Doing Design with Kids
A Workbook Filled with Playful, Graphic Exercises, Designed by Designers, Available to Everyone Published by Set Margins’ publications.
Edited with text by Loredana Bontempi. Text by Andrea Bergamini, Silvia Carollo, Marion Deuchars, Alessio D’Ellena, Simone Dresens, Loes Van Esch, Jannice Guilloux, Ken Kirton, Martin Kerschbaumer, Freja Kir, Jacqueline Kumer, Ellen Lupton, Claude Marzotto, Luisa Milani, Walter Molteni, Ilenia Notarangelo, Katrijn Oelbrandt, Luciano Perondi, Michelle Phillips, Radim Peško, Luke Powell, Kate Rogers, Olivier Querné, César Rogers, Victoria Rosselli, Maia Sambonet, Felix Salut, Bruno Setola, Bram van Bree. Conversations with Loredana Bontempi, Luciano Perondi, Felix Salut. A joyful, provocative and educational design workbook for children, created by graphic designers to spark creativity and encourage playfulness Conceived by designer Loredana Bontempi, this book gathers a collection of graphic exercises for children. A parent herself, Bontempi found herself wondering: what if designers shared what they actually draw and make with children in their everyday life? What if they did so not through polished workshops or educational tools, but through small, direct experiences? This book proposes a form of aesthetic learning through simple acts of drawing together, cutting shapes, repeating gestures and making small adjustments until a composition starts to click into place. These exercises can be carried out at the kitchen table, on the living room floor, during a quiet afternoon or on a long train ride—whenever and wherever one has a free moment.
Each contributed by a graphic designer who is also a parent, the exercises in this book often depart from a simple constraint, teaching children how something like a change in scale or a different way of framing the task can redirect attention and influence how the work develops. The intention is not to make things more complex, but rather to make them more precise, holding together both perspectives: the child's curiosity and a more attentive, adult eye. The exercises focus on expression and storytelling, while elements such as form, composition, rhythm or visual balance are treated as secondary, allowing the child's imagination to take center stage. Doing Design with Kids is a workbook with a bold new approach that sparks creativity, joy, humor and so much more.
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