Teaching Young Children in Violent Times, 2nd Ed.

opportunity

Update a textbook that early childhood educators use to teach responses to violence and recognizing anger. Incorporate content specifically around 9/11/01. A content audit revealed no distinction in the text hierarchy between B, C, and D heads; no visual cues between teacher commentary and student dialogue. And, the puzzle pieces on the first edition cover don’t fit together.

Schwadesign solution

The author had never met with a design team previous to meeting with us. Asking simple questions like, “what’s the most important part of your book?” allowed her to inform our strategy. We selected a font family (FF Scala and FF Scala Sans) that allowed us to toggle between teacher & student dialogue; the “voice” of the teacher and author are always in the serif. We brought a personal touch to the cover by using handwriting for the title.

providing

Content strategy, design, production, bookmark, postcard announcement, invite to kickoff fundraising events.

belief

“We think of the Schwa team as a group of superheroes. Whether it’s making the deadlines on a long-term project, or helping us through a design crisis, the team at Schwa is always there for us. They have

• Super strength: going the extra mile when we’re in a pinch.
• X-ray vision: seeing through obstacles to get the project right.
• Read minds: anticipating our needs.
• Super stretch: flexible enough to get every job done right.”

— Denise Wolk, Director of Publications & Marketing, Educators for Social Responsibility