DESIGN IN BOOKS FOR NEWBORNS
Authors: Kazakova Natalya Yu. , Lakizenko Elizaveta D. 
Published: June 2023

In the 21st century, the market for children’s illustrated books is rich in genres, design, and inclusion of interactive content. Depending on the contextual and illustrative content, products are labelled taking into account the division into age categories, the features of which are spelled out in the Federal Law No. 436-FZ of December 29, 2010 “On protecting children from information harmful to their health and development”. Belonging to a particular group is determined by the special needs that exist at each age and which are directly reflected in illustrations, textual material and plot. For example, books for preschool children up to and including 6 years of age are labelled 0+. To understand the design features of this category, it is necessary to study the needs and abilities of the group, as books must be adapted to the needs of their audience. Age can be understood as an absolute and quantitative concept, as well as stages in the processes of physiological and psychological development. In the history of child psychology, there are several variations of age periodization: according to an external criterion (R. Zazzo), an internal criterion (P. Blonsky) and complex age criteria (L. Vygotsky, D. Elkonin, V. Slobodchikov and others). A book is a symbiosis of textual and illustrative material, and interaction with it, especially in the early stages of development, involves (“switches on”) all sensory systems and affects mental development. Therefore, the periodization of Vygotsky formed the basis for the study of design in children’s interactive books.
In Vygotsky’s works, it is worth noting that the category 0+ includes several age periods: the neonatal crisis (0–2 months), the stable period of infancy (2 months — 1 year), the crisis of the first year of life, stable early childhood (1–3 years), crisis of three years, stable preschool age (3 years — 6 years). After birth, a child begins a consistent, literally weekly, development of physiological and psychological functions, in parallel with this, his or her needs and interests are lined up. For this reason, it was decided to study the characteristics of each of the groups and the consistency of the design in classic books and books with the inclusion of interactive content for children under 6 years old. The article considers the period of infancy up to 1 year.
At a very early age, babies are not yet able to understand the plot or recognize objects in the illustrations, name them. However, it is at this time that the base of the passive vocabulary is formed, the first acquaintance with the outside world and the work of mirror neurons begins, and all of the above is based on emotional experience, which the child receives from the environment. The design of children’s books for newborns is based on physiological features: the beginning of the development of fine motor skills, skills in handling objects; black and white perception of reality; later — addition of red, green, blue and yellow colours; realism of images to build a recognizable picture of the world, the minimum amount of a text message adapted to the understanding and development of basic speech (abbreviations in the form of onomatopoeia for the names of objects); safe materials for self-interaction.
Thus, a book for newborns is aimed at a child’s first acquaintance with the world around, the development of the sensory system, fine motor skills, and primary socialisation with close adults.