as a graphic designer for a few years, I very much like to put book design ideas into my book projects. For this book, I designed one book with two books inside. One is for mum and the other is for dad. Each book contains a mummy book and baby book, the end of the book opens up with six pages gatefold, with a family picture gallery wall on it, in the middle of this big spread, I leave two empty frames for readers to draw a picture of their families to put in, so this book can be a part their own family’s story.


“I have a few other projects coming along this year, one about


the monkey king, one about the first panda in London Zoo, Ming, as well as a book about women. Each new project I take on, I like to challenge myself, either explore the technique of the paper cut or the format of the book design. By doing so, I find myself become more engaged and passionate to create a new book.” Yu Rong’s own love of illustration is something she wants to share, saying: “I am absolutely passionate about getting children involved in art in everyday life, being able to express themselves through any free-style art form. “Illustrations are so important for young readers, the images of picture books play such a significant role in storytelling. When the readers look at books with adults or by themselves, they are drawn to the visual pictures immediately whether or not they can read the text. Illustrations go along with text, providing additional information and understanding for the story. It is almost like an animated short film, each illustration is a piece of art but together they tell a complete narrative story.” PEN&INC


The Boy Who Loves to Lick Windows, Have You Seen the Magpie and Flying High are out now.


Spring-Summer 2024


PEN&INC. 15


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