Scholastic asked MDesign to produce this brand-new 8-book series with slipcase, overseeing all design, typesetting, electronic mechanicals, illustrations, and photography. In addition, the project also needed to be completed quickly: within 2 months. An important goal was to make the series as attractive and user-friendly as possible, so that teachers would find it easy to turn to it time and again. Since the books were to be used in a preschool setting, we kept the typography simple and used open faces to compensate for the large amount of copy (each of the main books were a minimum of 100 pages); leading was also extended slightly to increase white space and ease-of-use. We employed the very talented illustrator Chris Reed to execute over 800 charming color and black-and-white drawings for the books and slipcase, and utilized both stock and new photography for the cover images. The series was completed on schedule and featured prominantly in Scholastic’s promotions and sales. It also earned MDesign an award at the prestigious New York Book Show.