503 Penguin ' A Brief History of Time' - Design Development & Feedback

After some initial ideas and research, I was ready to take my book cover design ideas into the digital. I decided to choose my top 4 favourite ideas, and quickly put together a digital design that would demonstrate my concept. In doing this, I was then able to pitch these digital designs up for feedback and find out which was the strongest.

Initial digital designs:

I created some initial illustrations that I thought I could later develop and use to make the visuals of the book cover more interesting and intriguing. These initial illustrations I knew were not the most successful or appropriate for the target audience, as they felt a little juvenile at this stage.

The design on the left was inspired by content from the book, the style/approach of this concept was to take the retro style of design and give it a more contemporary feel. The design on the right was inspired by the idea of 'The Big Crunch', where the universe eventually closes in on itself. This idea was intended to be portrayed quite subtly, and small illustrations to be used inside. I imagined the background of this concept to be white, as that was something that is less expected.

The design on the left was inspired by content from the book, the style/approach of this concept was to communicate the content in a more subtle and abstract way. I liked the contrast and the strong connection to the content. The design on the right was based simply around the idea of the solar system, however, I imagined that this concept would make the solar system represent the whole universe, and use typography to communicate and demonstrate the idea that we part of the universe. The concept was to make us humans feel small but in a positive way, so it is inspiring and fun.

Feedback:
- I like the retro feel of the first design.
- I like the contrast of black and white in the third design.
- I think the idea of having an all white background is interesting and unique. you wouldn't expect it as it is an untypical association with space.
- The contrast between black and white is striking and eye-catching.
- The illustrations are a little childish, maybe they could be more abstract.
- Maybe you don't even need the illustrations at all, especially with the third design, it would be effective without illustrations at all i think.
- Definitely re-think the colours, as at the moment they're not related at all.
- Third idea is the strongest.

From my feedback, I found that the third idea was most favoured and seemed to have the strongest concept/visual impact. I also agreed with my peers, so I decided to continue my development on this design.

Design Development:

I first decided to explore different typefaces and colours that would suit and be most appropriate for my concept.

The colours red and blue come from my research, which showed that most stars' true colour is either a redish or blueish hue. To communicate this I also experimented with placing red and blue dots inside the 'space and time' cones/shapes. This, although felt like a promising and interesting idea, was not successful, as the dots felt too random and did not feel like they belong here. The typeface I looked at here had a more retro feel, which made the design feel old, and therefore was not suitable.

The colours green and beige came from my research, which showed that the colour of the universe was thought to be green at first, but was later corrected to being beige. I thought this was a very interesting and obscure way to symbolise 'past' and 'future' cones. I got rid of red and blue dots and colours and kept the design quite simple, to draw attention to the 'space and time' cones. This was more successful. Although I used the same typeface as in the previous design, here the design does not feel as old because it is surrounding my more cotemporary and fresh/minimal design.

Here I tried again implementing the red and blue dots that represent stars, but this time I tried it with a more minimal typeface. I choose a delicate typeface to draw more attention to the contrasting colours and layout. The red and blue dots, although more comfortable within this design, still felt a little awkward and out of place. The typeface choice feels a little dull and the overall book cover design is not exciting so would not draw the readers attention.

Here I experimented with just using one colour for the 'space and time' cones, and one of the 'star' colours. The beige for the cones felt a little dull and does not in my opinion express the difference between the 'past' and 'future' as well as using two colours previously did. The use of just red and white for the text is more interesting visually, however the overall feel of the design is a little too threatening and feels more like a mystery or murder book than a scientific one. The typeface choice here however, I felt was the most effective out of all of them, as it is bold and interesting. It makes the text stand out within the layout/composition, and brings some substance to the designs. 

Here I experimented with using a white background colour instead of black. This instantly I believe gives the design/book cover a more unique and refreshing style and feel. As the use of white makes the contrast of the book less exciting, I implemented back the red and blue dots to give some visual variety. This proved to be quite effective and intriguing. The typeface I chose a more futuristic and space-like, this was also fairly effective, however it does feel a little too expected and cliché.

Having previously enjoyed the look of the more minimal layout, and the white background, here I stripped it all back and tried to create an intriguing but simple design. The use of the green and beige for the 'space and time' cones creates a visually interesting contrast, and works much better with the white background than it did with the black. The typeface 'Futura' that I previously found to favour also seems to work well, as it gives the cover design more substance. Out of all experimentations, this was the direction that I thought would be most appropriate. The use of colour within the minimal layout/composition design I feel is interesting and would catch the readers eye due to it being so untypical and unique for a scientific book. It would also stand out within a book shop against all the other 'dark' and typically 'space' like covers.

Having chosen the colour scheme and typeface that I think is the most effective and interesting, I then went on to explore different layouts of text.

Placing the text centrally I found drew attention away from the 'space and time' cones, and made them fade into the background. This I did not want as I wanted the idea behind the design to be noticeable and memorable. Without the highlight of that I feel the design becomes quite bland and in-exciting.

Aligning the text to the sides of the cover design I feel brings the right amount of attention towards the 'space and time' cones, and creates an interesting balance between the text and the cones. Playing around with the title of the book, I tried to create a sort of grid which would be appealing to the eye, however, by doing this the cohesion between the front and back cover was lost.

Here I tired aligning the text to the centre/spine of the book cover design, I found this to be quite awkward as it leaves a large white space on the right of the front cover. Also, it draws attention away from the 'space and time' cones and makes them look less relevant. This was something I knew I didn't want and so found that I will not place any large chunks of text over the cones. 

Here I tried to place text both centrally on the pages, and aligned towards the centre of the design. I did this to try and create a visually stimulating and interesting experience for the viewer. However, I believe this looks a little bit too random and unconsidered. The design feels messy and doesn't bring the right amount of attention towards the cones in the middle.

After considering different layouts of text, I realised that one of my previous layouts was the most effective in communicating and portraying the concept.

This is the layout design I started with, and I believe it had the most interesting and effective idea. The back cover not included, the design gave the 'space and time' cones the right amount of attention, and placed the text in a way that was interesting to eye, but also appropriate to the concept.

Developing the above design, I changed the thickness of some parts of the typeface. The typefaces I used here were 'Futura Bold' and 'Futura Medium'. This allowed me to create a nice balance on the page, and also highlight the more important parts of information. I also re-considered the colour story, trying a dark grey colour for the background, as I thought that it may be a little bit too plain with just white. However, I realised that making the background grey made all the rest of the design elements less effective and intriguing. 

This was the final design that I came to.