Kid President’s Guide to Being Awesome

Publication Design, Illustration, Hand-Lettering
2015

About the Book

From YouTube sensation to Hub Network summer series star, Kid President—ten-year-old Robby Novak—and his videos have inspired millions to dance more, to celebrate life, and to throw spontaneous parades.

In his Guide to Being Awesome, Kid President pulls together lists of awesome ideas to help the world, awesome interviews with his awesome celebrity friends (he has interviewed Beyoncé!), and a step-by-step guide to make pretty much everything a little bit awesomer. Grab a corn dog and settle in to your favorite comfy chair. Pretend it's your birthday! (In fact, treat everyone like it's THEIR birthday!) Kid President is here with a 240-page, full-color Guide to Being Awesome that'll spread love and inspire the world.

About the Design

Hours of hand-lettering, papercrafting, silly-face-photoshooting, and endless doodling went into this labor of love. The book features lettering on nearly every page, and intricate and detailed objects and sets made out of paper litter the book – resulting in an experience that is vibrant, youthful and fun.

Working with Robby and Brad on the art and design of the book was an absolute joy. They infectiously inspire creativity and positivity, and it shaped the direction of all of the work into a book that is full of their personality and sense of wonder.

The book made the New York Times Best-Seller List in Feb. 2015 and remained for five consecutive weeks.

Underneath the Kid President Back Cover Design

The book's French-fold jacket comes off to reveal a hidden cover showing the messiness and DIY-style signature to Kid President.

Illustration of the title 'Kid President's Guide to Being Awesome' with a banner, lightning bolts, and paper airplanes in a playful style.

Blue curtain with white handwritten-style text that reads "Keep going, keep going, keep going."

Each chapter title spread featured a hand-crafted scene out of paper cutouts and three-dimensional papercraft objects to introduce the theme.

Paper craft illustration of a pile of various electronic devices and phones with the text 'PUT DOWN YOUR PHONE' on a blue and green background with paper trees.

Collection of paper craft models of different types of cell phones and mobile devices arranged on a white surface.

A handmade birthday cake with paper decorations, including blue loops, a striped candle with orange flame, sitting on a paper plate with yellow and white borders. A cardboard box featuring a drawing of a boombox stereo system is placed behind the cake.

Hands placing a small cardboard paper craft cake with a birthday candle on a paper plate on a red tablecloth.

Decorative scene with cutouts of Kid President in a suit dancing, surrounded by balloons, confetti, and party decorations on a backdrop.

Paper craft of a slice of pizza with toppings, next to a paper cutout of a fox in a striped shirt with a pipe cleaner tail, on a black surface.

Colorful crafting workspace with large decorative letters spelling 'MAKE' and 'something!', surrounded by craft supplies like scissors, thread, buttons, and paper cutouts on a green cutting mat.

Open magazine spread on a wooden surface, featuring a cartoon character with a suit and the title "The True Story of Kid President" on the left page. The right page includes four photographs of children and adults outdoors, and a black-and-white sketch with the word "SWAG" above.

Open book showing two men, one with light hair and casual clothing, and a young boy dressed as a president, in a studio with blue curtains and a seal of the president on the back wall. The left page features text about Brad and Robby.

Open book with paper cut-out illustration of a smiling boy in a suit and tie, and text reading 'The True Story of Kid President'.

Colorful paper arrows with motivational messages, one blue arrow says 'READY TO BE MORE AWESOME?' and a yellow arrow says 'YOU HAVE EVERYTHING YOU NEED. Turn the page.' on a white background.

Open magazine with two pages showing pictures of Robby, his sister Kristi, and a man at a desk with small American flags. The pages contain text, handwritten notes, and captions about Robby's experiences and interviews.

Open book on a wooden surface with the page title 'About the word Awesome' and a brief history of the word, including illustrations and a timeline from 1598 to the present day.

A diagram titled 'A Brief History of Awesome' showing milestones from 1598 to 1879, including illustrations of a book, Benjamin Franklin, a quill, and a lightbulb.

A timeline illustrating how a young skateboarder reacts to his friend calling him awesome in 1982, then watching a cat video on a laptop in 1997, and finally reading the book "Kid President's Guide to Being Awesome" in the present day.

An open book on a wooden surface, showing illustrated pages. The left page features a cartoon of a kid wearing a suit, holding a backpack, standing on a mountain with trees in the background. The title says 'A Pep Talk from Kid President to You,' with a subtitle 'I think we all need a pep talk.' The right page shows cartoon characters with text below encouraging to stop being boring.

A Pep Talk from Kid President to You

Kid President's classic Pep Talk was reimagined as a series of illustrations in a quirky, child-like style. Charcoals were used to create all of the line work, and a limited color palette as well as a new set of custom textures overlaid the charcoal lines.

Open book with illustrations of a person walking in a forest with a moon and rocket, and a cartoon of Robert Frost at a podium labeled 'R. Frost (Not Cool)' with framed pictures on the wall behind him.

A child in a suit dressed as a president sitting on a jet plane flying above the words 'keep going' written in blue, fluffy clouds.

Open booklet on a wooden surface showing illustrations and descriptions of humorous high five variations, including traditional, low five, long jump, virtual high five, fist bump, turkey, hand hug, and awkward velociraptor.

