Studio Brief 1: Book Cover Design Development

Fig.1

Fig.2

Fig.1 and Fig.2 are my quick developments of the other two ideas that were seen as not as strong as the others, by both myself and my critical peer feedback. Fig.1 was the first idea that I had rejected quite early on, but I still wanted to see how it would look visually on a whole spread (front,spine and back). This showed me that I had chosen right to reject the idea, because even if the execution wasn't perfect, you can still see that when placed on a spread, the front cover design does not seem very impactful.  Fig.2 was my second idea, and I developed it slightly more than Fig.1 because I felt that it had more potential. The outcome is interesting, and the minimalism of it is quite striking. However, from my crit feedback, this design didn't seem to excite my peers and tutor as much as the others, so although I don't view this design as unsuccessful, it simply wasn't quite as strong as the others.

Fig.3

Fig.4

Fig.5

Fig.3 and Fig.4 show the addition drawings and digitalised vectors I had made for the third idea I had.  These were addition objects derived from the story that would appear on the back of the cover. They were also designed in a grid like format, however this time placed and scaled in a manner which would leave space for text to go on the back.

Fig.5 shows the finished look of the whole design. I stuck by my choice of using Futura as the typeface, because the weight is slightly thicker than the lines in the illustrations, which I believe works in compliment and helps to appropriately differentiate the text from the illustrations. Also, Futura is modern and clean, which gives the design overall a fresh and sleek look. I wanted the background of the design to be a solid and strong colour, so the illustrations and the text were made white to increase readability. Another reason for the use of white, is that it gives the objects and the text a sense of softness and purity, which appropriately communicates one of the main themes, innocence, within the story. The use of blue for the background also plays on this theme. The blue is inspired by the main 10 year-old character in the book Scout, and her dungarees, which are also illustrated as one of the objects. The dungaree, as an object represents Scout and her childhood, along with her innocence. The reason for choosing this specific tone of blue is that not only does it compliment the softness of the white and the text/illustrations, but it is also quite visually pleasing and eye-catching, so would be noticeable on a book store shelf. 

Fig.6

Fig.6 shows the finished design for my fourth idea. This was the idea that my peer feedback responded most positively to. From my initial design stage, I had developed this idea the most. One of the main concerns I had was the relationship between the letterforms and the arrows within the title being too distinctive. I managed to play around with tracking and different weights of type, as well as the size and thickness of the arrows, to design both elements to be cohesive and complimentary of each other. The typeface I used was Gills Sans, this is because not only did it give me the perfect kind  of thickness to match the arrows, but also because of it's fairly soft but mature character. The other concern I had was whether there would be enough design elements to fill the space, without leaving anything awkwardly empty. I solved this concern using very strategic placement of the arrow and feather illustrations to fill the page vertically, and utilising tracking of the type to fill the page appropriately horizontally. The colour I chose for the background was a red-orange, this was to reference partly the idea of killing and partly the deep south setting of the story. The colour is also quite visually striking and attention grabbing, meaning it would stand out on a book store shelf. The colours for the type and illustrations were strategically made either black or white. The black and white plays on the theme of good and evil within the story. On my cover design I made the word 'Kill', as well as the arrows and the feathers in black, to represent evil. The rest of the title, as well as the authors name and blurb are in white, to represent good. The back of the design features further illustrations of arrows and feathers, also strategically placed to fill the space. The blurb and quotes are middle centred, just like the title and authors name on the front, to create cohesiveness and give an overall pleasing aesthetic.