal. The lack of background also made colors a much more distinctive factor, as well as a tool to use in educating the infant. At first glance, I thought nothing of the colors used on each page. It was only after my groupmate pointed it out that I noticed: all objects on a page would be the same (or similar) color, except from the one under the flap. This difference further adds to the polarity of the subject, causing the infant's eye to be unconsciously drawn to the difference in color. Additionally, many of the new objects under the flaps would face the opposite direction. It was a very subtle difference that I only noticed after going back to inspect the pages a second time; on the page with the goldfish, they all seemed to be facing right. It was only by lifting the flap that we discovered another goldfish, reddish in color, facing the left. This simply serves to compound the movement used, both physically and visually. It would seem that the creators of this book went out of their way to make each new object as different as possible, while still making sure they were still similar to the others on the page. In the case of the apples, which were 6 or 7 in number, the ones seen first on the page are all yellow and green. The apple discovered under the flap was red. In this way, the seventh apple was perfectly distinguishable from the others, but since there was a slight difference in color between the first ones, the red apple would not be mistaken for anything other than an apple simply because it was of a different size. different color. these features – 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.