7 min
Designing a Children’s Book with AI
🔖 Project: The ABCs of EBITDA
EBITDADDY is a 56-page luxury picture book that transforms startup jargon into cheeky rhymes and pastel illustrations. It’s made for business-obsessed founder parents tucking in their future co-founders.
✅ STEP 1: Generate A–Z Business Words
🎯 Goal:
Generate 26 witty, founder-relevant business terms — one for each letter of the alphabet.
💡 Prompt Template
🧠 Ultimate AI Prompt for Business Terms A–Z
You are a world-class creative writer, children's author, and humorist with deep knowledge of business, finance, and startup culture.
Your task is to write short, funny, and kid-friendly explanations of business and finance terms — one for each letter of the alphabet. This is for a luxury picture book called “The ABCs of EBITDA”, designed as a thoughtful (and hilarious) gift for wealthy, founders.
⚡️Tone:
- Cute and silly (like a bedtime story)
- Witty and founder-aware (startup inside jokes, dad humor)
- Delightful to a business-savvy adult reading to their child
✍️ Format:
[Letter] is for [Business Term]
e.g. A is for Assets
🧪 Action Items
- Run the prompt in ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini
- Mix and match the best suggestions
- Finalize your 26-letter lineup
✅ STEP 2: Generate Rhymes for Each Word
🎯 Goal:
Turn each business term into a short, playful rhyme that kids will love — and adults will smirk at.
💡 Prompt Template
🧠 Ultimate AI Prompt for Rhyming Business Terms
You are a world-class creative writer, children's author, and humorist with deep knowledge of business, finance, and startup culture.
Your task is to write short, funny, and kid-friendly rhyming explanations of business and finance terms — one for each letter of the alphabet. This is for a luxury picture book called “The ABCs of EBITDA”, designed as a thoughtful (and hilarious) gift for wealthy, founder dads.
⚡️Tone:
- Bedtime-story silly
- Founder-smart and subtly hilarious
- Rooted in real business concepts
✍️ Format:
- 1–2 sentence rhyme per word
- Use analogies a child might understand (e.g. lemonade stands, toy shops, piggy banks)
[Insert Final 26 Words Here]
🧪 Action Items
- Test on ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini
- Choose the tone/voice you like most
- Use the best outputs to “train” each model on the desired style
✅ STEP 3: Design Brief PDF for Printer
🎯 Goal:
Create a ready-to-send printer spec PDF for a premium children’s book.
💡 Prompt Template
🖨️ Design Brief Prompt
You are a print design expert working on a premium children’s picture book project.
Please create a printer-ready brief for “The ABCs of EBITDA” — a picture book for wealthy founder dads. Include:
- Number of pages
- Trim size (in inches/mm)
- Paper type & weight (interior and cover)
- Binding type
- Cover finish (matte, soft-touch, foil, etc.)
- Print specs (CMYK/Pantone)
- File format requirements (PDF/X, bleed settings)
- Shipping & packaging notes
- Book description (for internal printer use)
🧪 Action Items
- Paste final version into a Canva template
- Style with placeholder page thumbnails
✅ STEP 4: Pastel Colour Palette Creation
🎯 Goal:
Craft a pastel colour palette with a luxe, founder-aesthetic vibe.
💡 Prompt Template
🎨 Pastel Colour Palette Prompt
You are a world-class brand and print specialist for aesthetic children’s books.
Create a pastel colour palette (with hex codes) for “The ABCs of EBITDA” — a luxury picture book for wealthy founder dads.
Deliverables:
- Primary Palette: 3–5 hues
- Accent Palette: 2–3 tones
- Optional: Backgrounds/gradients
- Labeling: Friendly, founder-flavored names like Cap Table Coral or Convertible Note Lilac
🎨 Illustrations Workflow
1. Curate Visual Inspiration
- Build a Pinterest board with:
- Soft pastel watercolor styles
- Whimsical, handcrafted charm
- Minimalist layouts with luxe nursery vibes
2. Extract the Style
Prompt:
“Describe the visual style of this moodboard for a luxury children’s picture book. Use aesthetic language and art direction terms.”
3. Build Your Illustration Prompt Template
Template:
Create a square-format children’s book illustration of [insert scene description].
Use [insert background color name and hex code] from my custom palette.
Art Style:
– Soft pastel watercolor
– Minimalist, modern nursery design
– Cozy, handcrafted charm
– Gentle gradients, storybook whimsy
– Whimsical yet elegant tone
Typography (if used): Elegant serif, integrated seamlessly
Visual Identity:
– Premium, founder-parent audience
– Cohesive with rest of the book
4. Page-by-Page Process (A–Z)
For each rhyme:
A. Generate Concepts
Prompt: “For the rhyme ‘A is for Assets’, generate 3–5 illustration ideas in a luxury children’s book style.”
B. Select Favourite
Choose your best-fit concept.
C. Pick Background Colour
Use a complementary pastel from your palette.
D. Generate Art
Run your complete prompt in ChatGPT, Midjourney, Firefly, etc.
E. Upload References
Include:
- Illustrated pages so far
- Palette
- Typography samples
F. Final Polish
Use tools (e.g. Photoshop, Canva AI editor) to:
- Refine details
- Maintain composition
- Ensure style consistency