Lonely Planet Kids unveils redesign

Lonely Planet is redesigning its Lonely Planet Kids books in order to give the brand a clearer identity.

Piers Pickard, managing director of publishing at Lonely Planet (pictured right), said the rebrand was intended to “make Lonely Planet Kids books a distinctive part of the Lonely Planet family”.

Henceforth, all of Lonely Planet Kids’ releases will feature its new look. The imprint’s titles will have redesigned covers that display a consistent approach to the Lonely Planet Kids logo, and the books’ spines will be unified. Pickard explained: “This enables us to keep our cover images distinctive so that they suit the art style of the book, the age of the reader and the subject matter, which is important because we need to balance being recognisable to parents while being appealing to kids.”

The rebrand is also intended to give Lonely Planet the flexibility to produce content that “goes beyond simply ‘travel’”. Pickard added: “We are not a travel brand for kids. You only have to look at our autumn titles this year—such as Incredible Cabinet of Wonders and Dinosaur Atlas—to see what a diverse range of topics fit under the brand.”

He continued: “We really wanted to reflect the fact that Lonely Planet Kids books are created by Lonely Planet’s team of global experts,
and that we can showcase not just places around the world, but how amazing that world is.”

Lonely Planet relaunched its children’s list in 2014 and has grown to a release schedule spanning 22 titles this year. According to Pickard, the publisher has had “increasing sales and fantastic feedback from kids, parents and buyers” since its relaunch. It has also had success with apps, events and working with schools, but it has particularly grown the Lonely Planet Kids brand through its online offering.

He said: “LonelyPlanet.com now has a distinct part of the website dedicated to family travel, while we also have a distinctive Lonely Planet Kids site, a regular travel blog, and a growing newsletter for family travellers young and old.”

With its new branding, Pickard believes there is “lots of scope to grow the list”.