You know the type of books you might buy as a gift for a 2nd birthday party? Those ones with the pages that won’t bend? Those are board books. And we absolutely love making them.
Board books are different from any other type of book, simply because their pages are quite literally made out of board rather than regular, bendable paper. Their thick pages, their binding, and their infinite interactive possibilities make board books perfectly tailored for infant behaviours and needs.
Board books are most often marketed towards 0-4 year-olds, aiming to assist in mental and physical development (with the added bonus of creating a love of books at a young age). Besides their attractive and educational content, board books also create a unique opportunity for physical engagement. With everything from flaps to levers, different forms of movement add an edge to board book content by encouraging its young readers to touch, combining physical movement with mental learning.
Besides their infinite developmental merit, board books are also extremely durable against everything you might expect from a toddler: bite marks, rips, crumpling, water damage, and basically any other physical damage you can think of. This is why publishers often opt for gloss UV or varnish on board book pages – it adds in that extra layer of protection to keep the pages as new as possible, regardless of whether its owner has just dipped her hands into a bowl of pasta sauce. Board book corners are also often rounded to further prevent children from any potential harm.
It’s possible to find board books for any age group (including 0-1!) up until 5. Often, the level of content in a board book evolves accordingly with the age group it is marketed towards. While a title meant for 1 year olds might have fewer pages and fewer words, another title meant for 4 year olds might have more complex mechanisms and more specialised content. Board books can help teach anything from letters and numbers to feelings and history, and are simply an endless pit of early-childhood knowledge.
And for those of you still with us, here is some technical information: The paper we most often use in board books is a 300 or 350 gsm high-bulk (thick) board. We get a single page of the book by pasting together two of these boards, sometimes adding in an extra ‘spacer’ page in between them. Most board books are usually between 8-20 pages, but can go up to 32 pages. Some of them are laminated with a very thin sheet to help preserve their colour and shine, some are coated with a water-based varnish, and some are just left as they are. Because we use a new printing technique called HUV printing, we often don’t need to add any kind of coating onto board books. HUV printing technology immediately dries the pages using UV light, locking in ink before any of its components have had a chance to evaporate.
Children’s books is a magical field, one of our favourite to work on. The sheer variety within children’s titles means we’re constantly exploring new possibilities, growing as we collaborate with emerging and established publishers alike. Your imagination is what motivates us, driving us to seek new technologies like our automated board book printing systems that help facilitate and perfect production.