Diagram showing different types of handshakes and greetings, including traditional high five, low five, fist bump, and a hybrid called turkey with explanations for each.

Illustrations of four different friendly gestures with descriptions: The Long Jump, The Virtual High Five, The Hand Hug, and The Awkward Velociraptor, showing various ways to celebrate friendship or affection.

Open book with instructions and photos on mailing a corndog to a friend, showing steps of wrapping, mailing, and a person happily enjoying a corndog.

Open book with a paper craft art themed page about mailing a corndog to a friend, featuring a cartoon hot dog on a postage stamp illustration and text about a kid president's prank video idea.

Recipe cards with corndog and pizza roll recipes, two yellow corndogs on a cutting board, some carrots, and a black-handled knife on a brown countertop.

Open book on a wooden surface with pages about focus and glasses, illustrations, and text in black and orange, with some text highlighted in blue.

A drawing of sunglasses with the words "Awe" and "Some" written on the lenses, surrounded by a green burst, with "New!" written above. Text below reads "Awesome-tinted glasses! Now available!".

Open book displaying a children's guide about taking brain pictures, with a drawing of a brain on a paper ejecting from a paper camera on the left page, and hand-drawn notes and illustrations of kid's brain moments on torn paper on the right page.

A small cardboard camera with a paper instant photo coming out of its mouth, featuring a drawing of a brain on it.

A colorful open book with a photo of a boy sitting on a slide of a playground on the left page. The left page also has a quote that says, "#13 Every time you see a slide, go down it." The right page features a photo of two men, one standing and one seated at a desk, with American flags, and handwritten notes that say, "#14 Sing out loud. You don't have to have a reason to." and "#15 Laugh! Help end global dadness."

Open book with a cityscape photo and notes on the left page, and text and images about changing the world and creating something on the right page.

Open magazine showing a pair of red sunglasses made out of paper and handwritten text about being cool.

Open book showing a photo on the left of a party scene with balloons and a person in a suit on a stage, and on the right a page with a quote about being like cheese and making everything you touch better, with illustrations of a cheese wedge and bacon.

Two paper cutouts representing a slice of cheese and a strip of bacon.

A man wearing a checkered shirt holding paper sunglasses with red frames black lenses in front of his eyes.

A person on a magazine page holding a pink cupcake, with text overlay stating 'As human beings, we are capable of lots of bad stuff, but also cupcakes.'

Kid President's Things We Should Say More Often Illustrations

Illustration of a snaking arm with hands at the end giving a high five, with lines indicating energy or excitement and a blue background behind the hands.

#8. “Hello, person I’ve never met before. Here’s a high five!”

A drawing of an orange foam finger with black outline, raised index finger, with text 'We are sometimes #1' written on it. To the left, there is a small border with a sign that says 'We do okay!'

#7. “My sports team is not always the best sports team.”

This one is extra tough. It takes a big person to say that.

Open book on wooden surface page 122 and 123 with a green section titled #44 Invent a New Handshake and a blue section titled #45 Solve a conflict using ICE CREAM, featuring illustrated handshake steps and instructions.

A cardboard TV with antennas and a green striped background displaying the number 79.

An open magazine on a wooden surface featuring a two-page spread. The left page has a photo of a man and a young boy, both smiling, in front of a green background with white text that reads 'Help somebody younger than you'. The lower part of the page has a caption that says, 'It’s scary, but it’s true: Somebody is learning how to be a person by watching you. There’s a lot that kids need to know, so be awesome and take a moment to share what you know.' The right page shows a handwritten letter on lined paper with blue lightning bolt border, titled 'A letter to a person on their first day here'.

A patch with a shield shape, featuring a lightning bolt symbol in the center. The patch has a yellow border with a tan background, and contains the text "KID PRESIDENT'S SECRET SERVICE".

Open textbook with a photo of two children eating cereal, a young boy dressed in a suit and red tie, standing in front of a chalkboard. Handwritten notes and highlighted text discussing sharing and sacrifice are visible inside the book.

A young boy in a suit and red tie sitting at a table, smiling, with a bowl of cereal in front of him and a spoon in his hand. The background features a pink wall with a framed picture of a cat and a window.

Open book on wooden surface showing five children in suits and red ties dancing or playing, with handwritten style text '#62 Give the World a Reason to Dance (It's everybody's duty to do that)'

Book layout with photos of Kid President and Obama together

An open magazine with a blue background featuring an interview with Michelle Obama, including photos of her and a young boy, along with text, quote, and illustrations on a wooden surface.

Handcrafted birthday cake shaped paper craft on a decorative paper cake stand with a red background.

Open book on a wooden surface with a page on the left showing an outdoor scene with trees and grass and a handwritten page on the right with writing and prompts.

The title for "Remember That the World is Bigger Than Your Backyard" was first designed by hand, then cut out of cardboard, and overlays a photo by Kristi of her and Brad's backyard — the shadows on the photo and texture of the cardboard letters is more natural that way.

Brown paper cutout letters are taped to a photo of a backyard, with a view of a large green tree with sunlight filtering through the leaves in the background.

A New Pep Talk

The same style of the original illustrated pep talk was applied to "A New Pep Talk," allowing the two children's book-style sections to bookend the 100 ideas to make the world more awesome.