Indeed, there are a select few children’s books on iPad that are beautifully illustrated, enabling children to immerse themselves in the magic of storytelling. The power of a captivating picture book lies not just in the written words, but also in the vibrant illustrations that breathe life into the narrative. In this article, I’ve curated a list of the top 10 children’s book apps for 2023, featuring stunning illustrations that bring stories to life.

The Cat in the Hat

Check out Dr. Seuss’s “The Cat in the Hat” iPad app to explore a fun and magical world. It’s not just an electronic version of the much-loved story; it’s also a lively, interactive space that brings the tale to life. Kids will love to tap, drag, and tilt their devices to find fun surprises and get more into the story.

The unique feature of this app is its educational aspect. Apart from just being entertaining, it also includes learning activities. These activities have been designed with the help of literacy experts, focusing on enhancing kids’ skills in spelling, phonics, rhyming, and reading comprehension. They are in line with kindergarten level English Language Arts (ELA) standards. Hidden as stars throughout the book, these activities encourage kids to learn at their own speed and keep coming back for more.

To top it all off, parents can keep track of their child’s learning journey. They can check the number of minutes their child spends reading and the pages they have read in a dedicated section. This way, the app not only brings joy but also provides significant value.

• Author and Illustrator: Dr. Seuss
• Publisher: Oceanhouse Media

Fairy Tales ~ Bedtime Stories

The “Fairy Tales ~ Bedtime Stories” app lets your child dive into a magic-filled world of classic fairy tales. This amazing collection includes popular stories like “Puss in Boots”, “The Beauty and the Beast”, “Cinderella”, and “The Snow Queen”, plus so many more.

But this isn’t just about reading – the app brings each story alive. It does this with interactive scenes, characters who move and talk, and even educational games hidden inside the stories. This way, every fairy tale becomes an exciting way to learn.

Designed especially for children, this app is super easy to use. The “Read to Me” and “Read it Myself” modes let kids pick how they want to enjoy each story.

• Author and Illustrator: Vincent Herriau
• Publisher: AmayaKids

Nighty Night Forest

“Nighty Night Forest” is the delightful follow-up to the internationally adored bedtime apps “Nighty Night” and “Nighty Night Circus”. This third part takes kids on a magical journey into a sleep-filled forest with seven cute and playful animals. Designed to become part of your child’s nightly routine, it allows kids to help animals get ready for bed by switching off the lights. From deer to foxes, each animal performs funny and surprising activities before going to sleep.

Developed by renowned artist Jeremy Kool, this app masterfully combines 3D modeling and lighting with 2D drawings and textures to bring stunning landscapes to life. Features include an autoplay mode, hidden treasures, personalized sound effects and music, plus narration in 13 languages. Because of its perfect length, it’s an excellent way to establish a calming bedtime routine for children aged 2 to 5.

• Author and Illustrator:Jeremy Kool
• Publisher: Fox and Sheep GmbH

Little Stories: Bedtime Books

“Little Stories” is a fun collection of fairy tales designed to make your kid the star of the story. All you need to do is put in your child’s name and gender, and you’ll get a bunch of stories tailored just for them, complete with lovely pictures and captivating music. The app even lets you turn these stories into your own audiobooks. Parents can narrate the tales, adding a layer of comfort and familiarity.

This story collection has more than 50 thrilling tales and over 2200 stunning illustrations. It’s been awarded numerous times, even bagging 1st place in the “Entertainment” category at the 2018 Rating Runet.

• Publisher: Diveo Media OU

Even Monsters Get Sick

Children aged 3 to 7 are sure to enjoy this sweet tale about a little boy, Harry, and his unwell monster friend. The story is brought to life with cartoon-style drawings, enhanced with bold, eye-catching textures that make the lovable monster truly stand out.

• Author and Illustrator: Michael Bruza
• Publisher: Busy Bee Studios

Little Fox Music Box

Little Fox is a sing-along book that’s perfect for kids aged 2 to 6. This musical app allows you to teach your kids timeless tunes like “London Bridge” and “Old Mac Donald Had A Farm”. The award-winning artist, Heidi Wittlinger, has filled the app with fun characters, created using a unique style of textured illustrations and paper cutout art.

• Illustrator: Heidi Wittlinger
• Publisher: Fox & Sheep

The Heart and the Bottle

Oliver Jeffers, a celebrated author of children’s books, has crafted a book for kids aged 2 to 8. It’s all about a curious little girl who loves to discover new things. The book combines traditional art and digital illustrations to create fun, modern, doodle-like drawings.

• Author / Illustrator: Oliver Jeffer
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Ltd

Mr. Wolf and the Ginger Cupcakes

Mr. Wolf and the Ginger Cupcakes has a fresh new twist that kids aged between 1 to 8 years will surely enjoy. Lucia Mascuillo spices up the traditional fairytale vibe with her illustrations. She uses a mix of watercolor and pencil to give her artwork a unique touch.

• Illustrator: Lucia Mascuill
• Publisher: BlueQuoll

Cinderella

This award-winning app breathes life into the timeless tale of Cinderella through fun animations and unique music. Kids aged 3 and up will be thrilled to engage with the story. The app also features beautiful illustrations, which blend real-world textures with paper cutout styles, adding a contemporary touch to the story.

• Illustrations: Edward Brya
• Publisher: Nosy Crow

Monster Games on StoryBots

This Halloween book is perfect for kids aged two to eight! It’s all about a little kid who goes on an adventure to a scary castle. You can make the story extra special by adding a picture of your child. Children will surely enjoy the fun and unique character illustrations by Nikolas Ilac. His art style beautifully combines bold shapes with delicate details.

