A New Approach to a Daunting Subject

How do you connect Math to Every day life?

McGraw-Hill wanted to create a new mathematics series for elementary students that would show how math applies to our every day lives. The pedagogy of the lessons was written and designed to encourage students who may otherwise feel disconnected from previous textbooks. Visual cues were used throughout each book to help "visual" learners understand the value of the information, while maintaining the rigor necessary to engage more advanced students.

With this in mind, we set out to develop covers that would encompass the ideals set forth in the content of the books. Numerous concepts were presented, including everyday tools used in the processing of math problems, food preparation elements that showed the exercise of measurement and heat, and finally games and toys that use math as their basis, including physics, computation, and geometry.

Two photographers from Canada were engaged to produce the images. The original concept was to show motion in the elements through slightly blurred portions of each image. After the photos had been taken, the client decided that they did not want the blurred elements. The images were manipulated in Photoshop by Photoshop artists to enhance color and "fix" blurred elements. My role was as team lead and client facing liaison, providing photo direction, design, and photo illustration.

The series was awarded Best of Category by the New York Bookbinders Guild.