Monday, 10 October 2011

Book cover development,


ONCE BRANCHING AWAY FROM MY ILLUSTRATIVE APPROACH


I have recently researched more book covers, and have decided to take a much more minimalist approach. I want to focus in making them perfect, so my end result is a series of well printed, well structured & designed book covers.
I wanted to approach using simple patterns, the pattern communicating slightly the theme/subject of the story. 


Slumdog Millionaire- Asian feel, Indian pattern related

I researched into briefly Indian Patterns, I wanted to use something circular/swirly but also keep it simple.

I liked the more simple circles, repeated within each other, they weren't too detailed that it would look too much. I based my design on this.

I had this idea of using 'x' to communicate danger, do not enter etc.. however originally I had used imagery referring to someone trying to escape from over a wall/fence. Could I represent a trapped feeling? I used larger 'x' along the top to give it that fence feeling. 


Once again I followed through the my idea of using this scoring idea, representing time - I had used this imagery in my original drawing, so felt, it could make an interesting pattern lined up.

This was a case of using waves and a beach like representation with the solid strip of yellow. This actually ended up working as the consistency throughout all the covers.


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Moving onto type and layout



This was my initial start at the book jacket. I wanted to include a quote from the book somewhere on the front cover, as a way to intrigue readers, act as a sort of tagline (but for a book) and also add some extra type onto the design. Obviously, at the moment, not much thought has been put into layout etc...

I wanted to keep the cover as minimalist as possible, and also produce something different to most book covers. This idea of having a single rectangle that reaches across the front and back, was clean, but I still thought it needed work. 

Rearranging the type, still using the box but having it more vertical, stretching across less of the cover. I want the pattern to a main part of the design.


I spoke to Joe about wanting to include a quote somewhere on the front cover, he said it was a good idea and could be done, however not to have it overpowering the title etc.. the two could get confused. I thought about having a small quote just on the edge of the flap, so when the book was closed you would see part of the type but not being too obvious that it looks like it could be the title. I think this looked too much though, and spoilt the delicateness of the pattern.


Trying the label idea again, but spread across more freely, it looks interesting and communicates what type of story 'The Beach' is, but in terms of how the spine would look, and the overall slanted effect, seemed to take less refinement out of the design. I want it to look simple and perfect, but also attractive and interesting. 


Removing the white box completely, playing around with hierarchy and colour to approach the quote and title etc... Bit too plain... 


I quite like the type being vertical, I think it looks structured and considered but also is a bit different to how you normally read the blurb etc.. on a book. Just seeing what a bold shape would look like... I don't think it's really needed.

Here are all of my developments: 

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