Kid President’s Guide to Being Awesome
Publication Design, Illustration, Hand-Lettering
2015
About the Book
From YouTube sensation to Hub Network summer series star, Kid President—ten-year-old Robby Novak—and his videos have inspired millions to dance more, to celebrate life, and to throw spontaneous parades.
In his Guide to Being Awesome, Kid President pulls together lists of awesome ideas to help the world, awesome interviews with his awesome celebrity friends (he has interviewed Beyoncé!), and a step-by-step guide to make pretty much everything a little bit awesomer. Grab a corn dog and settle in to your favorite comfy chair. Pretend it's your birthday! (In fact, treat everyone like it's THEIR birthday!) Kid President is here with a 240-page, full-color Guide to Being Awesome that'll spread love and inspire the world.
About the Design
Hours of hand-lettering, papercrafting, silly-face-photoshooting, and endless doodling went into this labor of love. The book features lettering on nearly every page, and intricate and detailed objects and sets made out of paper litter the book – resulting in an experience that is vibrant, youthful and fun.
Working with Robby and Brad on the art and design of the book was an absolute joy. They infectiously inspire creativity and positivity, and it shaped the direction of all of the work into a book that is full of their personality and sense of wonder.
The book made the New York Times Best-Seller List in Feb. 2015 and remained for five consecutive weeks.
The book's French-fold jacket comes off to reveal a hidden cover showing the messiness and DIY-style signature to Kid President.
Each chapter title spread featured a hand-crafted scene out of paper cutouts and three-dimensional papercraft objects to introduce the theme.
A Pep Talk from Kid President to You
Kid President's classic Pep Talk was reimagined as a series of illustrations in a quirky, child-like style. Charcoals were used to create all of the line work, and a limited color palette as well as a new set of custom textures overlaid the charcoal lines.
#8. “Hello, person I’ve never met before. Here’s a high five!”
#7. “My sports team is not always the best sports team.”
This one is extra tough. It takes a big person to say that.
The title for "Remember That the World is Bigger Than Your Backyard" was first designed by hand, then cut out of cardboard, and overlays a photo by Kristi of her and Brad's backyard — the shadows on the photo and texture of the cardboard letters is more natural that way.
A New Pep Talk
The same style of the original illustrated pep talk was applied to "A New Pep Talk," allowing the two children's book-style sections to bookend the 100 ideas to make the world more awesome.
The endsheets featured a hand-lettered wall of all 100 activities in the book.
Online Press and Recognition
"Five Tips For Being More Awesome from Kid President (And Rainn Wilson)" (FastCompany)
Awards
New York Times Best-Seller List
AIGA Portfolio Gallery Feature
Editorial Design Served Feature
Credits
"Kid President's Guide to Being Awesome" is written by Brad Montague and Robby Novak
Creative Direction
SoulPancake – Golriz Lucina and Shabnam Mogharabi
Art Direction/Project Management
Kristi Montague
Designer/Illustrator
Russell Shaw
Copywriting
Rob Franks
Project Management Assistant
Bethany Eldridge
Jacket Photography
Kristi Montague
Jacket Design
Russell Shaw with Irene Wang
Publisher
HarperCollins
Publisher Team
Dave Linker, Becca Webster, Emily Brenner, Nancy Inteli, Matt Schweitzer, Julie Eckstein, Cindy Hamilton
All Photographs by Kristi Montague (unless otherwise noted)
All Illustrations by Russell Shaw (unless otherwise noted)
Papercraft by Kristi Montague, Russell Shaw, Katie England and Bethany Eldridge