PROJECT IN FOCUS
Chemistry LIVE!
The all-new 3rd edition of Chemistry Live! A trusted teaching package created for the updated Irish Leaving Certificate Chemistry curriculum.
Wild Apple Design was commissioned to revitalise this title (covers & internal pages), delivering a fresh, modern design across all components. Drawing on our extensive experience with large, multi-faceted educational schemes, we ensured the package was both visually engaging and highly functional. Key priorities included clear navigation, a consistent design language across all elements, and preserving the familiar essence of earlier editions.
The complete scheme comprises a Student’s Book, Workbook (Assessment and Exam Guide), Lab Book (Laboratory Investigation Notebook), and a Teacher’s Guide.
Covers
As shown above, our team created a suite of covers designed to work both individually, highlighting each component, and collectively as a cohesive package. Striking imagery and clear information design ensure the covers are engaging and immediately appealing to students.
To strengthen continuity across the scheme, the central image was used as a key visual hook. It appears in the book’s opening pages and is adapted into tinted variations for the ancillary components.
Students Book
A 490-page book packed with features. The main challenge was balancing the integration of numerous components, making them visually appealingly, while ensuring clear flow and easy navigation for students.
Throughout the book, we seamlessly incorporated detailed technical illustrations (many of which we commissioned), high-quality laboratory photographs, boxed equations, and well-defined tables and definitions. These elements appeared seamlessly alongside experiment pages, review spreads, and summary sections.
Laboratory Investigation book
This component features 160 pages of experiments, interspersed with equations, results tables, procedure sheets, calculation spaces for students, and follow-up questions. Each element is designed to reflect the tone of the wider scheme, guiding students step by step through the content. Clearly defined sections provide structure and make navigation straightforward.
Assessment and Exam guide
Spanning more than 300 pages, each chapter is divided into two clear sections, with the second section dedicated to exam-style questions. The brief called for a design that is both clear and easy to navigate, featuring well-defined WOLs (Write-On Lines) and drawing spaces for students. We incorporated a toned-down version of the textbook’s page furniture to maintain continuity across the materials. At the back of the workbook, four additional textbook chapters extend the content, bringing the total to 406 pages.
Conclusion
The 3rd edition of Chemistry Live! represents a comprehensive, thoughtfully designed teaching package that balances clarity, functionality, and visual appeal. From bold, unified covers to carefully structured student and teacher resources, every element was created to support both effective learning and ease of use in the classroom. By combining strong visual identity with practical design solutions, we have delivered a cohesive scheme that enhances the teaching and learning experience while preserving the trusted character of this long-established title.