A Study on the Characteristics of Bookjacket of Children's Books

한국 아동문학도서의 표지에 관한 연구

The purpose of this study is (a) to investigate the general characteristics of bookjacket of children's books in Korea and (b) to observe general directions of the changes of those characteristics. For that purpose, children's books are gathered in alphabetical order of titles which has been published in the past 30 years and classified into three groups: 'books of 1966-1975', 'books of 1976-1985' and 'books of 1986-1993' according to the date of publication of those books. The important elements of the bookjackets belonging to these three groups are analyzed and compared. Main findings and conclusions made in this study are summarised as follows : (1) The style of illustration which has been appeared very often on the bookjacket of children's books is realistic art style. But a new tendency is that cartoon art style is above everything else. (2) The media which has been commonly used for illustration is watercolor. A new tendency is that various media is used for illustration. (3) People have been most commonly used as characters of illustration, and this tendency is continued from the past. (4) Visual representation of characters is usually simplified, and simple outlines is used for objects. The latest tendency is the same. (5) Visual content is arranged within bookjacket illustration as a whole, and this tendency is continued. (6) Lines for special emphasis are commonly used in depicting objects wi thin bookjacket illustration. (7) Realistic color has been most commonly used in depicting objects within bookjacket illustration. But the tendency is turned into unrealistic color. (8) Light grayish and strong as tone have been commonly used for bookjacket. A new tendency is that pale as tone is above everything else. (9) Gothic type has been commonly used for title within bookjacket. A new tendency is that various types are used for titles.