Ben Miles

A children’s book about entomology (the study of insects), published by Scholastic Inc.

During my senior year in the design program at the University of Central Florida, a team comprised of myself and classmates Sarah Eschleman and Crystal Bell were partnered with Scholastic, Inc, and tasked with creating an original book to accompany a handheld 10x microscope.

I came up with the concept — A CSI-style crime-scene drama theme, where children are encouraged to “investigate” their local insects and their ecology, inspired by the cartoonish “gross-out” aesthetic of games and toys of my youth. Sarah penned our working title. I contacted UCF’s own Entomology Department, where we were allowed to photograph countless preserved insect specimens. Sarah and Crystal did all of the writing for our example spreads, while I focused more on art direction and layouts.

Together, we pitched the concept to the CEO of Scholastic at their office in Orlando, Florida, along with a few other teams. In the end, our concept was chosen for print and international distribution via Scholastic Book Fairs.

ISBN: 978-0-545-13583-2