Neon Squid is a new imprint from Macmillan Children's Publishing, creating beautiful nonfiction books for inquisitive kids (and squids). In their own words: "We believe the most amazing stories are real ones, so our books are for children who want to decipher ancient scrolls, orbit distant stars, and dive into the deepest oceans."

The brief was to create a playful, fun brand which stood out amongst other kids publishers, and didn't come across as too childish or young (their audience is in the 6–12 year old range). It had to have the flexibility to work across all digital and print medias, especially when shrunk down to a book cover or spine.

To accomplish this I created a quirky squid character whose head resembles the nib of a pen, and whose face is curious and simple (but not cute). The simplicity of the squid icon means it remains legible when shrunk down and printed at tiny sizes. It also has a sneaky "NS" hidden in its tentacles. I also created the custom wordmark, and worked on creating a colour palette, font stylings and brand assets to be used across all collateral.

To learn more about the wonderful authors and illustrators publishing work with NS, please check out their book page here. Huge thanks to Jo and the team at Macmillan for this one!