• Illustrator: Nikolas Ilac
• Animator: Amelia Lorenz
• Publisher: JibJab Media Inc

The post 10 Best Illustrated Children’s Books for iPad in 2023 appeared first on Hongkiat.

Contracts are pretty crucial in a designer’s career, and despite your apprehensions with legal documents, it’s worth getting into some specific details that can make a huge difference in practice.

From a legal standpoint, these are rights that every freelance designer should try not to give away by waiver or assignment.

This won’t always be possible, but remember that every “no” you get from a client can be used as leverage to convince them to pay more for your design work. Here’s what you should look out for.

1. Portfolio Display Rights & Moral Rights

Portfolio rights are simply the permission to display the work in your portfolio after it’s done. Few clients have a problem in granting you this (as long as it is for personal use), but if you’re under a work-for-hire contract, these rights are not automatically granted.

In fact, you may need to ask them if you want to add screenshots of your work or reproductions to your own website.

Portfolio display rights usually drag in another set of rights called “moral rights“. Moral rights include the right of attribution, the right to have a work published under a pseudonym or anonymously, and the right to the integrity of the work.

It doesn’t feel great to have your design completely destroyed by someone else after you handed it over, particularly if your name is attached to it.

Sell Your Work, Not Your Rights To It

The legal implications of moral rights are pretty complicated, also because they change greatly from state to state. In most European countries, they are inalienable, i.e., you can’t sell them away in a contract.

On the other hand, in the US, a waiver of moral rights is pretty standard for any commissioned work.

As a creative professional, you want to keep these right as much as possible, so always look if there’s a clause that asks you to waive them, and try to have it removed, or at least mitigate its scope, like in this example clause from an Illustration Agreement.

“Artist’s Right to Authorship Credit. Artists may use Work in Artist’s portfolio (including, but not limited to, any website that displays Artist’s works). Commissioner and Artist agree that when asked, Commissioner must properly identify Artist as the creator of Work. Commissioner does not have a proactive duty to display Artist’s name together with Work, but Commissioner may not seek to mislead others that Work was created by anyone other than Artist.”

2. Rights To Unused Sketches

Graphic designers, this is for you in particular! So you created a bunch of logo ideas or some characters and different images to help the client choose. It is likely that even if that client doesn’t like them, they are good ideas that can be used elsewhere in your work.

Ensure that you can “recycle” your sketches and unused designs with a specific provision that allows you to keep full ownership of unused drafts.

For example:

The client requests a Designer to create [description of the work]. Work includes only the final, deliverable art, and not any preliminary Work or sketches.

Give Permission, Not Your Rights

Developers can do something similar with a “design tools” clause. Do you have any snippets of code or fonts that you incorporate into multiple projects? These are your tools. Just because they are in some client’s project doesn’t mean that the client owns the tools.

Instead, you give the client permission to continue using the tools, like in this example:

“Designer Tools. The Designer may incorporate certain Designer Tools into the Deliverables. “Designer Tools” means all design tools developed or utilized by Designer in performing the Services, including without limitation: pre-existing and newly developed software, Web authoring tools, type fonts, and application tools. In the event Designer Tools are incorporated into any Final Deliverable. Designer grants Client a royalty-free, perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive license to use the Designer Tools to the extent necessary to use the Final Deliverables. Designer retains all other rights in the Designer Tools.”

The Safety Net

In some instances, you might want to tackle the opposite problem: what if someone sees your sketches in the proposal and decides to copy the idea without hiring you? If this is something you fear, add a notice of confidentiality to any proposal you send.

3. The right to walk away

If things start to go the wrong way halfway through the project, there comes the urge to drop the project and cut losses. Whoa… not that fast. Once you have signed a contract, you’re legally bound to finish the project and deliver what is promised.

This is particularly bad if you are working on a fixed fee, as any estimation error in pricing the project can ring up time and financial losses.

Last Resort Exit Strategy

While a kill fee usually takes care of things on the client’s side, it’s up to you to prepare an emergency parachute for yourself, the service provider. Try to add in the option to terminate the agreement, with reasonable notice, like in this Consulting Agreement:

“Termination. Either party may terminate the contract at any time through written request. The Company shall upon termination pay Consultant all unpaid amounts due for Services completed prior to notice of termination.”

4. The Right To Solve Disputes Near You

This right is usually granted by law to consumers. Consumers are generally the weak party when litigating with a big company, and having to litigate in another state is very expensive. That’s why, for example, consumers from the European Union can always sue in their local district court.

With design agreements, however, you’re on your own, so have a look at the jurisdiction clause before signing a contract. If your client is in the same city as you are, there’s no issue, but if your client is in some other place, they probably want things to follow their jurisdiction and law. This is far from standard.

It is always worth negotiating this part, and a good compromise is suggesting someplace neutral, that at least won’t give an unfair advantage to one party or the other. You can also consider options like online mediation and arbitration: always a great idea that will save everybody a bunch of money if things go south.

Disclaimer: This article aims to give you useful and information. However, it should not be treated as legal advice. All legal documents cited are only to be used as a starting point. The author, Hongkiat.com, Docracy, and the original authors of the documents cited disclaim any liability connected to the use of this material without a licensed attorney.

The post Designers: Know Your Rights! 4 Must-Have Clauses In A Contract appeared first on Hongkiat.