Picture books are simple learning materials that use drawings, illustrations, photographs unilaterally or in combination with words or simple sentences to serve as basic reading materials for children in the nursery classes. This paper on systems approach to design and production of picture books for pre-primary classes in the Southwest, Nigeria investigated the problem of picture books design and the quality of the pictures in picture books. The research design is a descriptive survey while the sample comprises publishers, graphic designers and nursery school teachers randomly selected from four major cities in the southwest of Nigeria. The instruments including questionnaire and interview were developed, validated by an expert in the field of study and administered for collection of relevant data. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics which explored simple percentage. The result of the study revealed that there were poor quality of pictures in picture books and this is due to scarcity of trained graphic designers who understand systems approach to picture books design and production. There is thus a need for more qualified graphic designers, given in-service professional training as well as a refresher course as criteria for upgrading.