Selected reader covers created for Scholastic literacy programs, combining age-appropriate visual storytelling, typography, illustration direction, and engaging cover concepts designed to spark curiosity and support early reading success.

Children's Publishing Experience

For more than 20 years, I've partnered with editors, writers, educators, illustrators, photographers, and production teams to create nationally distributed publications that inspire curiosity and support learning. My experience spans magazine publishing, educational publishing, children's books, and literacy programs, combining creative leadership with deep production knowledge from concept through press.

300+ Covers Designed & Art Directed

Creative Direction • Art Direction • Cover Design • Typography • Photo Research

The strongest cover concepts emerge through collaboration between editorial vision, audience needs, illustration, typography, and storytelling. Throughout my publishing career, I have developed original concepts, directed illustrators and photographers, refined visual narratives, and guided projects from initial sketches through final production.

Concept Development • Visual Storytelling •
Typography • Cover Design

Concept Development • Visual Storytelling •
Typography • Cover Design

Concept Development • Typography • Cover Design

For more than 20 years, I've designed and art directed children's and educational publications that transform complex ideas into engaging visual experiences for young readers. My work includes more than 300 publication covers, over 1,000 commissioned illustrations, and nationally distributed publications for Cricket Media, Scholastic, and Curriculum Associates. Every cover begins with the same goal: spark curiosity before a child reads the first word.

My Cover Design Process

Concept Development

Every project begins with understanding audience, content, and market positioning. Through research, editorial collaboration, and visual exploration, I develop concepts that communicate a publication's unique voice and purpose.

Art Direction & Illustration

I enjoy partnering with illustrators and photographers to create original visual solutions. From initial briefs through final artwork, I guide the creative process to ensure visual consistency and strong storytelling.

Typography & Composition

Careful attention to hierarchy, readability, and visual balance helps transform concepts into compelling cover designs that attract attention while supporting content.

Production & Delivery

Working closely with production teams, I prepare final files, review proofs, and ensure designs maintain quality throughout the printing and publishing process.

Commissioning & Directing Illustration

I believe the right illustrator can completely transform a story. I was constantly researching new talent, reviewing recommendations from editors, designers, and fellow art directors, and building a network of illustrators whose styles fit each publication, audience, and subject. Whether commissioning an artist across the U.S. or overseas, I developed creative briefs, provided art direction, and guided every project from initial sketches through final production—collaborating across time zones, cultures, and, at times, language barriers to achieve the strongest creative result.
Many illustrators became long-term collaborators, allowing us to develop strong creative relationships across multiple publications.

Directed the creation of more than 1,000 commissioned illustrations across multiple publications, partnering with artists throughout the U.S. and around the world from concept through final production.

"Every cover begins with the same goal:
spark curiosity before a child reads the first word."

— Nicole Welch

(C) 2026 Nicole Welch Studio