A studio service
Early reader book covers where the title does the selling.
An early reader cover is not a picture book cover. A picture book is bought for its art; a first-grade reader is bought by a parent scanning a phone for something their child can actually read — so the title panel, the grade level and the promise on the front carry the sale, and the illustration is there to make them land. We design that panel first, test it at thumbnail size, and build the artwork around it.
N° 01What makes it work
The panel first, the picture around it
01
Type is the design
In this category the title occupies most of the cover. It is set in real type on its own layer — never lettered into the artwork — so it stays crisp, editable and correct.
02
The grade level is findable
A parent is filtering by reading level in about a second. First grade, second grade, ages 6–8 — stated plainly on the front, not buried in the subtitle.
03
Two conventions, chosen on purpose
Either an object border ringing a title panel, or one illustrated scene under a banner. Both are native to the shelf; which one you get depends on whether the book is a themed collection or a single story world.
04
Built for the thumbnail
These books sell almost entirely from search results at around 100 pixels. If the title does not survive that size, nothing else on the cover matters.
N° 02For series publishers
Volume two has to look like volume one
Early readers are bought in runs — first grade, then second, then a themed spin-off. The typographic system, the panel geometry and the palette rules are set once and handed over, so later volumes are recognisably the same series without being redrawn from scratch. Each cover ships as a full KDP wrap to your page count and trim, with the barcode area kept clear, plus a matching ebook cover.
N° 03Peek inside
Two covers, two solves.
Both are demonstration pieces with invented titles, made to show the two conventions this category actually uses — an object border ringing a title panel, and a single illustrated scene under a banner. In each one the title is real type on its own layer, sized against the panel it sits in rather than dropped on by eye.
N° 04Questions
The answers we give most often.
- Is the title real type or part of the illustration?
- Real type, on its own layer. That keeps it sharp at every size, lets you change a subtitle or a volume number without touching the artwork, and makes a second language straightforward.
- Can you match a look I already have?
- Yes. Send the covers you are competing with or the volume you already published, and we design into that shelf rather than away from it.
- Do you do the interior too?
- We do — interior illustration and typesetting for early readers and first chapter books is a separate service, and covers commissioned alongside it are cheaper than covers on their own.
- How many concepts do I see?
- Two distinct directions first, as finished covers rather than sketches, because this category is decided by whether the thing actually reads at thumbnail size. You pick one and we refine it.
- Is it print-ready for KDP?
- Yes — a full wrap built to your exact trim and final page count with the barcode zone kept clear, plus a matching ebook cover.
Start your book
Give your book the cover it deserves.
Tell us the title and genre, and whether it's print, ebook, or both. We'll reply within two working days.